HH receives essential equipment through Helderberg Sunrise Rotary

Carolyn Frost|Published 10 months ago

Helderberg Sunrise Rotary Club Members (in green shirts), together with doctors and Trauma Unit staff from Helderberg Hospital, pose with the sophisticated portable sonar scanning equipment, donated by Helderberg Sunrise Rotary to the hospital. PICTURE: CAROLYN FROST

From left, Sharon Leo, Helderberg Hospital CEO, Dr Carl-Heinz Duisberg, board member responsible for the Rotary Foundation for Helderberg Sunrise Rotary Club, and Dr Katrin Stuve, a physician consultant at Helderberg Hospital.PICTURE: CAROLYN FROST

The hi-tech medical equipment donated to Helderberg Hospital in Somerset West, which will facilitate diagnosis in the ER. PICTURE: CAROLYN FROST

Bolander recently attended the handover of state-of-the-art medical equipment at Helderberg Hospital (HH) in Somerset West, obtained as a result of a substantial Global Grant from the Rotary Foundation.

Members of Helderberg Sunrise Rotary Club were on hand for the auspicious occasion, one of many of the club’s various support projects for HH over the past three years.

The next focus of the Global Grant was in support of HH´s Emergency Unit, the only 24-hour-unit that serves the uninsured population of Somerset West, Strand, Macassar and Sir Lowry´s Pass.

Approximately 3 000 patients are treated every month at the centre, and similar to most hospitals in South Africa, HH has a high trauma burden.

The main objectives of the project were to improve the ability of the Emergency Unit to resuscitate and stabilise critically-ill patients, by providing much-needed equipment and training for 15 medical doctors on this equipment.

The budget of the project was $64 400 (R1 177 878); $22 080 came from the German Rotary Club Hameln, again thanks to a private donation by its member, Fritz-Eckard Sticher. The German Rotary District 1800 provided another $23 000.

The Rotary International Foundation in Chicago, USA matched the donation of the German District by 80%, being $18 400.

The equipment was delivered to HH, and was received with great appreciation by medical staff and management.

The history of supporting HH goes back a number of years, and the first Global Grant in support of HH was to provide two ICU-beds and equipment for Covid 19 preparedness, and the budget was $37 500 (R701 234 at the time).

The German Rotary Districts 1800 and 1940 donated $11 250 and the Rotary International Foundation provided $17 900, and the project was finished in early 2021.

Global Grant, in support of HH’s Ultrasound Project (in 2022-23), focused on providing essential medical equipment to improve monitoring of patients in labour, with five foetal heart monitors - and improve access to sonar in the Outpatients Department, with additional two ultrasound machines.

The budget of the project was $68 773 (R1 058 032, and the money was donated by the Rotary Club Hameln, thanks to a private donation by its member, Fritz-Eckard Sticher.

The German District 1800 gave $19 355 for the project, which then was matched with 80% by the Rotary International Foundation ($15 484), and the project was finished in August 2023.

Carl-Heinz Duisberg