Meet a local healthcare hero
Tell us about your healthcare hero by emailing details to benonicitytimes@caxton.co.za
Bradley Richards wants to thank Netcare Linmed Hospital healthcare worker Mathilda Tefu for going the extra mile in her job.
“Mathilda works in one of the orthopaedic wards which have been converted to a Covid-19 ward. She is a hero to myself and other patients because she, like all the other frontline workers, puts herself at risk every day to work in the Covid-19 ward to help people.
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“Mathilda is so helpful, but what sets her apart most is her attitude. She goes the extra mile for patients and always seems to be smiling.
“The type of dedication to her job I saw from Mathilda was from rubbing a patient’s hands to get the blood flowing properly to sitting in a chair in the ward just to make sure a patient wears their oxygen mask,” said Richards.
“I have many examples I can talk about from my 10 days in hospital recently, but the easiest is to say Mathilda is a hero, my hero. She is amazing, but the entire team at Linmed was good, to be honest.”
Richards said he was looking for a way to thank the staff and ended up making a “heroes” banner he put up on the fence outside the hospital so that staff could see it in the morning when they arrived for work and in the afternoon when they left and believed they were heroes.
He also had 500 pens branded with the wording “you are the real heroes” for the hospital’s frontline staff in the Covid-19 ward, casualty and other wards.
“Each pen is to remind them they are the real heroes of Covid-19 and to hopefully remind them of how important they and their jobs are to the community,” Richards said.
Mathilda lives in Thembisa and has been in the nursing profession for four years.
“I have an 11-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, and I am engaged,” she explained. “I became a nurse because I love being supportive of those around me and look after those who need my attention, love, time and support.”
The most important thing a family can do for a loved one in the hospital, Mathilda said, is to ensure they feel special and to remind them what they are missing at home.
“Family should not call to worry them, but to uplift them. Be their pillar to hold onto and be patient with your loved ones you have at home,” she said.
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