A CUP WITH FRIENDS FOR A GOOD CAUSE
St Bernard’s benefits from women’s tea and mini business expo
St Bernard’s Hospice benefits from women’s tea and mini business expo
Celebrating female friendships and entrepreneurship at a women’s tea and mini business expo on Saturday had the added bonus of raising muchneeded funds for St Bernard’s Hospice, which cares for 612 patients suffering from HIVAids, drug-resistant TB and cancer.
St Bernard’s CEO Melissa Knox, 35, said the hospice, which provides home care for patients from Ducats to Kidds Beach and Gonubie to Mdantsane, desperately needed funding so that its four professional nurses and 26 carers could continue to offer palliative care to the sick and dying.
She said the hospice’s vehicle fleet consisted of six 10-year-old sedans which took strain travelling on rugged terrain to reach far-flung patients.
“Our buildings are also in dire need of maintenance.”
Speaking to the Daily Dispatch at the Abbotsford Christian Centre which was being transformed into a massive tea party for 200 women, Knox said that although the department of health provided the bulk of the NPO’s funding, it struggled to make up shortfalls.
“There has been a significant decrease in big, long-term funders who would partner with us for three to five years. Many funders have changed funding focus areas to areas like early childhood development. Aids was a pandemic threat 20 years ago, but civil society and the department of health have turned the tide on it and it is now manageable.”
Cancer diagnoses, however, are on the increase and families are unable to afford frail care with facilities battling to provide the physical and emotional care needed to terminally ill family members.
“A lot of people are dying at home which is a privilege for some, but a burden for others. For some it’s dying alone in a cold shack.”
St Bernard’s organises four fundraising events annually and Saturday’s Women’s Tea and Mini Expo which was addressed by Current Consulting MD Bonnie Currin, was expected to raise about R35,000.
“We wanted to give women in particular an opportunity to showcase their products and services and the tea and talk is about celebrating women’s friendship and encouraging them to support each other.”
Mangisa Family Dental Care dental therapist Ntando Mangisa offered free dental screenings with an intra-oral camera to those attending.
Knox said that although it was a “dream” to once again offer in-patient care at the hospice building in Southernwood, the sustainability of maintaining staff on a 24-hour basis was financially challenging.
“We stopped in-patient care in 2013, but it is still a dream. If the right opportunities arose we would re-open the in-patient unit in a heartbeat, but we would have to have [financial] guarantees to sustain it.”
A lot of people are dying at home. For some it’s dying alone in a cold shack