By Jonews reporter
SOWETO'S home-based care workers got a helping hand on Thursday with the opening of a new training centre at Mofolo Hospice in Roodepoort Road. The centre aims to nurture community caregivers in the skills they need to take care of the terminally ill.
Gauteng's MEC for Health Gwen Ramokgopa officially launched the facility, which will be run by the Hospice Association of the Witwatersrand. SA Breweries, Anglogold and the Japanese embassy are the chief sponsors of the building.
Sibongile Mafata, the co-ordinator of the hospice, said the creation of the centre was a step forward for Soweto's community. "We've been training people in home-based care for a long time but we didn't have a place to do it. Now we have our own training facility and it will help incredibly."
The hospice was built in 1998 and until now the care workers have been trained from two rented classrooms at the Ipelegeng Centre.
Mafata said two professional nursing tutors will train a batch of up to 60 community care workers, as well as student nurses, every three months in holistic care for the terminally ill. The course costs R100 a month, but those who cannot afford it do not have to pay, she added.
"There is an incredible need for this centre in Soweto," said Davina Bishop from the association. "Our careworkers are really the angels of Soweto. We will be empowering them and teaching them skills. They will learn how to cook meals, bath people and administer basic medication."
