The inauguration of the renovated Short-Stay Care Wing “AIKATERINI LASKARIDI” was performed by the President of the Republic, Konstantinos Tasoulas, a donation from the president of the “Aikaterini Laskaridi” Foundation, Rear Admiral (ret.) Mr. Panagiotis Laskaridis, on the fourth floor of the Naval Hospital of Athens. The President of the Republic was welcomed by Defense Minister Nikos Dendias, Deputy Defense Minister Athanasios Davakis, Chief of General Staff General Dimitrios Houpis, Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Dimitrios Kataras and the donor Mr. Panagiotis Laskaridis.
The President of the Republic was welcomed by Defense Minister Nikos Dendias, Deputy Defense Minister Athanasios Davakis, Chief of General Staff General Dimitrios Houpis, Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Dimitrios Kataras and the donor Mr. Panagiotis Laskaridis.
Konstantinos Tasoulas: The joy of giving is an invaluable pleasure
During his address, Mr. Tasoulas praised the work and social contribution of the Laskaridis family and emphasized that “the joy of giving is an invaluable pleasure, rare, unique and almost absolutely personal.”
As he noted, “there are various ways for one to justify their passage through life; most people, understandably, choose the method of personal success. However, quite a few choose the method – alongside personal success – of sharing this success with the whole. They feel that this personal success gives them the obligation and commitment to spread part of it to society, to offer it for reasons that have to do with a deeper need: the need to justify themselves through creation, through alleviating the difficulties of their neighbor. So that this tender and unbearable sky of Greece can become a little brighter.”
He also added that “what we see here today, in the presence of today’s honored person Mr. Laskaridis, is that Greek shipping – with 6,000 ocean-going vessels and 20% of global capacity – understands its role and gradually helps us lift this country a little higher.”
Specifically, in his address, the President of the Republic stated:
“Today we are here to inaugurate a completely renovated wing, the short-stay care wing of the Naval Hospital of Athens, sponsored by the Laskaridis family, which will be called from now on the “Aikaterini Laskaridi” Wing, named after the mother of the sponsor and donor, Mr. Panos Laskaridis. This is the continuation of the family’s donation, after the “Marilena Laskaridi” wing, which preceded it four years ago and with which the cardiology department of the hospital and the patient rooms were completely renovated.
Our country, ladies and gentlemen, as an excellent song by Manos Hadjidakis tells us, which one could call a poem and not just a song, (“Dream Street”), which could even be a loan from the “Magic City”, our country walks under “a tender and unbearable sky”. The tender and unbearable sky of Greece shows how beautiful our homeland is and at the same time how enduring needs this beautiful homeland produces that must be covered. The tender and unbearable sky of Greece shows that these needs must primarily be covered by the state, whose constitutional role is exactly this, especially on the issue of Health, which is provided for in a special article in the Constitution, the obligation of the state to protect the Health of citizens in article 21.
However, overcoming this unbearable sky cannot be done by the State alone. In the two phases, in the two centuries of the modern Greek state, in the phase of the Great Idea and in the phase of reconstruction after the Asia Minor Catastrophe, whatever was accomplished was done jointly, by the State and by benefactors. Whatever most beautiful has been built in Athens, in public buildings, in educational or academic buildings, was done by benefactors, especially from my particular homeland of Epirus, which when these magnificent buildings were being built, was still under Ottoman rule.
The Great Idea was not a fanatical manifestation of expansionism, it was an idea based on ethnic and historical foundations, on historical and ethnic titles. When the Great Idea, after 1922, was transformed by its very creator, Eleftherios Venizelos, into an idea of reconstruction and introspection, again this reconstruction over the last 100 years mainly, was based on this chariot that galloped with two horses, from private initiative and from the State. Always, philanthropy was a basic complement to the recovery of our homeland and the confrontation of the unbearable sky of daily, but also long-term needs.
Therefore, the sponsorship of Mr. Laskaridis and his family is not only significant in itself, because it creates a short-stay care center, in one of the most important pillars of the military medical system like the Naval Hospital of Athens, since 1955. It is not only important because this short-stay care unit performs diagnostic and therapeutic work, without burdening the hospital beds and relieves other clinics from patients who, otherwise, would occupy beds at the expense of others who had greater need. It is not that it gives this hospital a pioneering role with such a high-quality short-stay care unit, which is the crown jewel of modern medical pioneering, but mainly because it sets an example of how this path of country reconstruction cannot be done by the State alone because the needs are many and complex. What we see here today, in the presence of today’s honored person Mr. Laskaridis, is that Greek shipping – with 6,000 ocean-going vessels and 20% of global capacity – understands its role and gradually helps us lift this country a little higher.
Mr. Laskaridis, I think that beyond your words, beyond your modesty, what is worth noting with the gestures you make towards the Navy and beyond, with general support ships, with strengthening surface ships, with strengthening hospitals, what you do deserves one thing: the smile you had when you were speaking to us. The joy of giving is an invaluable pleasure, rare, unique and almost absolutely personal. There are various ways for one to justify their passage through life; most people, understandably, choose the method of personal success. However, quite a few choose the method – alongside personal success – of sharing this success with the whole. They feel that this personal success gives them the obligation and commitment to spread part of it to society, to offer it for reasons that have to do with a deeper need: the need to justify themselves through creation, through alleviating the difficulties of their neighbor. So that this tender and unbearable sky of Greece can become a little brighter.
Today, therefore, we congratulate our sponsors, we congratulate Mr. Laskaridis for the example and this gesture itself and we wish this example to spread even more.
Greece looks to the future with optimism, it looks at it with optimism despite the fact that from the East, as was said, there is indeed an expressed threat, which does not justify ambiguity, does not justify complacency. It particularly justifies for the Armed Forces a constant preparation. And care for personnel is an element of the strong morale of the Armed Forces. Strong morale and equipment are the twin pillars of the strong deterrence that our homeland needs. And morale is built with the sense of care. And today here the sense of care becomes tangible; it is care for the health of our Navy personnel, which care strengthens morale, which morale strengthens our deterrent power, which we so desperately need.
We thank you, therefore, Mr. Laskaridis for your sponsorship, for your example, helping our city and our country with this tender and unbearable sky to make it a little brighter.“
A tour of the new wing facilities followed, which will assist the work of doctors and nursing staff and improve patient care.
