"Working for Hospice has changed my inner self and made me realise that life and death are a journey that no one will be spared from. Hospice has helped me deal with my feelings towards death and has also given me experience in counselling, particularly with those who have lost their loved ones."
"Working for Hospice has changed my inner self and made me realise that life and death are a journey that no one will be spared from. Hospice has helped me deal with my feelings towards death and has also given me experience in counselling, particularly with those who have lost their loved ones."
Those are the words of Dolly Ntshwaqela, a newly qualified social worker who recently joined Grahamstown Hospice. She's quoted on the Grahamstown Hospice website, where she describes her initial shock at seeing the conditions under which some patients live.
She says the horror nearly destroyed her. And then she says, "At this moment I love what I am doing. I have seen how my work impacts on patients and their families."
It's tough work. "It is so easy for me to become overwhelmed by the level of poverty, despair and need," another Grahamstown Hospice worker says.
With insufficient support from the government, the Hospice Palliative Care Association of SA (HPCA) says thousands of terminally ill patients have no access to palliative care. The association says hospices are battling to raise funds from corporates, government and donors, their only lifeline.
Grahamstown Hospice provides palliative care to people who are approaching the end of their lives. A team of skilled professional staff and volunteers improves the quality of life of these patients through early identification and treatment of pain and the other physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs of the patients and their families. This is given, irrespective of the patient’s ability to pay for the service.
"We strive to enhance quality of life, dignity in death and support in bereavement to all living with life threatening illness," their mission states. It is this difficult and valuable work that Grocott's Mail once again seeks to support through donations by you, our readers, to the Grocott's Mail Christmas Cheer Fund.
Donations can be dropped off at the Grocott's Mail offices at 100 High Street or deposited in our account: Christmas Cheer GBS Mutual Bank at FNB Account no: 5232 200 3436 Branch Code: 250143 Please ensure you use the reference, 003 807 000 57
