They will attend the annual provincial Cecilia Makiwane Nurses Recognition Awards Ceremony on 30 October at the Stellen-bosch Town Hall.
This award for nurses is an initiative of the health ministry in partnership with the provincial department and serves as motivation for nurses by recognising and rewarding service delivery excellence. The award was named after Cecilia Makiwane, the first black nurse to be recognised by Government almost a century ago.
The selection criteria includes living up to the nurses pledge and nursing ethics, going beyond the call of duty, having a positive attitude towards patients and colleagues, contributing to effective management and being part of a multi-disciplinary healthcare team. The province identifies a winner and second and first runner-up.
Bouwer, assistant nurse in the George sub-district, is described by her manager as someone who goes the extra mile. "She has redefined the phrase 'going beyond the call of duty'. She regularly does additional work over and above her own workload. She embodies the caring part of nursing and always goes out of her way to help or make people aware of the need in the community," says Sister Elna Havenga, operational manager of the Blanco Clinic.
One of the reasons for her nomination is her clean-up campaign in 2012. During that year she noticed the poor and hazardous condition of play parks in Blanco while busy with another campaign. She contacted Eden and George municipalities and together with the clinic's health committee, they arranged two very successful clean-up campaigns.
As an oncology professional nurse in the outpatient department of George Hospital, which handles the general and specialist outpatient services, Damons shares an exceptionally high workload with the health team. She goes the extra mile. She is known as the stoma therapist and is often called upon to render her services even after hours. Damons is currently the only trained oncology professional nurse in the clinic at George Hospital, where she builds relationships of trust and support with patients who are terminally ill. She has also established a stoma therapy service, which is widely implemented in the hospital and the community.
Assistant Nurse Magda Bouwer tends to patient Faans Maart.
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