100-year-old 'foodie' receives the jab

GEORGE NEWS - Among the over-60s who received their Covid-19 vaccination at Mediclinic Geneva on Monday 14 June was 100-year-old Heather Park resident Doreen Jacobs.

In December, the 100th birthday celebration of this remarkable woman received coverage in George Herald.

"On our way here, Doreen already wanted to know where we were going to eat," said Glynnis Kuscus, her 'adopted daughter' and carer for the past 27 years. "She loves eating out and we do it often. That is why it is important for her to take the vaccine."

At the age of 100 years and seven months Jacobs says she still enjoys good health, but "it is a bit up and down at the moment". She survived a serious, simultaneous TB and meningitis infection at the age of 55 and has had her fair share of hospitalisations.

"I think the good Lord doesn't want me upstairs, because He knows I'll turn everything upside down," she chuckles.

She loves reading (still without glasses), knitting and sewing and she makes marmalade and green fig preserve - from her own trees - every year. Jacobs also enjoys travelling and views her cellphone as her lifeline to chat with friends and family in Canada, Australia and England.

She has been a widow since 2007 when her second husband passed on. She has no children, but loves children and was a teacher in her younger years.

Jacobs was an active sportswoman and coach, and owns the title of honorary president of the South African Hockey Association and the 2012 Sport Legend Award in hockey.

100-year-old Doreen Jacobs came in a wheelchair to the Mediclinic Geneva vaccination site on Monday, but that was only only because a wheelchair gives her a "shortcut". Photo: Alida de Beer.