This Easter, love and hope found a way to reach the staff of the ‘Marianna V. Vardinoyannis-ELPIDA’ Children’s Oncology Hospital, even during the difficult conditions caused by the pandemic.
Even from far away, with the restrictions imposed under the circumstances, the President of the ‘ELPIDA-Association of Friends of Children with Cancer’, Mrs Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, communicated with the Joint Director of ‘Agia Sofia’ and ‘P&A Kyriakou’ Children’s Hospitals, Mr Manolis Papasavvas, representatives of the nursing staff, the security personnel, and the cleaners of the Oncology Unit, on Holy Tuesday, 27 April 2021, in order to wish them well and thank them for their struggle at the side of children with cancer.
“Together, as a team, you become a second family for our young patients, and provide invaluable support to their parents, throughout their difficult battle against cancer. Over the past year, during which our country and all of humanity have been facing the pandemic, your role has become even more important, and your efforts to keep our children and yourselves safe have become even more difficult.
The pandemic made our responsibility even greater; however, it did not stop your important work, even for a moment. Our thoughts and prayers are with the children, the parents, and you – that you remain healthy and strong, so that you can handle your trying and sacred mission every day. The entire ELPIDA family is grateful for your tireless and ceaseless efforts. Words are truly not enough for us to express our gratitude”, stated Mrs Vardinoyannis emotionally, as she spoke with employee representatives.
In fact, in a show of gratitude for their efforts, at the initiative of Mrs Vardinoyannis, the BoD of the Association provided the nursing, security, and cleaning staff with coupons for the purchase of products for their Easter feast, as it had also done the year before.
The employees were overjoyed to speak with Mrs Vardinoyannis, thanking her for her continuous support in their work all these years.
“We are happy to see you and we hope that his time next year we will have you at our side. You have the love and best wishes of the entire staff. I would like to say a great big thank you to you for being with us for another year, for supporting us, for thinking about us; we feel your love and the strength that it provides us with. I would like to tell you that all the children are well. They are safe and their treatment is proceeding normally, no treatments have been postponed and we are trying to create an even warmer and more loving atmosphere during Easter”, said Mr Papasavvas in his conversation with Mrs Vardinoyannis.
Immediately afterwards, the Director of the ‘Marianna V. Vardinoyannis-ELPIDA’ Children’s Oncology Unit, Ms Agapi Doumou, also thanked Mrs Vardinoyannis for her tangible support of the Oncology Unit staff all these years. “I would like to thank you once again, this year, for providing tangible support to the Oncology Unit staff. Truly, the lack of personal contact with you, last year and this year, has been felt by us all, deeply. And it isn’t just felt by the staff; it is also felt by the children, too. We truly miss you. Have a wonderful and blessed Easter, in good health, above all else, and remain optimistic that everything will be fine, and next year you will be here to celebrate Easter with the children and the staff”.
The Director of the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Mrs Charalambia Tzavara, conveyed the best wishes of the staff, the parents, and the children of the Transplant Unit: “I would like to convey the best wishes and love of the staff and parents, as well as of the children of the Transplant Unit. We would all like to thank you very much! You make your presence felt and we all know that you love us, care for us, and have us on your mind. For that reason I would like to say thank you on behalf of everyone. And we expect that soon the conditions will be right for us to see you again in person, and to celebrate the holidays together like we used to!”
The Head of the Special Treatments Clinic, Ms Charoula Boukouvala, emotionally thanked Mrs Vardinoyannis and sent best wishes on behalf of all her staff: “We miss you very much, but we know you are thinking of us and you always show us your love in practice with the present you gave us. I am with you with all the power of my soul and I would also like to wish you a Blessed Easter, good health, strength, and courage. You have the best wishes of the entire staff, be well, good health, happiness, and love. I wish you a Happy Easter!”.
The representative of the security staff, Ms Dimitra Mai, also sent Mrs Vardinoyannis wishes full of warmth and love: “Happy Easter! We wholeheartedly thank you for supporting us for another year, for showing your support to us in practice. May you have a wonderful and peaceful Easter! Happy Easter to everyone in good health”, while the representative of the cleaning staff, Ms Sophia Georgiadou sent best wishes on behalf of the entire cleaning staff: “On behalf of the cleaning staff, thank you very much for your great support and help all these years. We wholeheartedly wish you a Happy Easter, full of health and love for you and your family. Thank you for everything!”
