Butterfly House opened
2008-11-06
THE Butterfly House, a community-based support centre in Fairyland for adults and children affected by the HIV/Aids epidemic, was officially opened in Paarl on Sunday. The idea to launch the Butterfly House project originated two years ago at Drakenstein Hospice, who at the time looked after more than 265 patients a month in an area covering the whole of the Drakenstein health district. The aim is to establish a communitybased response and support centre in the Fairyland area for adults and children affected by the HIV/Aids epidemic. The Hospice staff has been finding it increasingly difficult to manage the increase of HIV/Aids patients, says manager Elizabeth Scrimgeour. The introduction of anti-retrovirals (ARVs) in February 2004 brought with it the promise of turning a death sentence into a chronic illness and therefore changing the management of Aids patients. “The staff experienced major personal and professional conflict around issues such as how to manage holistic patient care, which includes managing poverty, hunger and unemployment with limited resources. “Another issue is how to leave patients at home (because of space constraints) when day care is their only outing for the week and the only place where they feel heard? “How does one manage symptoms of ARV’s when there is little understanding as to what they are and how to empower people to ‘live’ with Aids?” The need was identified for an interim home where children can be looked after and adults can be empowered with skills and confidence to look after their children - a place to refer patients to who need to find a way to ‘live’ with a previous diagnosis of dying. Thus was born the Butterfly House idea, and various ‘wings’ are envisaged as places of safety where orphans and vulnerable children can be looked after by foster mothers with the assistance of an educare worker and guided and supported by a social worker and a teacher.
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