Devices connect patients with families

IMAGINE having no contact with friends and family while in hospital.

This is the situation for Covid-19 patients in intensive care units (ICU) but a donation from a telecoms company has brought families together. To alleviate their plight, Masks for Medics (MfM), which is a local group of doctors and Maverick Telecommunications, a local MTN franchise, joined forces by helping Covid-19 patients communicate with their families via video calls.

MfM heard about patients’ cellphones being locked away due to infection control protocols or not having phones. They approached the telecommunications company who to date donated 22 devices/sim card combos each pre-loaded with 20GB of data on a monthly basis.

The hospitals that benefited include Groote Schuur Hospital, Khayelitsha

District Hospital, Mitchells Plain District Hospital, Heideveld Community Clinic and DP Marais Hospital in Retreat. One of the founders of MfM, Sonia Hough said it is vital to help patients during this period.

“Most of these patients are isolated for prolonged periods of time in an unfamiliar environment. Family members leave each other at the door of the emergency unit of a hospital and will only be able to see their loved ones again in a few weeks’ time, if they are lucky. This has an extensive negative impact on the psychological well-being of the patient, family unit and their community as a whole,” she said.

Head of the emergency unit at Mitchells Plain Hospital, Candice van Koningsbruggen, said she was thrilled with the donation from Maverick Telecommunications.

“These devices would make all the difference to the lives of these patients who until now have had no communication with any of their family

“Most of these patients are isolated for prolonged periods Sonia Hough MFM CO-FOUNDER

members,” she said.

Head of the clinical unit in critical care at Groote Schuur, Jenna Piercy said it’s a wonderful initiative.

“It must be incredibly traumatic for patients to be alone at such a terrifying time, and for relatives it is terribly distressing not being able to see their loved ones and not getting frequent updates as to how their family member is doing.

“The operations manager in one of

| SUPPLIED THE Masks for Medics team comprises: From top left: Doctors Sonia Hough, Julie Etellin, Anthony Smith and from bottom left: Sarahan Brophy, Natalia Novikova and Lauren Lee.