March News

This month we’ve had the pleasure of hosting three students who’ve decided to do the practical training for their Home-based Care qualification with us. They chose us, not only because of the work we are doing for the community but also because the sister of one of the students was a patient of ours. The student saw how much we helped her sister and was inspired to train so that she could help others in a similar situation. Her sister is now living a healthy life, despite being HIV positive, and has managed to give birth to a child who is negative. This is great news!

Our best wishes go out to Portia, our nursing sister in charge of the Home-based Care team, she has been admitted to hospital and therefore been off work this past week. We wish her a speedy recovery.

February News

About a year ago a scrawny little dog came walking through the gates at  ThembaCare Grabouw. He spent the day with us and decided he loved it and never went home! We named him Wowow because most people that visited the unit and met him loved the story and said ..... you guessed it - Wow! He first arrived during renovations on the unit and the builder on site was so taken with this little dog that he decided to build Wowow a kennel.

From that day on Wowow became our mascot but what makes him so special is how he bonds with the patients by laying at their feet when they are out of their beds. He has also taken it upon himself to walk half way home with the staff every day, almost like a guardian. He simply shows his love via these simple gestures.

During the recent the riots in Grabouw our precious Wowow somehow got caught up in the mobs and was badly burned. His wounds were so severe that, as a result, he was admitted to intensive care. We were extremely worried. Thankfully he has recovered well and is back with us because of the support from
Joanna Brederode, who paid the vet bill! Joanna heard the story of Wowow and it melted her heart. It goes to show that one dog really can make a difference because the lives of the staff and patients at ThembaCare would certainly be a more grey without Wowow around.

January News

Protesters on the streets of Grabouw

As you may have already heard, we have had a rude awakening to 2013 here in Grabouw. Protests about Farmworkers’ pay have greatly affected our work. Due to the delicate situation, we had to send some inpatients back to their homes and we were unable to make any home visits to all our outpatients. This has made for a difficult situation because we have reports to do, patients to care for and less time to do it. Last week was particularly bad but now, although there are still localised problems, relative calm has been restored. We are praying that this is the end of the protesting for now because our patients have suffered as a result and have been able to re-open now so are just trying to catch up on all our home visits and reports.

December News

We had a blessed this year from volunteers visiting to our sponsors making sure that ThembaCare name is mentioned out in the community. We need to say a big thank you to Two-a-Day for the donations we received from their staff for World AIDS Day day as well as the beautiful flowers and also to Pineview Primary for the much needed soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes. They might seem like boring basics but these kind of donations are practical and very welcome!

Last, but not least, to our loyal staff: THANK YOU for every minute you put in to making ThembaCare a success, for your dedication towards our clients and their families. May this festive season be blessed!

October News

This month the workers in parliament dipped into their own pocket and bought ThembaCare Grabouw a much-needed hoist to assist us with lifting patients in and out of bed. This should certainly prevent us getting any back injuries and make it much safer for the patients too! We are very grateful for their generosity.

We still care for 418 clients in and around Grabouw and we have had six patients in the inpatient unit this month.

September News

One of our carers checking a patient's medication

Can you believe it’s just three months until it’s 2013? At this time of year we begin to ask ourselves whether we are on target for all the things we want to accomplish this year. This is how things look so far: Our IPU have had 59 patients this year of which only 13 have died. For us this is an accomplishment and our 16 ladies in the Out Patient Unit are still looking after over 400 patients in the community. We are also very happy to have a smartly painted and improved building to work in.  On top of that some of our staff have been blessed with new children themselves:  Anna, Thandeka, and Jo-Anne have all had daughters and we wish them well with their new additions. So far, so good!

With a short holiday coming up at the end of this week we also just want to say a big thank you to our trusty locum staff. It means a lot to have a well deserved break and to know that the good work will continue while some of us are away on holiday.

August News

August was our coldest month here in Grabouw, with lots and lots of rain and snow capping the surrounding mountains. Despite the hostile weather our home-based care ladies still continue to be true to their calling and are making daily visits to our patients on foot. We have also managed to continue with a lot of refurbishments and this month, thanks again to the Gerald Wright Trust, the whole of the outside of our building now has a fresh coat of paint. It looks very smart!

The inpatient unit has had a mixed month. We sadly lost a patient who gave up the battle with HIV but also happily we were able to send home another patient who had arrived less than a month ago with a very low CD4 of 8. She looks happy and healthy and to see the thanks in her little daughter and mother’s eyes makes our jobs all the more worthwhile. CD4 is a way of measuring the amount of white blood cells your body has for fighting an infection. A person with a normal CD4 is around 1500 to 2000 so you can imagine, when this lady arrived with a CD4 of only 8 we didn’t not know whether she would survive!

One of our male out patients who had been living for years with a tumour on the whole of his back is doing very well after it was surgically removed. His self esteem has grown hugely now he doesn’t have the burden of the tumour. He is now doing so well that he has been able to fly home to Nigeria and join his wife and kids. He was always very involved in our life at ThembaCare and would often be part of our weekly church service. We will miss him greatly but are so happy he is doing so well.