December 2014

One cannot believe that 2014 is almost over and what a year it has been!!
As the year draws to an end, it is impossible to not be able to reflect on all the activities that have happened at ThembaCare Grabouw; and to reflect on all the much needed care & support that has been offered to all our HIV, TB, Cancer & terminally ill patients and their families through our In Patient & Home Based Care Units. Ensuring that a patient was "pain free" or died with dignity, love & care and was able to access medical & nursing care, was a special privilege!! Being able to continue to provide HIV & TB health education and awareness through the HIV Counselling team in the community, schools and surrounding farms was invaluable, so that patients could make informed life choices & decisions!!

In the midst of caring for our patients, our Care staff have been quite busy attending training sessions that were facilitated by the Department of Health through the Elgin Learning Foundation and 7 of our Angels completed their Home Based Care EPWP Level 1 & 2 training this year. Another 5 members of staff are also currently attending their EPWP Level 1 training and also attending Child Health training sessions as well. The Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa (HPCA), provided our staff with training on Patient Data Capturing Skills too. It has been a whole lot of training, but quite valuable as it ensures that our staff are up to date with their skills and can provide our HIV & TB patients with better Palliative Care support and follow up in the hospice facility & community as a whole!!

ThembaCare Grabouw is sincerely grateful to all our Funders & supporting partners who have in various ways ensured that the work that we do in the community of Grabouw continues and that we are enabled to "Offer Hope", where it has been needed!!
Thus, as we celebrate World Aids Day during this December, ThembaCare continues to be in the forefront of partnering with the Department of Health and other Health organistions in assisting to "Turn the Tide Against HIV/AIDS & TB" in the community of Grabouw!!

We wish all our Funders, Supporters & Partners a blessed Christmas this December and hope that you will continue to partner with us in 2015!!

October News

After the riots in Grabouw have died down its been work as usual at ThembaCare Grabouw. Many thanks for some much needed patient pyjamas that were donated by Elgin Free Range Chickens and the delivery of a cheque from the Elgin Gentlemen's Associated which they raised from their annual barn dance!! Thank you for supporting the palliative care work that we do at ThembaCare Grabouw!! This month we were also thanking some of our staff for having worked 5 years at ThembaCare and for their hard work & care, loyalty and diligence.

August News

Busy as bees has been the buzz word at ThembaCare Grabouw. The building of the new sluice room began in earnest and while all this has been happening in the last few weeks, there have been local schools and visitors coming to see the Palliative Care work that Thembacare Grabouw is offering in the community of Grabouw. And in the midst of all this the caring of our patients carries on!!

Also, we've been on TV. TBN's Watchman on The Wall programme did a special programme for Women's Month and featured our very own Lindi! It was a fantastic programme, over 20 minutes long and we are very grateful for the exposure of the essential work we do for the community.

June News

ThembaCare Grabouw participated this last month in the Hospice week by acknowledging our hardworking nurses for whom Palliative Care Nursing is not only a job but a passion.

Our nurses were awarded with Palliative Care badges from the Hospice Association of South Africa (HPCA) as a way of the HPCA expressing their gratitude for the work our nurses do in caring for our patients in the community of Grabouw.

March News

The Adventurers

Last week we were very excited to receive our long-awaited new generator. This generator was bought with the funds that were raised from the Cycle To The Sea biking challenge that took place last year and we are extremely thankful to all the people who took part! A generator means that we will never be without electricity and enables us to continue our high level of care for our patients regardless of what it going on with the grid. Quite recently we’ve had a number of power cuts so this is going to come in very handy.

Our in-patients have also been treated to a visit from the ‘Adventurers’ youth group who came to sing for them as well as visits from German volunteer, Gundi, who is staying at Village of Hope but comes to do craft with the in-patients every Wednesday.

Next week, on 24th March we will be joining forces with the local clinic to screen the community for TB on World TB day. Grabouw has the highest rate of TB deaths in its municipality and it’s a curable disease, so this is a very important virus for us to tackle.