Cape Town - Help the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital with their Family Care Project, to provide emergency relief items for families on the road to recovery.
“The project was started in March 2022, to support vulnerable patients and their families at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, with temporary relief resources. All donations will go towards providing basic care packages to those patients who have lost everything in home fires or are hospitalised far from their homes. It will also provide support with food parcels for those affected by life-changing illnesses, such as diabetes, and assist with high transport costs for those travelling to the hospital frequently for their check-ups. We ask the public to open their hearts to support this initiative,” said communications officer at the Children’s Hospital Trust Toni Erasmus.
The Family Care Project requires R1.25million per year.
Each year, they see around 250 000 patient visits for specialist medical care.
For many of the patients and families at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, family is a bond not just based on blood, but felt through the care, love, and support of medical and hospital staff and, most importantly, the generous donors who make a life-changing difference.
In addition to the dire needs of families coming from low socio-economic situations, the stress for these families going through life-changing diagnoses and long-term medical treatments for their little ones is traumatic,” added Erasmus.
Donations and support for this cause will be distributed among 70 patients for transportation costs per month, 240 patients with long-term treatments – such as those in the oncology ward – per month, 800 occupational and 900 physiotherapy patients, who require weekly check-ups
For little ones with diabetes, whose families struggle to keep up with the high dietary costs – the diabetic clinic sees more than 1 400 patients per month
The Family Care Project also extends itself to assist the only specialised Paediatric Burns Unit in Africa, and they see more than 320 patients per month
“A child’s illness impacts their family system. At Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, social workers provide psychosocial assessments and counselling for children and families, in respect of the emotional impact of illness and trauma, how their interpersonal relationships are affected, and the disruption caused to their family and school activities. However, there is a financial cost to illness and traumatic health incidents that many impoverished families struggle to cope with. We need your help. Families need basic material assistance during and after the child’s hospitalisation,” said head of the Social Work Department, at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, Carla Brown.
For the past 28 years, the Children’s Hospital Trust has raised more than R1 billion towards improving child public health care projects in the Western Cape.
CEO of the Children’s Hospital Trust, Chantel Cooper said: “We are fully aware of the impact of unemployment and poverty on families and children. When your child is sick, your priority is to ensure that they are taken care of. Many families, who accompany their children to hospital, do not have the necessities and we are there to support them while their child is in hospital. This could be in the form of clothing, toiletries, snacks, toys for children, transport, and/or food parcels when going home. With your support, we can help alleviate the trauma families feel when they sit by their children’s bedsides by ensuring they are as comfortable as possible.”