NEWMARKET – American producer of the movie Song of the Soul – Stories of Hospice in SA, Cathe Kobacker, recently paid Stepping Stone Hospice & Care Services in New Market Park a visit, and commented on the amazing progress already shown at Alberton’s first ever hospice facility.
“Hospice patients and their families deserve the very best we can offer, second best is simply not good enough, and it’s clear to me that at Stepping Stone the staff and volunteers certainly go the extra mile in terms of palliative care,” she says.
Cathe has been a palliative care caregiver for the past 25 years in Ohio, and is currently in SA on a holiday. She also visited hospice facilities in Soweto and as far as Bloemfontein.
Stepping Stone Hospice & Care Services opened its In-Patient Unit on the AMCARE property in October last year, offering three dignity rooms. The unit has already expanded, now offering five dignity rooms. Patients admitted as in-patients to the IPU are cared for by Palliative Care Specialists, who are supported by a team of health professionals – nurses, a physiotherapist, a psychologist and a social worker. Trained volunteers are also in attendance for the patients and their loved ones who need their support.
Hospice offers its services to anyone who has had a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness that cannot be cured, irrespective of their social, cultural, spiritual, financial or religious points of view or standing.
The Stepping Stone Hospice website www.steppingstonehospice.co.za offers more information on this fantastic facility in our town.