Cleaner hands, more staff at Boksburg clinics thanks to corporate company’s rapid response plan

The Boksburg North and Ramaphosa clinics recently benefited from the AECI (African Explosives and Chemical Industries) Clinic Programme.

This initiative saw AECI donate handwash stations, hygiene soap and sanitiser to the clinics. Additional health workers, sponsored by AECI, were also deployed to these clinics to educate staff and patients about proper handwashing, wearing of masks and social distancing at medical facilities.

AECI was among the first companies to mobilise a Covid-19 rapid response plan to help the most vulnerable communities in the country, explained Mark Dytor, AECI’s chief executive.

The company has identified that the needs of vulnerable communities are changing as government response changes, and is also planning to “ride the COVID-19 curve” by responding to these changing needs of communities as the impact of the virus evolves.

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In less than 30 days, and in the midst of the lockdown, the company helped improve the circumstances of over five million South Africans by:

• Targeting child-headed households and orphanages by donating water resources, bars of soap, sanitisers and masks for household use.
• Sponsoring a mass behavior change and educational handwashing programme to the value of R1,73 million. Intelligently strategised, the programme ensures education, access to water, access to soaps and handwashing stations in the most vulnerable communities.  Twenty sites in the COVID-19 hotspots were identified and rolled out.
• Supporting government clinics and hospitals. The company early on identified that clinics and hospitals could become super-spreading sites if not well-resourced and managed. Patients coming to government clinics are already more likely to die of COVID-19 due to pre-existing conditions like diabetes, respiratory illnesses, cancer and non-communicable diseases. But the clinic environment itself is spacially challenged not allowing for social distancing.
• To help, AECI has donated uniquely designed and locally manufactured handwashing stations. These stations contain education and sensitisation for patients before entering the sites. Sponsored healthworkers assist in maintaining social distancing and ensuring every patient wash their hands before entering the clinic and learns the correct methods to prevent the spread of the virus.
• The estimated reach of this intervention in the current year is 15.5 million patients.

Dytor said the company feels more needs to be done, and AECI plans to invest even more funds.

“The initial investments were focused on prevention, and while this work must continue, the next phase is focused on food security relief programmes due to impact of the lockdown and job losses, sanitiser distribution to help protect people when moving around post-lockdown and donating rapid testing kits to help expand the net of testing,” he said.

The company is also calling out to other organisations to assist in this critical time.

“The lockdown was a necessary action however it has left millions of South Africans destitute and in need of aid. Enabling communities with the right tools and education will empower them to stay safe at this particularly challenging time. Responsible engagement with our stakeholders, including communities and regulators, is a cornerstone of AECI’s values. We are indeed stronger together when we work together for a common purpose,” said Dytor.

(Author: MD of Triple Eight, Sarika Modi – article edited).

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