Hospital beds
SACRED is helping to improve the quality of care in 2 hospitals in Alexandra, a township in the centre of Johannesburg, South Africa. SACRED have received a donation of 120 unwanted hospital beds and have funded the shipment of these beds to the Alexandra Township.
Sunderland Royal, were in the process of replacing over 800 of its hospital beds and mattresses in July, as they are substituting them with modern motorized beds, to reduce the risk of back injuries to nursing staff. The hospital very kindly passed on a number of the beds, which are in excellent condition, to the Grundfos Pumps manufacturing plant in Sunderland – who were in turn able to pass 120 onto SACRED. Grundfos have also sent beds to a hospital in Tanzania. Two containers, each containing 60 beds a several boxes of soap, left the UK at the end of July and arrived in South Africa in the beginning of September.
The beneficiaries, a hospice and health centre & clinic, are in dire need of decent equipment and facilities and the beds will go a long way to improving the standards of patient care.
The Banakekeleni Hospice is home to a number of HIV-positive patients and Aids orphans, and provides home-based care in Alexandra to Aids orphans and destitute children. The Alexandra Health Centre is a medical facility which provides basic healthcare to the community, but is primarily a maternity facility. It also houses a 24-hour stop centre for victims of sexual violence in collaboration with social and welfare services. The centre faces many challenges such as the HIV/Aids pandemic, but financial constraints remain their main concern.
The donation of these beds will make a huge difference and will mean that these health facilities will be able to help more people, and provide patients, a great many of whom are children, with a greater level of comfort and hygiene.
The township of Alexandra (Alex) was established in 1912 and is close to the center of Johannesburg. It covers an area of over 800 ha and its infrastructure was designed for a population of about 70,000. Current population estimates vary widely and have been put at figures ranging from 180,000 to 750,000. The significant, unplanned population has overloaded the infrastructure and put a huge burden on health facilities.
SACRED would like to offer special thanks to The Sunderland Royal and Grundfos in Sunderland for helping us to make a difference!