Day 14 (Friday) - EMERGENCY -->

Today, for the first time, our patients with critical health emergencies will not have to stop to ask where the emergency room is.

Now, they just have to follow one of our shiny new signs (purchased at a discounted price from ME Graphix 😍) to find urgent care.

The signs were used within seconds of being erected...

...and led patients to the first glimpse of our 🚦NEW TRIAGE ROOM 🚦 (which was previously a confusing graveyard of scattered wheelchairs in various states of disrepair).

Visible, while they wait, are our new welcome signs with our new core values of:

• PROFESSIONALISM

• DIGNITY

• COMPASSION

• COMMUNITY

• CONTINUOUS LEARNING

While we try our best to achieve these things we need basic infrastructure to ensure them.

• How can anyone take us seriously or trust our service when filthy rain water is leaking on our heads from the destroyed roof?

• How can we truly protect our patient's dignity without curtains during their medical exams?

• How can we have time for compassion when we are searching for stock in a disorganised pile with no shelving, whilst getting frustrated and flustered?

• How can we contribute to our community when the shocking state of the infrastructure in our ER makes even the most desperate of patients lose trust and rather turn around and take their chances at the local "witch doctor" .

These issues can be resolved with just 500USD each and we kindly ask for your support 🙏

The changes are urgent and we want to work more quickly.

Within minutes of receiving a donation this morning, we hired a concrete grinder from the fabulous team at Coastal Hire and Build It Hoedspruit to fix the disastrous flooring.

To remove the rest of the rotted vinyl, our team undertook the painstaking process of using hammers and chisels to chip away at the years of filth.

(Does anyone have better ideas how to remove this vinyl? 💡)

This weekend will be a flurry of activity to

1) get the leaking plumbing fixed and

2) remove the vinyl and buff the concrete

We will also attempt to lay the "overlayment" for our epoxy flooring . It will take a total of 7 days to cure.

During this time, we will be working just off-site making benches, tables and shelves for later installation

Thank-you--sincerely--to all our 🤲DONORS and VOLUNTEERS🤲. Your generosity is directly transforming the fate of our patients in the most critical moments of their lives. These past 2 weeks have seen dramatic changes and none of it would have been possible without 💗YOUR SUPPORT💗!!

There is much to do and not a cent is wasted so please spread the word to other donors so that we can continue this work and restore trust, dignity, efficiency and pride in our most vital safety net for the most vulnerable in our community.