On 6 June the Department of Health and retired nurses joined forces with Jabez Centre and other NGOs, as well as mobile health services working in the Seven Fountains area.
The retired nurses donated clothing, as well as offering health checks, including tests for blood sugar, high blood pressure, HIV status and weight.
“The aim to do Seven Fountains is because it is an outlying area served only by a mobile clinic.
“Most of the time, residents have to bring their health problems to Grahamstown,” said retired nurse, Rose Somngesi .
“As retired nurses we still have power to do something for the community,” Somngesi said. “Instead of sitting down in the sun, we decided to help the community with the skills we have. The aim is that the health of the people must be taken care of, regardless where they are, she said.
Mawethu Mthwalo is a professional nurse working in the area.
“I was very proud to see people from different aspects of health gathered together to give back to the community,” Mthwalo said. He felt like all the other young nurses should learn something from the retired nurses and that the lamp of Florence Nightingale had stayed burning in their hands. “The retired nurses’ visit here has uplifted people’s spirits,” he said.
Mthwalo said the mobile clinic goes to Seven Fountains twice a month and he aims to motivate for the Department to increase its visits to the area.
