Relieved Glen Grey staff get bulk PPE donation

The Impendulo Foundation and the National Lottery Commission donated personal protective equipment (PPE) to Glen Grey Hospital in Cacadu and All Saints Hospital in Ngcobo recently.

Impendulo Foundation founder and chairperson, Wendy Mpendulo, said the Mthatha-based non-profit organisation, which assist vulnerable groups in society, was established in 2012, in Viedgesville.

We saw a need for PPE in

“the Eastern Cape which was said to be behind in fighting Covid19 in June and July, as many health care workers were being infected, with some dying. We targeted hospitals in

“small areas which were not properly funded. Glen Grey is one of the hospitals that had the first Covid-19 cases in the province,” Mpendulo said.

Some of the items donated included protective clothing, machines, equipment and awareness booklets.

She said All Saints Hospital workers were thrilled to receive the assistance.

They said they only had

“surgical masks left, and no other PPE.

When we arrived they had

“no Covid-19 awareness posters. They lost many patients and “workers who would not have died if there had not been a lack of PPE, and some health workers said they were scared to look after Covid-19 patients.”

Mpendulo said the NPO would also provide Covid-19 training for staff.

She added that hospital laundry workers said they had not been trained on how to handle clothing and linen to prevent Covid-19 infections.

She said the training would continue for six months and the PPE donations were expected to last until the end of the year. What was great was that we “went to places where there was a need,” she said.

However, she said an even tougher battle loomed as Covid19 had taken away many breadwinners, which meant the number of child-headed families would grow, while other people had faced job cuts. The most deadly pandemic “after Covid-19 will be hunger as breadwinners die.

We want to partner with

“municipalities to alleviate poverty.”

Chris Hani District Municipality and Emalahleni Local Municipality also donated to the Indwe and Dordrecht hospitals last week.