After 10 years, beloved Stepping Stone Hospice counsellor bids farewell
Ruby Evrard’s journey from corporate recruitment to compassionate care touched thousands of lives.
After 10 years of walking on what she calls “sacred ground,” Ruby Evrard closed the door on her office at Stepping Stone Palliative Care Services for the final time.
She has left behind a legacy of compassion that has touched thousands of lives in the Alberton community and beyond.
Evrard, who has served as the hospice’s psychosocial counsellor since August 2014, embarks on a new chapter as she relocates to Ballito. However, her impact on the 5-star APCC- and COHSASA-accredited hospice, and the families she has served, will endure long after her departure.
“We touch thousands of lives. My path to hospice work was far from conventional. After beginning my career as a ground hostess with South African Airways and studying HR, I spent three remarkable decades with Afrox, rising to recruitment manager with a portfolio spanning Africa,” she said.
But it was her parallel journey with Lifeline, completing a personal growth and counselling course and volunteering on their telephone lines for nearly 20 years, that prepared her for her true calling.
Following her retirement from Afrox in 2010, Evrard’s compassionate nature led her to join the police victim support group as a debriefer, helping volunteers process traumatic events.
“I also had the privilege to work with CANSA, the Cancer Association of South Africa, before fate intervened in the form of a simple conversation. Working on the same premises as Stepping Stone, I approached Tersia one day with a question: ‘Do you perhaps need a counsellor in the unit?’” she recalled.
Thus began what Evrard describes as “the most incredible and wonderful journey.”
“It is sacred ground we walk on as we’re dealing with people who are losing loved ones and who are extremely vulnerable. Psychosocial counsellors require huge amounts of empathy, compassion, TLC, sensitivity, and intuition to deal with death and dying,” Evrard said.
Embracing the principles of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and various other therapists, Ruby specialised in palliative care, guiding families through life’s most difficult transitions. Her approach recognised that families don’t just bring their grief to hospice, but also other life challenges and anxieties during these vulnerable times.
Fondest memories
She said among her fondest memories are the therapy dog, Buddy, who brought comfort to children losing parents, the annual Memorial Days, and the Christmas light ceremonies.
“But perhaps most meaningful are the unexpected encounters. Walking into a restaurant or shopping on holiday, only to have someone approach and say, ‘You’ve helped my mom’ or ‘Remember you helped my dad.’ It’s almost daily that we encounter people thanking us,” Evrard said.
Tersia Burger, Stepping Stone Hospice’s founder and CEO, speaks warmly of Evrard’s contribution: “Ruby played a big role in all our lives for the many years that she has been with us. She also held my hand when I lost my husband; she was here for me, and she has touched thousands of people’s lives. She’s a people’s person, and we will forever miss her. We wish her well in all her future endeavours.”
Evrard praised her current manager, Sr Margie Bollman, along with the staff she described as “absolutely wonderful,” and her incredible CEO, Tersia.
As Stepping Stone continues to grow with their children’s unit in Raceview and plans for a new 14-bed facility, Evrard’s decade of service stands as a testament to the power of compassionate care. She appeals to the Alberton community to continue supporting the entity “step by step and brick by brick,” as they always have.
“I have grown as a person. I learn every day from the people that I serve, the people that I work with. There’s never a day that one goes home; you may be exhausted, you may have experienced precarious trauma, yet we return to work re-energised and with love in our hearts,” Evrard explained.
While Stepping Stone bids farewell to an irreplaceable team member, Evrard’s legacy lives on in the thousands of families she has guided through their darkest hours.
