Hillcrest Respite Centre
Home-based care took place on an informal basis until 1998 when the first group of volunteers were trained. The Home based care project now consists of 50 home based care volunteers who are backed up in turn by 5 registered nurses. Home-based care is reliant however on the primary caregiver being a member of the family who is supported by the home based care team. Over the last two years, more and more often when the volunteer arrived at a home, there was no longer a primary caregiver because too many family members had died.
In response to this problem, the Centre opened a respite unit in half of an unused ward at the Hillcrest Provincial hospital, in February 2006. The unit was run by 14 caregivers with registered nurse backup where patients could be cared for in a loving environment. Patients receive a bed, food and whatever medicines they were on and either recovered from acute illness or died with dignity and at peace.
In June 2007 the hospital informed the Hillcrest Aids Centre that the ward would be needed by the end of February 2008. So began the Centres project to build a respite unit. The project is now complete and a new respite unit is in place and admitting patients.
An unexpected outcome of having a respite unit has been the amount of patients that have been admitted to die but who have recovered enough to be enlisted onto an antiretroviral program and are now living fulfilled lives within the community.
The Centre is now seeking support to cover the costs of running the respite unit.
The costs per bed
| R140 per bed per day which is approximately | £12 |
| R1000 per bed per week which is approximately | £75 |
| R4000 per bed per month which is approximately | £290 |
| R48 000 per bed per year which is approximately | £3430 |
Can you help?
You can make a donation to support the respite unit using our donation form and the money will go directly to the Hillcrest Respite Unit making an immediate difference. Anything you can give will help.
