With the help of the University of Witwatersrand (Wits) fourth-year medical students, Zandspruit Clinic received a medical equipment donation from medical equipment manufacturer, Welch Allyn South Africa.
For more than a year, the students have been part of healthcare in Zandspruit Informal Settlement.
According to the students, this is their community site project which is part of their academic curriculum. “Part of this project was to come and identify healthcare problems in this community,” explained one of the students, Brendan Savary.
Savary, together with his other team members, didn’t end things by just identifying health issues, they also intervened and saw a need to come up with ways to improve the quality of healthcare in the Zandspruit community.
With the home visits that the medical students went on with the community health care givers, who are known as the ward-based outreach team, they found that among others, most of the community members were suffering from hypertension and diabetes, and at most times the members were not even aware that they had either disease.
As a result, the students saw a need to have equipment that will help with early detection. “That’s when we approached Welch Allyn to ask if they could help in any way and we were pleased with their positive response to our plea,” said Savary.
Marketing Manager for Welch Allyn Lezanne de Koning said as part of giving back to the community, they were pleased that they were able to get involved in the project. “We thank Wits medical students for approaching us and also thank Zandspruit Clinic staff who put a huge effort in delivering healthcare to their patients.”
The company donated medical equipment valued at over R50 000 which comprised of five blood pressure devices for each ward-based outreach team, one blood-pressure unit with a stand to be used in the clinic, a full set of multi cuffs and two thermometers and a box of probe cloves.
The company also gave the ward-based outreach team training on basic first-aid and general blood pressure testing, such as the importance of accurate blood pressure measurements and proper blood pressure techniques.
In acceptance of the donation, director of the City of Joburg’s Department of Health Dr Refik Bismilla said, partnerships like these (Wits Medicine School and Welch Allyn) played a critical role in ensuring that community members in disadvantaged communities were afforded quality health care.
“The health department wants to extend its passionate gratitude to fourth-year medical students from Wits, who approached Welch Allyn and facilitated the donation of this equipment. This gallant initiative ensures that the project for screening households for hypertension is sustainable as an outreach programme.”
