Financial constraints force Centurion Hospice to rebrand

Centurion Hospice was recently rebranded to Centurion Care Centre on October 1 as part of the organisation’s restructuring process after it discontinued its palliative care services in the Centurion area on September 30 due to financial constraints.

In July, the organisation took the difficult decision of closing its in-patient care service as it could no longer financially support its in-patient care unit.

The hospice previously provided essential palliative and psycho-social care to patients across Centurion, Midrand, Monument Park, Olievenhoutbosch and Pretoria West.

Hospice spokesperson Hyla van den Berg said patients who were registered with the hospice for palliative care services were moved to Sungardens Hospice for a continuum of care so that they wouldn’t be impacted negatively.

In a statement, the hospice said it is exploring strategies to reposition the organisation so that it can uphold its commitment to providing the community with the same high-quality care.

“We will continue operating the Legacy & Book Shop, medical equipment rentals, and Memory Lane Café to raise funds to pay our creditors and strengthen our organisation in the long run,” read the statement.

Van den Berg said the Legacy bookshop will continue as their main income stream through donations from the public.

She said continued operation of the organisation’s thrift store and restaurant will ensure that the public still has an option of the two.

“We will also investigate what other community service we can put in place to still serve the community.”

She said the organisation will soon be able to function as a strong community service organisation if it can effectively manage its current ongoing initiatives and add new ones.

“As we begin anew, we aim to implement a different business model, as the previous approaches have proven unsustainable,” she said.

Van den Berg said for them to run a successful non-profit organisation, they must provide quality healthcare, run it professionally with sound business principles, and ensure a steady flow of funds to cover overheads and serve the community effectively.

She said by establishing a market-related frail care facility, they can generate the necessary income to reinstate home-based palliative care services.

“In the future, as the needs of our community grow, we plan to allocate some frail care beds to provide end-of-life care for patients,” she said.

The organisation’s current services will remain open during the following hours:

– Trading Hours: Mondays (09:00-16:00), Tuesday – Friday (08:00-16:00), Saturdays (08:00-13:00)

– Office Hours: Monday-Friday (08:00-16:00)

Community members are encouraged to continue supporting the organisation through donations, which can be made at the premises.

Friends of Hospice member Dorothy Wye said she didn’t understand why the final decision to discontinue the organisation’s palliative care services was only taken by the hospice’s board members while the members of the Friends of Hospice were excluded.

“Why was the announcement only made after everything was done and not before?” asked Wye.

Wye said she arranged and hosted a market at the hospice in August that turned out to be an extreme success.

She said there were around 200 people at the market, and the goods that were sold at the coffee shop sold out.

“After that market, I received a lot of calls from people wanting to know when the next market is going to happen and how they can help,” she said.

She said the donations that they received after were better than the previous donations that they would get.

Wye said all of a sudden that came to an end as things just started to close down.

“There are a lot of patients at home that still depend on the hospice’s services.

We wanted to do something so that we could get donations and open the hospital again, but the next thing we heard was that the patients were gone and the people that worked in that section were retrenched.”

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