CATHOLIC INFORMATION SERVICE FOR AFRICA (CISA)
SOUTH
AFRICA: Church Hospice to Expand Services for AIDS Patients
MANDENI, October 5, 2007 (CISA) - As the world marks the annual day of care for people
with life-threatening diseases Saturday, a South African church-run centre is
planning expansion to cater for more patients.
The World Hospice and Palliative Care Day, marked on the second week of October,
celebrates and supports care for people living with terminal illness. Palliative
care focuses on managing the pain of patients.
At Blessed Gérard’s Care Centre in KwaZulu-Natal, plans are underway to
construct a new clinic for its ongoing programme, called the
Highly Active Anti Retroviral Therapy (HAART),
for poor AIDS patients.
Since its inception in 2003, the HAART Programme has been using the facilities
of the inpatient unit at the centre.
“We are constructing a new HAART clinic to create more privacy for our AIDS
patients and better consulting rooms for our doctor and nurse and safe storage
for the antiretroviral medication,” said centre director, Fr Gérard T. Lagleder
O.S.B.
Blessed Gerard's Care Centre also
intends to expand its children’s wing to
increase the current capacity of 40 places to 50. “Up to eight children have to
share a bedroom in the babies’ room. We are constructing an
extension to enable us to provide double
bedrooms for our older children in a family-type setup where they can grow up as
they would in a real family, getting introduced to the real life,” Lagleder said.
The second phase of the extension will provide a larger dining room, playroom
and study room for the younger children. In future, subject to availability of
funding, a final phase of the expansion will provide 24 more places for the
primary school-going children.
The organizers, who are relying on donations for the successful completion of
the clinic, have sent an open appeal requesting for help to help finance the
project.
Contact: Blessed Gérard’s Care Centre, P O Box 440, Mandeni 4490, South Africa;
Phone +27 32 4562743; Fax +27 32 4567962;
www.bbg.org.za; For
donations, visit
http://bbg.org.za/donation.htm".
Issue No. 910, Friday, October 5, 2007
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