The Victor Daitz foundation mobile clinic, has indeed made an impact in service delivery to people visiting primary health care clinics. In partnership with the UGU District Department of Health we assist four overburdened primary healthcare clinics in our area.

The services we provide are:

• Assessment of clients to identify their needs
• Giving health education and counselling
• Issuing chronic medication to stable patients
• Motivating female clients to participate in reproductive health examinations for the early detection of cervical cancer
• Conducting cervical cancer screening
• Taking bloods specimens, screening for TB, identifying suspected TB infections and referring for further examination
• We refer to the doctor, dietician, counsellors and hospitals
• It is important to record all interventions for accurate statistics

We are so proud of our mobile clinic. We have managed to build good relationships with all the clinics and with our patients, who often seek us out. A special thank you to Sr. Babongile Cele from the Department of Health who facilitated this valuable partnership.

HIGHLIGHTS/ SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENTS

We have assisted the Department of Health with their outreach and awareness campaigns: 

• Gamalakhe FET college where we worked with the Department of Health in educating the youth on sexual and reproductive health. We also spoke to the young women of the importance of regular general health checks.
• Health awareness day for disabled women, which was conducted at the UGU sports grounds. Reproductive health screening of disabled women was a great challenge as caregiver, Patricia had to physically carry the patients up into the mobile clinic in order for the screening to take place. We are pleased to say that through the generosity of the local community a special tent has been manufactured to assist with our outreach campaigns.
• Immunisation of children at creches in partnership with the Department of Health.
• Assisted with the Mobile Rotary Outreach in 2019.

We have really taken the early detection of cancer to our hearts and we are now finding that our female patients wait especially for us in order for us to do the screening. The holistic approach, the compassionate and caring manner in which we treat all our patients ensures their dignity and this is what sets us apart.

The mobile clinic has proven to be a cost effective method of reaching a great number of patients whilst still providing Quality Palliative Care. A second mobile clinic and team would be valuable and serve our community well.