TygerBurger Kuils River - 13 January 2021

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KUILSRIVIER Trading Hours: Mon to Thurs: 8.30am to 6pm Fri: 8am to 6.30pm • Sat: 8am to 5pm • Sun: 8.30am to 1pm

valid from 13th January to 31st January 2021 X1WG57VW-AL130121

Woensdag, 13 Januarie 2021 | Tel: 021 910 6500 | e-pos: nuus@tygerburger.co.za

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VOLUNTEER TELLS STORY: ‘WE ARE SO GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE’

Field hospital nearly full After recovering from Covid-19 during winter last year, Beaunez Coerecius, a home-based and spiritual carer, signed up to be a volunteer at the Brackengate Hospital of Hope.

DESIRÉE RORKE

“I

have never seen so many ill people in my life. I pray and I have faith that we will overcome this virus,” says Beaunez Coerecius, a home-based and spiritual carer who volunteers at Brackengate Hospital of Hope. By 7 January, the Covid-19 field hospital in Brackenfell had admitted 298 patients (336 beds) during the second wave of the pandemic and recorded nine deaths. Coerecius herself has experienced the devastating effects of Covid-19 firsthand. Soon after testing positive for the virus last winter, her husband had a stroke. “I was working at Eerste River Hospital at the time when I got sick. I started sneezing

and the sister said I should get tested. I received positive results, but I kept calm. My husband fell ill and had a mini stroke, it was a hard and difficult time for my family. My husband survived his stroke and I have survived Covid-19. We are so grateful to be alive,” she says in a statement to the media. After her recovery, the healthcare worker heard about the opening of the Brackengate Hospital of Hope in July 2020. While aware of the risks of volunteering during a pandemic, the 52-year-old says she could not sit back and do nothing. “I got a second chance at life after having Covid-19. I decided that I wanted to make a difference and help others like me. “I have always had a passion for healthcare. I have provided palliative care support

and HIV counselling in the past and assisted a local NGO with Covid-19 screening in February last year. I am also a trained homebased carer and was curious about the disease and how I could help.” The Oudsthoorn local, who now lives in Strand, started working at Brackengate Hospital of Hope in August 2020. Her day starts at 07:00. After praying and putting on her PPE, she gets her trolley ready and makes her way through the hospital’s wards, where she helps several ill patients every day. “I start by washing our patients, many patients are too ill to do this themselves. After they are washed, I feed them. “I also assist the patients who need help with turning in bed as some are unable to.

I ensure that I encourage our patients. I know from experience that having the virus can be challenging. “It’s important for us to encourage them. Their families can’t physically be there with them … it’s really hard on them, so we take up that role of family to provide support. I massage their feet and rub their hands. I had a patient who called me ‘Mauritius’ which sounds like my surname. I remember coming into work and she’d say, ‘Oh, Mauritius, I heard your voice, I am so happy you are here’.” Volunteering at the hospital has given Beaunez a sense of hope. “As a healthcare worker, I am walking this journey with the patients and their families. V To page 3

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