Moscow, April 3, 2020
The church at the Moscow Patriarchate's St. Alexei Hospital. Photo: zyuzinomedia.ru
The Russian Orthodox Church has developed a plan to support socially vulnerable segments of the population, offering emergency social, psychological, and medical care in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Synodal Department for Relations Between the Church and Society and the Media reported to Blagovest-Info.
To help residents of Moscow and the Moscow Province, a center for providing assistance to the socially vulnerable is being created on the basis of the Mercy Orthodox relief service.
According to preliminary estimates, the center will be able to help more than 30,000 people throughout the year, including single elderly people, the seriously ill and disabled, large families, single mothers and pregnant women, the homeless, and anyone finding themselves in a difficult situation. They will be able to receive food, medicine, and medical care.
A hotline is also being created where people will be able to receive emergency counseling and psychological assistance.
A center for the treatment of pneumonia caused by the coronavirus will also be established at the Moscow Patriarchate’s St. Alexei Hospital, which is equipped with modern resuscitation equipment. The center will include a consulting and diagnostic office for the collection of clinical materials for testing for COVID-19 infections, as well as for purchasing additional medicines and equipment for artificial lung ventilation.
It is also planned to unveil a headquarters for assistance to socially vulnerable people on the basis of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Service. The headquarters will take over the organization of a round-the-clock call center, where you can call for free from anywhere in Russia with a request for social or food assistance.
Russian businesses have already stepped up to fund all of these projects.
