Surely there are many other charitable organisations in Barrydale that are also in need of financial assistance? Would it not have made sense if more NGOs and Non Profits benefited from the hugely successful fundraiser that was Barrydale in Bloom 2024?
The money could also have been used to install much needed security cameras in the village or perhaps the soup kitchens could have used these funds to stock up their pantries.
Times are indeed tough and sharing is, after all, caring.
Why then select Barrydale Hospice as the Bloom Benefactor for the second consecutive year? The News62 team investigated this matter and what we are about to reveal may surprise many of our readers.
Hospice in the hotseat
Our survey shows that there is a lot of confusion with regards to the role Barrydale Hospice plays in the community.
Many people have no idea what this organisation does. Several of our readers think they know and quite a significant number of residents choose to believe rumours that range from Hospice earning bucket loads of money by renting out accommodation, to it being an institution that serves as an easy tax write-off avenue for the elite.
News62 can disclose that the rumours are unfounded and that Barrydale Hospice is by no means the lucrative business many people think it is.
On the contrary, it is more often a case that the staff of this organisation donates their time and resources to help those in need.
The organisation relies solely on donations and its rentals. There has
only ever been one Lotto funding in 2022 and specifically only for medical equipment such as the oxygenators Hospice gives patients who can’t breathe enough oxygen anymore.
One of the main functions of Barrydale Hospice is to provide palliative care – this is the physical, psychological, social and spiritual care provided to anyone with a life- threatening illness, such as cardiac failure, renal failure, liver failure, TB and HIV.
This care extends to the loved ones as well. Hospice looks after people from the
point of diagnosis and extends through to bereavement support. This is not just
cancer care in the last few days or weeks of life.
Their four home-based carers attend to activities of daily living for the elderly and frail such as bed bathing, pressure care, mouth care, feeding, and ambulating.
These ladies walk from their homes rain or shine every day to care and bring
comfort.
In the past only those who could pay the home-based carers could receive this care. Which also meant Hospices trained and certified nurses would not all get
paid each month, or sometimes only about R800 a month.
But thanks to the fund raising in our town, Hospice and Palliative Care is now available for everyone, and their nurses are paid community care hours through the donated funds, whilst funds last of course.
The Hospice nursing team also assists – where possible – with medical emergencies for strokes, heart attacks, accidents and elderly falls. The sister is one of Barrydale’s first responders and goes out 24/7 to help our community and local farmers.
The PHC is only open Mon-Fri 8 – 4pm and if there is no ambulance immediately
available the wait can be around an hour during which time Hospice stabilises and
treats the person. This is a service where they take care of your loved ones when they are on their deathbed.
The Hospice nursing team also assists – where possible – to help the sick with medicine, wound dressings, bed baths and all care related duties that are not always available in a village where there is no hospital or full-time access to doctors.
They often provide these services at no cost and it would therefore be fair to say that the income generated from patients who do have access to medical aid does not even come close to making up for all the selfless work they do – at any given time of the day.
As for the income generated from the flats at their premises, this barely covers their day to day operational costs.
Where there’s Hospice there’s hope
Without the services of Sister Nickie Crookes and her team, many Barrydale residents would not be able to say that their loved ones were able to pass-on with dignity.
Crookes and her team are absolutely brilliant at managing the entire, often painful and frightening, process that is death and they do this not because of any hope of remuneration.
They do this because they care and when you experience the work they do first hand, it becomes clear that their profession is indeed a calling.
Every individual that works for Barrydale Hospice goes above and beyond the call of duty. They often find themselves in situations that take a physical and mental toll on their own personal well being and they serve the entire community with fear or favour.
It is therefore no surprise that their patients often start to believe that they are in fact supernatural beings.
“Nickie is my person angel and I do not know what I would have done without her,” the late Herman van Wyk confessed during his last days on this planet.
Van Wyk’s friends and family echoed these sentiments and anyone who has ever had the privilege of interacting with the Barrydale Hospice team will agree that these ladies provide a world class service.
Therefore, the real question residents should be asking themselves is: what happens to Barrydale Hospice if the funds run out? Surely the talk around town should be how can I contribute to Hospice, Sr Nickie and her team of angels in the same fashion the Barrydale in Bloom team has?