Night run for nurses

LACE up those takkies, put on your lycra and make sure you enter The Exceptional Nurse Campaign Night Run on Saturday, September 1.

This is a great excuse to get out into the community and breathe in some fresh air, but, more importantly, you will be honouring and supporting the exceptional nurses all around South Africa, and you will have the bragging rights of running in the first Night Run for Nurses in the world!

The 7km night route will start at 6pm from the NG Kerk on Ladies Mile Road in Kreupelbosch.

The night run is to raise awareness about the critical shortage of professional nurses in South Africa and to promote a culture of honour and gratitude towards all.

Nurses play an essential role in the medical profession and health-care system, and we hope that through the work of The Exceptional Nurse Campaign, we can change the tide of negative media coverage by highlighting all the “exceptional nurses” that help create beautiful miracles every day. Nurses not only form the backbone, but the beating heart of our health-care system.

I started the Exceptional Nurse Campaign (TEN) after seeing how desperate the situation in some of our hospitals had become.

Did you know there is a critical shortage of professional and specialty nurses. A total of 46.7 million people in South Africa are dependent on the National Department of Health for the health-care services provided through 351 public hospitals and about 3 000 community clinics.

There is an estimated shortage of more than 30 000 professional and specialty nurses employed in the government sector, where the patient to nurse ratio is 25:1.

The Exceptional Nurse Campaign (Campaign TEN) is a non-government, non-profit company committed to solving the growing health-care crisis in South Africa.

Website: www.theexceptionalnurse.co.za. Facebook: https://www.facebook. com/TheExceptionalNurseCampaign /)

So get your entries in now and remember “Save lives – be a nurse”. Sister Teresa Basson The Exceptional Nurse Campaign