The drive towards better health – Hospital receives a gift on wheels

For an institution that transports patients to and fro, the Toyota Quantum could not have come at a better time for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital (NMCH).

Avis Rent a Car came through for the hospital on 23 May when they handed the ten-seater minibus to the staff at the hospital.

The handover ceremony started off with a few speeches from the car company and the hospital staff. Chief executive officer of Avis Southern Africa, Rainer Gottschick, said their company was honoured and humbled to be part of such a contribution. “The journey started in 2013 when NMCH For Kids by Kids initiative was launched to raise funds for the hospital and we sponsored a vehicle for the team to use to raise funds,” he stated.

Avis followed the building of the hospital process throughout and saw the handing over of the Toyota as the next step in their relationship.

“We were approached this year to provide safety and transport support to children and families that need to be shuttled from the children’s hospital to other hospitals and we believe this vehicle will serve that purpose well,” said Doreen Lupton, human capital executive at Avis.

Lupton stated that they enjoyed their partnership with the hospital and referred to what Nelson Mandela stood for, which is to improve the quality of life of children by making sure they are healthy and strong. “We believe that our partnership with the hospital aligns itself well to our brand promise, which says that people are more important than cars,” she said.

The chief executive officer of Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, Mandisa Maholwana was not short on gratitude to Avis as she described the ceremony as a ‘momentous occasion’ that their hospital had witnessed. “This has been a great need for us because we do have a lot of patients and a lot of them are at school. We need to make sure that the children are returned to school as soon as possible, so that they don’t miss out on too much work,” she said.

Maholwana also said the vehicle would assist with deliveries of medication and food for patients who receive treatment at their homes. The contribution came at just the right time, as the hospital was expanding their services and extending them to really sick patients.

After the speakers concluded their speeches, the team in attendance was taken on a tour around the hospital, which included seeing the different colour coded wards and hospital equipment.

Details: Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital 011 274 5600.

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