Rotary drives community health project
Rotary Club of Empangeni held their Rotary Health Day At Mpembeni Tribal Court Hall
THE Mpembeni Tribal Court Hall was a hive of activity over the first few days of April when the Rotary Club of Empangeni turned the hall into a ‘pop-up’ health centre.
The Department of Health through their team of Ngwelezane Hospital, and Sboniso Clinic nursing staff offered the community the following services, General Health Screening, with blood pressure checking, as well as blood sugar assessment, as well as HIV & AIDS counselling and testing, TB testing, Woman’s and Men’s health issues were catered for.
Children were attended to, and an Audiologist and Speech therapist offered their expertise, Nutrition counselling for adults and children was readily available.
The community were introduced to the services offered by non- government associations, such as CANSA, SANCA, Hospice, and the most sought after service was those needing Eye testing, which was offered by Moffatt Optical from Richard’s Bay.
The Rotary Club of Richards Bay donated nine wheel chairs which were given to immobile elderly and disabled clients who attended the Health Day.
Rotary was responsible for the coordination and facilitating the event, and inviting the Health Professionals to participate. In order to facilitate the smooth running of the event many volunteers were needed, and Rotary Club of Empangeni were amazed by generosity of time given to assist with this worthy project, especially by the 20 staff of “Hillside”, who over the 3 days helped so willingly.
Over the three days there were 1150 services offered, and many health issues were identified, and patients referred for further treatment. Similar services were offered throughout the country over the same days by local Rotary Clubs, as this is an annual International Health outreach programme throughout Africa.
