Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Nursing sister wins award
DENISE Booysen was last night named the best nurse in the Western Cape at the Cecilia Makiwane Nursing Awards in Stellenbosch.
The annual award is named after the first black registered professional nurse in South Africa.
Booysen, from Vredendal in the Matzikama district, was chosen as the winner by a panel of her peers.
The first runner- up was Sanel Viljoen of Worcester Hospital followed by Lesley Hoogevorst of Red Cross Children’s Hospital.
The provincial Health Department said the awards motivated and inspired nurses by recognising and rewarding service delivery excellence.
“Nurses and other healthcare workers are essentially our modern-day heroes, who work under tough conditions at our facilities and serve a grow- ing number of those dependent on the public health-care system,” Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said at the Stellenbosch Town Hall last night.
Booysen has been involved in a number of innovative community health projects. Her Mission for Vision project collected and recycled spectacles from community members who no longer needed them.