White Rose Hospice needs urgent help to keep on helping others
White Rose Hospice gets no funding from the government, and they are dependent on donations from the community and businesses.
Death is something we will all face one day, for some of us death comes sooner than we expect due to illness.
No one wants to die alone, but for some, that is real unless they get help from the staff at White Rose Hospice to stay with them until their last breath is taken.
But unfortunately, if the White Rose Hospice does not get the necessary funding soon, they will end up closing their doors and services to the community for good.
White Rose Hospice used to have an in-patient facility which had to close down and currently they are doing home-based care.
In eMalahleni and the informal settlements around the city, they are taking care of 300 people.
The nursing staff offers pain and system control care and patient and family counselling.
“We need funding, we have lost our sponsors. The funding is for travelling, salaries, petrol, medical stock, insurance and communication,” said Ms Magda Esterhuizen, director of White Rose Hospice.
It is the fourth month now that Esterhuizen has not managed to pay her staff a salary.
The majority of the patients they care for are cancer patients and HIV patients where end of life care is given.
“At this moment the hospice has a shortfall of R80 000 every month,” said Esterhuizen.
White Rose Hospice gets no funding from the government, and they are dependent on donations from the community and businesses.
“The sad reality is if we don’t get support or the funding that we need from our community or the businesses in eMalahleni, there will be no more hospice,” said Esterhuizen.
Esterhuizen continued, “Our slogan is ‒ You are not alone.”
If the trained staff from hospice is no longer there then there will be no end of life care for the patients and no support for the families.
It all becomes the family’s responsibility at the end of the day.
“It’s really up to the community to help us now,” said Esterhuizen.
White Rose Hospice staff is available 24/7, and they are always willing to help.
If anyone in the community is willing to donate to White Rose Hospice here are the banking details:
White Rose Hospice
Nedbank
Cheque Account
1585440914 (account number)
158550 (branch code)
For more information contact Magda on 079 084 8743 or Liezel on 084 508 0609.
