Kim's updates from the Country of Georgia: November 2018

Dear friends and followers:

I know many of you are interested in making a difference in Georgia and have asked me what unmet needs I have seen during my time here. While in the Peace Corps I saw many international organizations doing good things around the country. However, when I returned to Georgia in 2017, I found a cause that many of us have supported in the States for years, and is in need of great help here in Tbilisi -- Hospice.

The Mercy Center Hospice in Georgia is the first and only free hospice in Georgia. Founded in 2003 by Abbess Mariam, Mercy Center Hospice introduced the palliative care concept to Georgia. The program employs qualified professionals to provide compassionate care for some of the most vulnerable Georgians who suffer from terminal or chronic illnesses, most of whom are elderly. All of these patients live under the poverty line and few have any family to support them. Some patients are women ages 35 - 60 with breast cancer.

The Mercy Center offers a Home Care Program for 130 terminally ill and elderly patients in their homes each year and also operates a small live-in hospice on the Convent grounds. Mercy Center currently employs 15 visiting nurses and runs a training program for more nurses and nurse’s aides. The nurses spend two hours a day with patients providing nutrition, medicines, injections, chemotherapy and even cleaning. Mercy Center nurses also provide emotional and spiritual support for patients who frequently feel abandoned and alone. Nurses support 4-5 patients a day and earn the equivalent of $270 a month. Can you imagine, $270 for such an important role?  They hope to raise it next year if they have the budget.

American Friends of Georgia, a US based 501(C)(3) charity, is the primary funding source for this important program. AFG funds support the hospice’s every day needs including nurses’ salaries, medical supplies, bandages, painkillers, ointments and transportation of nurses to visit their patients.

Mercy Center Hospice can really use our help. A donation to AFG for the sole benefit of the Mercy Center Hospice goes a LONG WAY.  Here’s where your dollars can help:

For $960 you can provide a patient with ONE YEAR of nursing visits to their home

For $270 you can provide for a nurse to support 4-5 patients in their home for two hours each, 5 days/week for a MONTH

For $80 you can provide for one MONTH of patient visits in home care, including salary, medications, first aid kit, and supplies.

For $25 you can pay for a MONTH worth of transportation for a nurse as she scurries from house to house.

So many of us have benefited from Hospice’s support of our own loved ones during the most difficult days of their lives. I still feel a great appreciation to my Hospice nurse – our personal angel - I called her. So during this time of thanksgiving and giving, please join me in giving any amount to Hospice here in Georgia. Mercy Center needs more support and your dollars go a lot further!

Please help with a tax-deductible gift by clicking the DONATE NOW button below and selecting to designate your gift to Mercy Center Hospice, Nursing School and Home Care. If you like, you can also put it in someone’s honor as I did. You can add my email to it (kydixon@earthlink.net), so I get notified and can track our little campaign if you like.

Or Donate by Mail to:

American Friends of Georgia
P.O. BOX 1200
Truro, MA 02666 U.S.A.

Put a note in the left corner of the check to designate Mercy Center Hospice

Sincerely,

Kim Dixon

American Friends of Georgia is a U.S. non-profit, non-political 501(c)(3) public charity with tax exempt status. EIN # 13-3797759

The organization's mission is to provide practical humanitarian assistance to vulnerable populations in Georgia in order to improve educational, economic, social, medical and environmental conditions. AFG also supports efforts to preserve and promote Georgian art and culture.

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