Bearing gifts of love and hope
2008-05-29
FOR the many people who are HIV positive or have Aids, Sophie Moremi and Francina Volkers are a godsend. They are two of Drakenstein Hospice’s homebase carers and work in and around New Rest - in some of the poorest areas of Wellington. Together they take care of 50 patients, 12 are children. They are Hospice’s foot soldiers, walking the streets, braving the gangs and violence of township life. Everywhere they are treated with respect, and wherever they go, people stop them in the streets asking for advice. For Sophie Moremi it is not easy to turn people away. “You want to help, but there are so many people with Aids, and some are so very scared, because this is not what they expected for their life.” She and her colleague, Francina Volkers, work as a closely knit team, complementing each other’s knowledge and experience. Both believe in a single strategy - to give people hope and to keep their patients motivated. The success stories keep these two homebase carers motivated. Francina Volkers explains: “Some time ago we had a patient who was very ill. His CD4 count was 25 - an uninfected person’s CD4 count would be 700 or higher, indicating a healthy immune system. “We spent a lot of time with him and visited him three times a week. I kept on telling Sophie, we have to win this one back. We cannot loose him. “We did everything to get him to take an interest in life again. We spent a lot of time motivating and supporting his wife and children. “Today he is strong enough to go back to work, and the other day he phoned to tell us that his CD4 count was now 525. I could have wept with joy.” Sophie Moremi believes a smile can go a long way. “I feel that if you can make somebody laugh in the morning, then at least they are not sad for the whole day. “When people are so sick, they forget about life, but when you give them love, you give them hope. “And if they take their medication and eat the right food, they can feel much better, take care of their children and go back to work.” For many of their patients life is not easy. When a single mother becomes ill, a child may need someone to take care of him. Sometimes there is not enough food if the mother or father doesn’t have work, or if both parents are unemployed. Once a week, patients are collected and taken to Hospice to socialise and share a warm meal. This helps to keep people motivated, and feel part of a nurturing group of people. Both women joined Hospice in 2004 and received extensive and ongoing training in primary health care. For the most part it is their task to visit patients, dress wounds, check that people are taking their anti-retroviral tablets, and to teach the family to take care and support the patient. The homebase carers are the eyes and ears of the nurses and social workers who work for hospice.
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