It is late on a Tuesday evening and the clinical team in the Emergency Centre are feeling emotionally exhausted. Three children were rushed in for emergency care, a 2-year-old with gunshot wounds, a traumatised 11-year old who had been seriously injured by three dogs and a young child who survived a devastating shack fire. All this in a couple of hours on a weekday.
“It’s like a battlefield out here. Besides being confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic, we are also treating critically ill and injured children every hour on the hour. From those injured due to road accidents, fires and falls, to children who are victims of the surge season – the dreaded period between May and November when patients are admitted with respiratory illnesses and gastroenteritis”, says Prof McCulloch, a paediatrician on the frontline in the Emergency Centre.
She adds: “The pressure felt by the unsung heroes I work with is overwhelming and we need your help. At present the Emergency Centre is not adequately equipped to manage the influx of patients due to limited space, overcrowding and inefficient logistics. We are in a crisis and we need to empower the men and women on the frontline with the facilities, tools and armour that they need to keep saving lives”.
In response to this appeal for assistance, the Children’s Hospital Trust has embarked on a frontline campaign to raise funds for the upgrade and expansion of the Emergency Centre. The upgrade which began in April 2019 comes at a cost of R 122 million of which R74 270 201 million has already been raised. A balance of R47 729 799 is outstanding.
The Children’s Hospital Trust is an NPO that raises funds to advance child healthcare through the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. From upgrades to its buildings and facilities, to the implementation of several projects and programmes and upskilling of medical professionals from across Africa since 1994.
Throughout its history, the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital has been sustained through times of crisis by selfless, compassionate and principled individuals who shared a vision for the future of our country’s most precious and vulnerable asset – our children.
In 1956 the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital was made possible through the generosity of WWII veterans who were deeply moved by the plight of children caught up in the hostilities. These principled and dedicated visionaries vowed to create a place of healing as a living memorial to their comrades they had lost at war. So, they donated a portion of their earnings to build a hospital that for 7 decades has enabled medics on the frontline to care for sick and injured children.
Today, the Hospital is internationally recognised as a centre of medical excellence and its Emergency Centre remains the first and only specialist paediatric centre in sub-Saharan Africa, managing around 45 000 patient visits every year.
Despite these extraordinary achievements, the Hospital has continued to face successive crises. In 1994, a serious lack of funding meant that the Hospital and its Emergency Centre faced closure. Once again, a group of compassionate and far-sighted heroes stepped in to save the day. This time, they comprised of individuals who were instrumental in establishing the Children’s Hospital Trust with a single, clear mandate: to raise funds to support specific projects and programmes to advance child healthcare through the Hospital.
Looking back on those times, founding members remember 1994 as the year when South African democracy was born. But what a tragedy it would have been if they had been unable to help the children who were also born around that time. When the call came, they had no hesitation in dedicating their own resources into fighting for the youngsters who were the future of our new-born nation.
Like those original war heroes vowing to protect future generations of children, today’s heroes are already preparing for the worst-case scenario. But they cannot do it alone.
Put simply: the need to complete the Emergency Centre upgrade has never been more urgent. That is why we are appealing to people who share the values and vision of the Hospital’s founders to stand in solidarity with our medical staff through one of the most serious health crises in the Hospital’s history.
Says Chantel Cooper, CEO of the Children’s Hospital Trust, “Now is the time to join hands with us by standing alongside the unsung heroes who fight to save lives day in day out while confronted by the threat of the coronavirus pandemic. Join us by stepping onto the battlefield like generations before us and help ensure that frontline medics are properly equipped, and the facilities are adequate to save and protect our children”.
“This is your opportunity to leave a legacy by safeguarding the health and well-being of future generations of South Africans,” she adds.
