By Lone Lourens | Marketing and Fundraising Manager
2021 has started off well if a little uncertainly. With COVID still very prevalent throughout South Africa and the World we continue to take every precaution in the continued care of our vulnerable residents. Here is a brief breakdown of what has been happening at Woodside Sanctuary so far this year.
COVID-19 (current protocols and looking forward)
As stated above COVID-19 is still a big part of our everyday lives and we have all needed some time to adjust to what has become our new normal. South Africa’s Government is hoping to achieve heard immunity and has begun with the Vaccination roll-out and we are hopeful that in the not too distant future things will finally begin to settle. Until such a time, as the spread of COVID-19 is finally brought under control, Woodside will continue to do all we can to ensure the safety of our residents.
For much of last year, we were under an extremely strict lock-down, with only staff being allowed on the premises after being properly screened and checked for any symptoms. This was incredibly difficult for Woodside’s residents and their families, as it was simply not safe to allow outsiders into the building due to the fact that many of our residents are greatly immunocompromised. Thankfully the global medical community has been hard at work, developing methods by which to be able to detect COVID-19 and we now have both the swab test and the rapid test at our disposal to ensure that those coming onto our property are COVID free. As a result we are now able to once again, allow families to visit their loved ones (provided that full PPE is worn at all times and that the results from any COVID-19 rapid tests are negative).
Our Nursing team has worked incredibly hard throughout the COVID pandemic to ensure that our residents have remained healthy and, in-fact our residents are healthier now than they have ever been. The dedication of our nursing team and care workers during these difficult times has been unparalleled and we are incredibly grateful for all their hard work and dedication in ensuring the continued good health and well-being of all those in our care.
Woodside still continues to incur costs due to COVID-19, and we will continue to do so until such a time as the threat is gone, and life returns to normal. The cost involved with needing to ensure stock levels of face masks, PPE, hand sanitiser, cleaning chemicals and rapid tests are quite extensive and we have had to rely heavily on donations received through the year to help cover those costs.
Raising Awareness
Woodside Sanctuary continues to look for ways to raise awareness not only for our organisation but also for those with intellectual disabilities. To help us do this we have been using our Social Media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, to share posts and informative information. In January this year we created an Instagram account as well. Instagram is a much more visually driven social media platform and allows us more freedom of creativity when creating campaigns. Our audience is slowly growing and we hope that by using all of our Social Media platforms we will be able to reach more people and create more awareness.
Training of Students
Woodside Sanctuary continues to be a preferred training facility for 4th and 3rd year nursing students from institutions such as the University of Johannesburg, WITS, Baragwanath and Ann Latsky. Here the students get the first hand practical training they need in order to get their respective qualifications. In 2019 alone over 300 students did their practical training at Woodside. Sadly, as a result of the COVID-19 situation and national lockdowns, we were only able to provide training to 70 nursing students in 2020. Woodside will not be able to provide training for nursing students this year, until COVID-19 is no longer a threat. We simply cannot risk exposing our residents to the possibility of infection.
Woodside has also been providing practical training to Social Worker students for some years now, and in 2020, we had two social worker students who continued to receive guidance from our social worker online, in order to complete their qualifications. The online aspect of this was influenced by COVID-19 and the lockdown. This year, Woodside’s social worker has been providing training to a Social Worker student, on-site, since February 2021. The student is required to follow all our COVID-19 protocols, and is screened and provided with full PPE before she is able to enter our building.
Woodside is incredibly proud of our Social Worker, Mr. Pat Ngwenya, as he was also once a social worker student who received training at Woodside. Since then Mr. Ngwenya has qualified for his Bachelors of Social Work degree and has been employed fulltime as Woodside’s Social Worker. In fact, Mr. Ngwenya passed so well that he was invited to complete his Masters, which he is currently doing, as well as working at Woodside fulltime.
Department of Mental Health Audit
We received an exemplary audit from the Department of Health and Social Development for 2020. We have also been named a best practice facility by the Department and as such, they have approached us to provide training to other NGOs within the Mental Health Care sector to assist them in Human Relations, Financial Management, Operational Management, Feeding and Nutrition and up-skilling of staff.
Resident Functions
Due to COVID-19 restrictions we have had far fewer functions at Woodside this past year, and we have also sadly not been able to have any donor visits or outings. This was done because we wanted to do everything possible to ensure the continued health and well-being of those in our care, and wanted to avoid any possibility of exposing them to the virus.
Thankfully, due to the incredible efforts of our nursing team and care staff, Woodside has been a COVID green zone (we have had no COVID cases) for a number of months. So we decided to have some resident functions including Christmas, Easter, and Valentine’s Day, where our wards were still socially distanced, but everyone could take part in the festivities. This was a wonderful change from 2020, and the activities were not only greatly enjoyed by all they also helped to present a more normalised atmosphere for our residents.
Borehole repairs
In March 2021, Woodside’s borehole needed urgent repairs as the booster pump became faulty. This was an issue that need to be resolved as quickly as possible as all of Woodside’s water is sourced from our borehole (which we changed over to, to help and reduce the costs of municipal water). We had some issue trying to get someone in to repair our borehole and used our social media to ask for assistance. Thankfully we were able to locate someone who was able to assist us. Our booster pump has now been replaced and our borehole is once again fully operational.
While we are happy to have made it through 2020, we are acutely aware that COVID-19 continues to be a threat and will most likely remain so for some time to come. We have many stringent protocols in place, and will continue to enforce them until such a time that the safety of those in our care can be ensured. We will continue to maintain PPE levels, and monitor all staff and residents to be sure that all remain in good health.
In Closing
Our primary focus continues and will always be the provision of exceptional full-time care to all of our 83 profoundly intellectually disable residents, 25 of which are either orphaned or have no means of financial support (our Angels). The adults and children in our care require lifelong assistance and will never be able to care for themselves or filter into normal society, therefore, this is an ongoing project and will require constant funding to help us ensure that all our residents receive the very best care possible.
The GlobalGiving community have helped us to raise almost 57% (R102 150.74) of our target towards the Woodside’s Angels project, and we simply cannot thank you enough for your incredible support and generosity. Your generous assistance throughout the difficult times that we have faced has helped us to be able to continue to keep Woodside hygienically clean, keep our staff and residents protected by ensuring that all the needed PPE was available, and to provide food, medications, toiletries, a place of safety, holistic care and stimulation for the 25 Profoundly Intellectually disabled orphans and vulnerable angels in our care.
Like many NPOs, Woodside Sanctuary is heavily reliant on the kindness and generosity of our donors and supporters and it is only with their compassionate assistance that we are able to continue to maintain the highest standards of care, provide excellent nursing, medical and residential care for all who live here. On behalf of Woodside Sanctuary and especially the angels in our care, we offer our deepest and most heartfelt thanks to our donors and supporters for their outstanding generosity and kindness, during this exceedingly difficult time. Your care and compassion is what keeps us going, and we are eternally grateful to you for all you have done to help and support us! Thank you!!
Links:
By Lone Lourens | Marketing and Fundraising Manager
By Lone Lourens | Marketing and Fundraising Manager
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
