St Francis Care Centre Programmes

Introduction

The St Francis Care Centre has expanded significantly since 1992 and presently offers four programmes. Each is focused on a particular area of need within the local community.

Programme One: The Hospice

An Adult Residential Medical Facility

Here we offer residential medical, emotional and spiritual care for 48 HIV/AIDS adult patients. Main House offers 28 beds and New Wing a further 10, two bedded wards for the intensive nursing stage. Over the past year 492 patients were admitted of which 379 died or were transferred and 113 patients were nursed back to health. However those who did come too late for treatment to be effective received palliative care and died surrounded with loving care and with simple human dignity. With financial assistance many more can be helped.

A medical doctor, professional nurses and a social worker attend to the physical, emotional and spiritual care of each patient. Inside the hospice 24-hour nursing care is provided. Counselling for patients and their families as well as support groups are provided by a full time Social Worker.

Loving care and compassion ensures that they may die in peace and with simple human dignity. Our Chaplain brings the love of God and His mercy into many patients' lives with prayer and counselling.

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Programme Two: The Rainbow Cottage

Here we accommodate 30 HIV+ babies and children, plus four beds for emergency placements. We are a registered 'Place of Safety'. Our little ones are cared for in a loving, caring environment, all the while encouraged in our nursery school to develop the full potential of their sometimes sadly short lives.

We have enthusiastic volunteers who come on a regular basis to give our children the one-to-one love and attention that helps their growth and development. With the introduction of ARV's we have every hope that most of our children will grow up to lead happy and constructive lives and contribute to society.

Wherever possible we seek suitable host or foster parents to give the child individual attention and a more satisfactory family life.

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Programme Three: Home Based Care

Many of the people that are in the most desperate need of our help live in informal settlements and squatter camps. To reach them we have a programme based upon home based care, with an office on site for admin.

We provide simple home nursing and counselling skills to carefully selected groups of compassionate people who work on a volunteer basis.

The training is carried out either at the Centre or in the volunteer's local community. We run workshops on HIV/AIDS Awareness and Prevention, Counselling, Coping with Bereavement etc. The members of each team living in the community serve and work under the guidance of a team administrator.

Through this programme we strive to make contact with any families with sick or dying family members, identify child-headed households and to render them all possible assistance.

Conditions in informal settlements/poverty

Where a patient of ours lives and where most of our beneficiaries come from.

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Programme Four: St Francis Clinics

The first St Francis Clinic is located opposite the Care Centre and has two examination rooms, two counselling rooms, a small dispensary, a waiting-room and other necessary facilities. A Doctor, Nursing Sister and support staff are available daily for testing, counselling, adherence-training and the dispensing of drugs.

Our initial plan was to have 100 patients on drugs by the end of the first year and 800 within 5 years. The response has been such that, within 2 years, we have screened over 5000 potential recipients and 1300 receiving Anti-Retroviral treatment as well as many others receiving vitamins and other support therapy to enable them to stay healthy longer before needing ARV's. The demand is overwhelming. A second satellite clinic has been opened about 8km away in Reiger Park within walking distance of many of the informal settlements that we serve.

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