A FAREWELL AFTER FIVE DECADES

“TERRY DEDICATED ALMOST 50 YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE NATIONAL HEALTH LABORATORY SERVICE”

Bidding a happy retirement to the Registry’s longtime Deputy Director, Terry Schlaphoff.

In 1971, Terry Schlaphoff (née Terry Kriel) joined the Provincial Blood Grouping Laboratory as a 16-year-old matriculant. While working in the Blood Banks of both Tygerberg and Groote Schuur hospitals, she qualified with a National

Diploma in Medical Technology and steadily climbed the ranks of seniority in the organisation, which ultimately became part of the National Health Laboratory

Service (NHLS). She worked closely with countless staff members in the laboratory, many of whom remain friends.

Terry soon obtained her Master’s Diploma in Medical Technology (cum laude) and worked in a variety of labs, including the Enzymes, DNA, and Forensic Labs. During this time, she travelled both locally and internationally to be trained in new testing techniques to integrate into the organisation. Terry has authored and co-authored numerous scientific papers and served for many years as Moderator in the Blood Transfusion Category for the Medical Technology final examination.

In 1996, five years after the SABMR was established, the Provincial Laboratory for Tissue Immunology underwent a realignment process. Terry was asked to join the nascent SABMR team and, in time, was seconded to the SABMR. She became Deputy Director of the organisation and has retained this position until her retirement. The extraordinary friendship that ensued between Terry and the SABMR’s first director, Professor Ernette du Toit, helped nurture the Registry from a sapling into a strong tree. Terry attended World Marrow Donor Association (WMDA) meetings on the Registry’s behalf and returned to the office to share the knowledge she had gathered and feed the Registry’s root system.

In true “Terry style,” she devoted herself to the development of the SABMR. Together with long-time colleague, Veronica Borrill, Terry undertook the Registry’s path to full accreditation status, an achievement finally reached in 2018 after years of hard work and effort. Terry and Veronica also coordinated the Registry’s hosting of the 6th International Donor Registries Conference and the WMDA Working Group Meetings in 2006.

The Registry is privileged to have enjoyed Terry’s committed leadership and friendship for its first three decades. In total, Terry dedicated almost 50 years of service to the National Health Laboratory Service, something few people can say of their careers.

We wish her well as she enjoys sharing time with her husband Paul, her children, and grandchildren, and returns to her hobbies of reading, knitting, and scrapbooking. The branches of the registry’s tree will continue to blossom and grow in gratitude to Terry as she passes on its care to the current SABMR team. Terry retires in the knowledge of a job well done.