Vryheid Hospice turns 30
For three decades Vryheid Hospice has gone about its work, quietly helping numberless people cope with some of life’s worst tribulations and inevitabilities.
THERE is a Biblical injunction that says, in effect (and more poetically), if and when you do good, do not brag about it, in fact, tell no one. This philosophy could quite easily be the motto of Vryheid Hospice which turns 30 years old this week. For three decades Vryheid Hospice has gone about its work, quietly helping numberless people cope with some of life’s worst tribulations and inevitabilities.
Hospice cares for the dying, the terminally ill, and their families. The organisation never intrudes – it has to be asked. And unlike larger hospices with funding that allows for a hospital-like environment, Vryheid Hospice cares for its patients on a home-based basis. The house at 90 High Street is the base from which Hospice operates – there are no patients boarded there.
Funding, in fact, has been an on-going concern for the entire 30 years. The house in High Street does allow Vryheid Hospice to have a permanent jumble sale and second-hand bookshop, but no funding has ever been guaranteed. There is perhaps one exception.
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The house at 90 High Street was offered to Vryheid Hospice by Tselentis Mining in 1991. Originally the offer was for five years, and the rent was set at an incredible R1 per month. ONE RAND per month! It is now 27 years later and the same agreement has applied. Given the sort of rents that such a residence would attract, Tselentis Mining has donated hundreds of thousands of rands to Vryheid Hospice over the years, demonstrating incredible generosity towards the Vryheid community.
It was on April 27, 1988, that the then Mayor of Vryheid, Cllr P Nel, officially inaugurated the Vryheid Hospice Care Group. Many people were involved in the group’s formation, but it would seem that two of the earliest pioneers were Zilla Foster (then senior sister at the municipal clinic) and Betty Swart (the senior social worker in northern KZN). An executive committee was appointed and seven businessmen volunteered to assist – Hermann Botha, Les Gilbanks (of the Lions Club, which was very involved), Tony Houston, Tom Meldrum, Ronnie Prew, Vernon Schefermann and Des Ward.
The idea of what we now understand as a hospice is comparatively recent. Originally, in the 4th century, a hospice was a resting place for travelers, often Christian pilgrims. When, a lot later, hospitals emerged, there was little provision for the poor and the dying. That had to wait until the end of the 19th century, and it happened, only to a limited extent, in Britain and the USA. But again, the hospice concept had to wait until the 1950’s for the development of certain drugs and pain-treatment techniques, and this was coupled with the problems of families and bereavement counselling.
It was possible in 1996 for Vryheid Hospice to appoint a full-time qualified nursing sister, a position filled first by Vivian Amstutz, and then in 1997 by Natalie Meyer; then Francois De Marcy Pugin and currently Cecelia van Wyk. And behind the scenes, always, there has been a team of volunteers who in many ways have kept Vryheid Hospice going. Among them has been, and is, Harry Heyns who has chaired the Hospice committee for two decades of Hospice’s three.
And as Vryheid Hospice quietly celebrates three decades of community work, the funding continues. The next “event” is the Hospice Tea Party on May 19 in the Vryheid High School Hall. Tickets are R50 (available from Hospice House), the party starts at 1:30pm, and you won’t find a better “slap up” tea! This year Luette and the Inkamana School Choir will entertain guests. The bookshop is open every week day morning and you won’t find better value reading material anywhere.
