Editor – Firstly, please keep up the great work that Estcourt News does in Estcourt as a mouthpiece of the community. Having left Estcourt several years back and being exposed to several other community newspapers over the years, I can confidently state that the Estcourt News is among the best community papers I have encountered.
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A highlight for me on visiting the town is playing catch-up with the news by reading all backdated copies of the newspaper that my mum saves for me. Yes, I do get the WhatsApp version too, but there is nothing like actually flipping paper to get updated on developments (and gossip) in the town.
I have previously written in to the paper to highlight community problems and concerns, and if truth be told, some of us (me included) are often too quick to complain. This is why I am so pleased to write this letter, which is a well-deserved good news story.
The saying goes that it only takes a single spark to break the darkness and it is in this spirit that I want to celebrate a “spark” of community excellence in the form of the Estcourt Hospital. Amid all the negative service delivery issues, when we come across excellence, it must be celebrated.
My mum (Shirley Cass) had the misfortune of being hospitalised during January for a serious cardiac problem and as someone residing in Gauteng, I expected the worst for her when I heard she was in a public hospital. The reason for this concern is that my experience with some of the biggest and well-known public hospitals in Gauteng has been anything but positive.
I was therefore pleasantly surprised with the overall experience and care my mum and family encountered in Ward 6 of Estcourt Hospital. We found a ward that was exceptionally well run, staff who were genuinely caring and professional, and overall hygiene in the hospital at the highest standards. It was the ideal place for my mum to be treated and healed fast.
The purpose of this letter is to use the medium of this paper to send well-deserved “shout outs” to the management and staff (both administrative and medical) for the exceptional care and support shown to my mum during her illness and subsequent stay at Estcourt Hospital.
We, as a family, are eternally grateful. Thanks too to all the members of the community who visited and supported my mum during her hospitalisation. If I do have to nitpick and highlight the only negative, it would be the massive mortuary times sign on the main gate.
I think that first impression is not consistent with a place of healing, especially one that is so well run. I’d remove that sign. Everything else works perfectly well and long may it continue.
Suren Naidoo
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