Grant to help save children in ICU

RED CROSS War Memorial Children’s Hospital will be receiving R37 million that will double the capacity of its intensive care unit (ICU).

Yesterday, the hospital received R10m – the first in a series of contributions from the Quercus Foundation.

The ICU annually treats approximately 1 400 children, and it is where the lives of 800 children are saved, thanks to the facilities in the unit.

Nikita Scott, 15, was one of the children who would have died as a baby had it not been for the treatment she received at the unit. After this episode, she was handed a ventilator to take home, which she uses at night to help her breathe.

The Mitchells Plain teenager was born with kyphoscoliosis, a condition which affects the curvature of the spine. It has affected her lungs, and she depends on a tracheotomy tube in her neck to breathe.

Her mother, Berenice said she had not slept well since the birth of her daughter. “She sleeps with a ventilator, and if there should be a power shortage, there is a chance she could suffocate.”

“I am so grateful for this contribution because I think of how my child was saved there. Other people donated to the hospital at the time Nikita was in ICU,” she said.

Nikita is no longer a regular in the hospital, and spends her time on spiritual dancing at churches, birthday parties and for children at Red Cross. The shy Grade 8 pupil from Eros School for Cerebral Palsied in Bridgetown plans to become a painter.

Co-founder of the Quercus Foundation, Diego Biasi, established the UK-based foundation to contribute to children’s health. After losing his business partner to lung cancer last year, improving the health of people in ICU became one of his missions.

“The reason for selecting Red Cross Children’s Hospital was because the demand for beds has reached critical levels. The unit serves nearly two million children in the province,” he said. nicolette.dirk@inl.co.za

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