Care work in a hospital

only  £1975

Care work in a hospital

Countries:

South Africa

Duration:

3 Months

Call:

0845 344 7585

more info:

click here

 

This placement would suit:

Somebody who wishes to make a difference in the lives of children.

 

   

Product Details

The Red Cross Children's Hospital is the centre at which undergraduate and postgraduate medical students receive their core training in paediatric disciplines. Specialist paediatric nurses and allied paediatric health care providers, such as physiotherapists, child psychologists, speech and occupational therapists are also trained here.

The Hospital is equally active in preventative health care, and plays a critical role in educating community health workers, thereby facilitating the exportation of models of good practice to the community. Several services are provided, including education of children, parents and community health care workers in, for example, HIV, Aids, family planning and contraception, rehydration and nutrition. The Hospital has also established and maintains three significant national information database resources, viz.

The Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital performs many operations on children, e.g. Conjoined twin separations, liver and kidney transplants, to name a few. The theatres are busy 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. 

Your WorkThis placement is not suitable for medical undergraduates or graduates unless you are prepared to accept the limitations of the project. 

Children need every bit of love and attention they can get. The Matron and staff of the hospital are very excited about having volunteers there to help because, according to the Matron, “the kids love having volunteers from overseas around because they’ll be new faces who can tell them new stories about their own country”. Even something as simple as entertaining the children with stories lifts their morale and helps the healing process. As the staff at the hospital have mentioned many times, having the volunteers give the children some extra love and care is wonderful … but the extra hands are very welcome as well.

Some of the work at the hospital at times can be overwhelming as some of the children suffer from AIDS/HIV, which is even more reason why the children need love and attention.

Your main tasks and responsibilities will be to visit the children, hand out toys, play and interact with them, and give them lots of comfort and love. You may also asist with general non-medical support, e.g., accompanying a patient to another department, collecting folders and fetching food, etc, or assisting the pharmacy area or clinics where patients wait for their medication (which can often be for long periods of time) You may also assist in various out-patients departments as administrative support, or assist in the fund-raising shop where your duties would be to sort out and sell a range of donated goods, such as household equipment, clothing and books, that cannot be used in the wards.

Your hours may vary insofar as they will be subject to shift rotas. Therefore, you may sometimes work evenings or nights, sometimes over weekends, etc., but your time off on other days instead.

A Brief Description of Typical Work Duties our Volunteers Perform:During the morning you'll generally be in the toys room to pack your toy trolley. Your supervisor at the hospital will inform you which ward you'll be in for the day. They will also inform you of any wards that are out of bounds due to infection diseases. Once you have determined which ward you are going to, you will be able to stock your trolley with the appropriate toys.

You'll then join the ambulant patients in the play room where you'll distribute the toys. After that, you can give individualised attention to specific children. This is where volunteers are so valuable to both the Hospital and the patients - the personal care and attention. And you'll find that the children crave the attention and fun you can give them.

This session will usually last for most of the morning and afterwards you will be expected clear up and return the toys back to appropriate place.  Sometimes the Hospital will hold concerts and events to entertain the children. Children love these performances and you will play an important role by escorting the young patients to these events.

Placements are available in Cape Town and Knysna.Travellers' placements are very flexible & can be combined with any other Travellers placement & tailor made to your own requirements!

only  £1975

Care work in a hospital

Countries:

South Africa

Duration:

3 Months

Call:

0845 344 7585

Live and work abroad helping children, adults, animals and entire communities in less advantaged countries. Learn about their culture from the inside! Stay from as little as two weeks to as long as one year - you choose your dates and duration!