The Greype-Vine Grey’s Hospital

Pietermaritzburg February 2010

www.kznhealth.gov.za/greyshospital.htm

Soccer Friday at Grey’s

Editorial Committee: Editor: Alison Guise-Brown Pager 515 Members: Mrs. A Chetty Occupational Therapy. 3200 Mrs. Y Thambiran Quality Assurance 3326 Miss K Deepnarain HRD 3308 Mr. Z Mntungwa PRO 3684 Last month we appealed for staff who might be interested in joining the Greype-Vine committee to contact us. Sr Ruth Masembe from CCU has decided to join us, although she was unable to attend the first meeting because she was on night duty. We would like to welcome her and wish her a long productive stay. Friday’s at Grey’s are an opportunity for staff to join in with South Africa’s Soccer World Cup Celebrations and many staff have been seen wearing their Bafana Bafana jerseys to work. Even Dr Bilenge, our acting CEO, regularly wears his jersey to work. Photos on our front cover show staff getting into the ‘swing of things’, with less than 100 days until kick off. I hope you have all bought tickets to watch at least one match. The Clinical Department’s staff have ‘adopted’ the flower bed near the front door of the hospital’s crèche. They have cut back the overgrown shrubs, poisoned the trees that keeps threatening the buildings foundations and removed some of the weeds. They plan to plant a few more flowers to add a bit of colour once summer arrives. Unfortunately people have yet to realize this rejuvenated patch of earth is not a rubbish dump and they continue to throw their trash on the ground and amongst the plants, despite there being a rubbish bin just inside the College door. It is a pity that people have so little respect for the earth and the state of the environment and despite being educated can not be bothered to dispose of their litter appropriately. This is just a small area of the hospital that staff are trying to maintain in a pleasant state. Wouldn’t it be nice if we stopped dropping our litter on the floor, in the grounds or out of windows, and instead we all took a little pride in our environment and not only refrained from littering but also helped to tidy up by picking up any litter we see lying around.

The pursuit of happiness is the chase of a lifetime! It is never too late to become what you might have been.

Greetings to All. As we are getting into 2010, let’s forget 2009 as it was

a year with many problems viz. under budgeted, shortage of staff etc. but

we have overcome most of the challenges. Lets start this year on a

completely blank page. While expectations may exist, the fact of the

matter is that the landscape remains open for success or failure. We will

achieve what we allow ourselves to achieve, nothing more and nothing

less. It is for this reason and this reason alone that, regardless of

equipment shortages, staff shortages, a lack of funding, lack of proper

training or any other hinderance we may encounter that we need to

ensure we stay positive, upbeat and confident that everything will be

successful during 2010. Going forward and putting 2009 and all its

troubles behind us, let us not forget that nothing in this world can take the

place of persistence.

To all Grey’s Hospital staff, as Douglas Pagels once commented “Each

new day is a blank page in the diary of your life. The secret of success in

turning that diary into the best story you possibly can”.

As we head towards a new year, may the stories you write as individuals in

the diary that is your life be nothing less then successful stories for you,

your patients, your colleagues and your family.

Thank you for your dedication and hard work that you have done for the

past year.

Regards

Dr K B Bilenge Acting CEO / Medical Manager.

Your mind is like a parachute...it functions only when open..

Competition Winner November 2009 The November edition of the Greype-Vine asked staff to design a

Christmas card that Grey’s would be proud to send to other hospitals. Sr L Peate from the Renal Unit designed the card below and as a result

of her efforts she won a Chocolate Cake sponsored by Chatters Coffee Shop.

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NOISE CAN DAMAGE YOUR HEARING

Have you ever wondered, “Can noise damage my hearing?” Well, the answer is most definitely YES, high sound levels can be detrimental to your hearing! The extent of the damage is dependent upon how loud the noise is, the type of the noise and for how long you are exposed to the noise. The general rule of thumb is that the louder the noise, the less you need to be exposed, before your hearing can be damaged permanently.

1. What is noise?

Usually, noise is defined as any kind of sound that is unpleasant or typically unwelcome. Common examples of noise include heavy machinery in a factory, aeroplanes, gunshots, fireworks, chainsaws and traffic. However, it is important to note that excessively loud music at a party, in a taxi or at a night club, while pleasant to listen to, is just as hazardous. 2. Can an iPod or personal music player damage my hearing? Findings suggest that people usually operate these devices at excessively loud levels which are detrimental to their hearing. Studies have shown that younger children and teenagers are starting to show signs of hearing loss typical of noise exposure found more frequently in older adults. These devices are worn everywhere and are often worn in noisy environments so the user tends to raise the volume to hear the music above the ambient noise. They do not notice that the music is too loud. 3. What are other effects of noise? In addition to hearing loss, noise has been shown to cause, tinnitus (‘buzzing in the ears’), sleep deprivation, digestive disorders, an increase level of stress and an increase in blood pressure and cholesterol. 4. Why does noise damage my hearing?

To understand why noise can damage your hearing, it is important to understand the structure and function of the ear. The ear is divided into the outer, middle and inner

ear. The outer and middle ears transfer the sound from the environment to the inner ear, where it is analyzed by tiny hair

cells. This information is then sent to the brain along the auditory nerve, where it is interpreted. When you are exposed to loud noise for a considerable period of time, the little delicate hair cells in the inner ear and the nerve become fatigued and may eventually be damaged. Once they are damaged they can not repair or reproduce themselves. Unfortunately at this point many people mistakenly believe their ears have become strengthened or immune to the noise. Sadly however hearing loss has occurred. 5. How loud is too loud?

Individuals differ in terms of how sensitive they are to sound. As a general rule, if you answer yes to the following statements, the noise is too loud:-

o You have to speak louder to be heard,

o You have to be tapped on the shoulder to get your attention,

o You feel slightly deaf after noise exposure,

o The noise hurts your ears,

o You cannot hear someone who is next to you,

o You keep asking people to repeat themselves

o Your ears ring after noise exposure.

6. How do I protect my hearing from noise damage? You can protect your hearing by:-

o Removing yourself from noisy environments,

o Not accepting loud music and loud noise without complaint,

o Stimulating your children to develop a natural rejection for very loud sounds and noise,

o Wearing ear protection in areas where it is required, avoiding using noisy machinery without ear protection,

o Turning down the volume of the music in your vehicle or while listening to music on your iPod.

o If you have been in a loud environment, rest your ears by not exposing them to more noise for at least 18 hours thereafter. This helps because the hearing loss from being in a noisy environment is usually temporary and reversible, in the early stages.

o Often after a relatively short exposure to very high noise levels, tinnitus (buzzing/ringing in the ears) appears as a temporary effect. This must not be ignored. It is a warning to you that the sound levels are too high and that you should not expose yourself again.

o You should also have your hearing tested every year if you are exposed to excessive noise during work hours and play.

There is no cure for noise induced hearing loss - so please focus on protecting your hearing.

Submitted by Department of Audiology, Grey’s Hospital

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Tabitha Ministries. A huge thank you to all who donated toys, clothes and stationery to TABITHA Ministries. The bags of ‘goodies’ were taken to the home on 17th Dec 2009 and Mrs. Trollip was exceptionally grateful for the help. Whilst I was at the home a large group of volunteers were packing food parcels for 1000 child headed households in the Sweetwaters community, that would be distributed before Christmas. Mrs. Trollip expressed the need for school uniforms, shoes, jerseys and stationery for these same children and so once again we appealed to all staff whose children have outgrown their school uniforms and civvies to bring then to Sr Carpenter, (ENT Clinic) Mrs. Fletcher-Campbell, (Case Manager) or myself in the Clinical Department. I have since taken 2 car loads of goodies to the home and have another batch waiting to go, in my office.

We can not thank you enough for your support. The staff at the home are overwhelmed by your generosity.

Staff and volunteers packing supplies for Christmas

Mrs. G Trollip surrounded by gifts and ‘goodies’ the home was going

to give the community for Christmas.

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today

Most of the people who are starting university this year were born in 1991.

They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up. Their lifetime has always included AIDs.

The CD was introduced eight years before they were born. They have always had an answering machine.

They have always had e-mail. They have always had cell phones. They have always had the internet.

They have always had VCRs, and video cameras. They have always had cable/DSTV.

Popcorn has always been micro-waved. They never took a swim and thought about JAWS. Mac Donald's never came in styrofoam containers. They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

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Farewell to Mrs. Flea Lowe. Mrs. Flea Lowe officially retired from Grey’s campus at the end of December 2009. Her farewell was held in the VIP Tea lounge on 27th Jan 2010.

This is an extract from Senior Sister Leigh Scott’s speech at Mrs. Lowe’s farewell.

Today, it is a great privilege and honour for me to pay tribute to such a great lady, as we say goodbye to Mrs. Lowe on her retirement. Grey’s has lost a very special, skilled, loyal and supportive member of staff. Many, many Midwives from years gone by owe their success as Midwives to her, as they were fortunate enough to have passed through her capable hands. In saying goodbye to Flea, (as she is

known to all her friends) I thought I would speak a little about Flea herself. Apart from her distinguished nursing career, at which she excelled, Flea has many other fine talents.

She is a loving, caring, supportive wife, mother and grandmother.

She is a keen sportswoman. Together with her husband, Jeremy, she keeps fit by playing tennis, a sport they have enjoyed together for many years.

Flea is a great animal and bird lover. She used to keep a container filled with water on the ledge outside her office, for the birds to quench their thirst.

As a friend and colleague, Flea was loyal, supportive, kind, understanding and compassionate. Nothing was ever too much trouble for her.

As head of the Midwifery Campus, a post she held for many years, she paid great attention to detail, maintaining high standards and instilling a love of midwifery to the many, many students privileged to be taught by her. Flea was always at the end of the telephone, if ever one needed advise or help. Her colleagues at the campus will miss the ‘kettle on the boil-time for tea!’ as she always made sure tea was ready on time. As a nurse educator, a position at which she excelled, she had a wonderful caring, supportive, encouraging relationship with her students. They never forgot her. This relationship extended to the clinical staff as well as those on the wards. Blessed with a good sense of humour, she made learning fun. Her vast knowledge was tapped on many occasions by friends, students and colleagues. Flea is one of those rare people who is born a teacher. Using her experience and knowledge, she was able to impart this knowledge simply and in depth. She went out of her way to assist students with their studies. As a midwife, Flea is passionate about the care given to the woman in pregnancy through to the puerperium. She learnt the art of midwifery early in her career and was able to share this with her students, a rare quality indeed. May the years to come, bring you and the family many years of happiness, good health and lots of fun.

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Farewell to 3 long serving Grey’s staff members.

Julie Dowling started working at Grey’s in the revenue department in 1985. A year later she moved to the finance department and has worked there ever since. 25 years ago all of Julie’s work was done manually but now she uses the BAS system and is so capable and reliable, Kumarie Gokul, her

supervisor says she has never made a mistake. Julie plans to hibernate for the first 6 months of her retirement then she wants to do volunteer work with either the SPCA or Animal Anti Cruelty League. She is passionate about animals and unfortunately, due to the rules in the complex where she lives, is only able to have 2 dogs. She would also like to be involved in the rehabilitation of chimpanzees. She has 2 sons, one is in the British Army and the other is a chef in Lesotho. Julie has requested that the hospital does not give her a farewell but she would like to take a ride around the hospital driving one of the yellow hysters.

Pricilla Rousseau commenced at Grey’s in 1987 in the revenue department. She is a Principle Data typist, whose job it is to capture patient information, set up patient accounts and work with the medical aids. Next years she would like to travel to New Zealand to visit her son, on return to South Africa she too would like to do volunteer work with animals. She has 6 children and 8 grand children, who mostly live in or around Pietermaritzburg, so she is able to see them often. Pricilla trained to be an opera singer but has never performed, she also played the piano, enjoys classical music, swimming and tennis.

Sathianand Ramdeen (Ram) has worked in the Grey’s Hospital Surgical Stores department since March 1969, soon after he left school. His first supervisor, Mr Parry, could not pronounce his first name and so called him Ram, a name by which he is still known today. Ram is married and has 3 daughters and one grand-daughter. He has not made any plans for his retirement yet but enjoys soccer and cricket, two sports he used to play but he says he is too old now and so is just a spectator. His first salary was R68 per month and he bought his first car for R600, with money he won in a lottery.

We would like to wish all 3 staff members a happy and healthy retirement and thank them for 97 years of faithful and committed service to Grey’s Hospital. …………….

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that

you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.

CAMPUS NEWS.

Mrs T Manson is no longer teaching A&P to first year she is now teaching Community Health.

Sr Pam Van Rooyen, Alison Guise-Brown and 2 of our ex-staff members, Bea Ogilvie and Meryl Wilson all swam the Midmar Mile, as members of a ‘Grey’s Hospital’ team. We are pleased to say they all got to the finish in the allotted time, without swallowing too much water.

IMMUNISATION CAMPAIGN POSTPONED.

The measles and polio campaign has been postponed by a few weeks to ensure that there is a seamless campaign that covers a number of potential childhood illnesses. The first round will be from the 12 to 23 April 2010, covering polio, measles, Vitamin A and de-worming of children between the ages of 9 months to 15 years. The second round will be rolled out during 24 to 28 May 2010 focusing on polio for children between 9 months and 5 years. The department is postponing the campaign to ensure that there is enough stockpiles of vaccines for the campaign and all children are reached. This campaign will be taken to schools, crèches and early childhood development centers through out KwaZulu-Natal.

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Cancer vaccine for all SA girls. (HPV)

The lives of 3,700 South African women could be saved each year if the Department of

Health makes the HPV (Human Papillomavirus) vaccine available to the public sector – a

move this department is seriously considering, according to the minister of health’s talk at

the recent Stop Cervical Cancer in Africa Conference, held in Cape Town. Two vaccines

against HPV – the virus which causes over 80% of cases of cervical cancer – were registered

in South Africa last year and are currently available in the private sector.

However, cervical cancer is often associated with poverty – as it is the women who cannot

afford to go for regular Pap smears who are most burdened by the disease. Priced at around

R1,350 and R2,100 respectively for the three doses required, the vaccine is out of reach for

those who need it the most – the poor.

Introducing the HPV vaccine as part of the vaccine bouquet provided by the state will save

thousands of lives a year and reduce morbidity in tens of thousands more.

“The Department of Health is seriously considering introducing two vaccines in the public

sector to prevent new cases of cervical cancer,” reads a DoH statement. “It [the department]

has to find the resources needed for the introduction of these vaccines.”

“In South Africa our constitution guarantees everyone the right to access to health, including

reproductive health services,” said Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, South Africa’s minister of health,

but also acknowledged the financial and human resource challenges facing the country’s

healthcare system.

First lady Tobeka Madiba Zuma added her voice to this campaign: “I have learnt that in

South Africa the vast majority of patients that are diagnosed with cervical cancer are

presented at an advanced stage of the disease.“Some of the obstacles include missed

screening opportunities, lack of knowledge about screening, lack of transport, inadequate

medical infrastructure, low socioeconomic background, misconceptions about cancer. This is

especially true for women from the rural areas where the delivery of health care services is

still a major challenge in Africa,” she said.

SA’s screening policy

Compared to other developing countries, South Africa has a progressive policy on cervical

cancer screening that offers three Pap smears for all women in the public health sector at the

ages of 30, 40 and 50. This however, does not translate into a successful reproductive health

service as the uptake is very low, and only around 22% of South African women make use

of these Pap smear services.

In 2004, South Africa set itself a target of screening 70% of women 30 year and older within

a period of 10 years – this translates to nearly 6 million women. But by June 2009 – almost

midway to the envisioned target for 2014 – the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS)

has handled just over 2 million screenings.

According to Motsoaledi, the reason for this low coverage includes increasing financial and

personnel constraints, and a lack of awareness by women for the need for screening.

The Department needs an effective National Cancer Registry. Regulations to strengthen

reporting are being finalised. This is a useful tool for planning and budgeting for activities

that are aimed at the prevention and treatment of cancers. – (Wilma Stassen, Health24,

August 2009) …………………….

The Biggest Looser.

4 staff from Casualty have risen to the challenge and joined ‘The Biggest

Loser.’ Sr Janet Jones, Sr Sharon Jackson, Staff Nurse Natalie Peterson

and Dr Wilson have given themselves 3 months to loose as much weight as

possible. Each participant has put R500 into a kitty and after the first and

second months the person who looses the most weight will win R200. After

the third month, ‘the biggest looser’ will take home the remaining money.

We wish them luck and feel sure that by May they will be almost

unrecognizable. (Just in time for uniform allowance when they will have to

buy new work clothes to fit their sleek, athletic figures.)

Meet Noluthando Madlala and Nozipho Ngcobo. They are currently working at Grey’s Campus, completing the practical portion of the Public Management course they studied at Mzunduzi FET. They started working here on 1 December 2009 and will spend about 10 months in the Campus and 8 months in the Human Resources Department, so they can gain the practical experience required by their course. Both ladies are polite, friendly, enthusiastic, punctual and the Campus staff are very grateful for the hard work they are doing. We are hoping that before they complete their time at Grey’s, post will have been unfrozen and maybe they could be employed here on a full time basis.

REHAB NEWS We would like to welcome our new community service therapists who started in January. They are Jade – occupational therapist and Kirsty and Lindy from Speech and Audiology. They service Greys for 60% of their time and are working the following

outreach clinics for the remainder of their time: Mpopomeni, Balgowan, Eastwood, Oribi and Umgeni Hospital. We wish them an eventful and wonderful year with us. Also joining us this year is Sameera from Occupational therapy and Marlene from Speech therapy. We wish them a long and fruitful stay. Sadly we say goodbye to Lana from physiotherapy who goes back to her home town. Thank you for all you have contributed to Grey’s. We will miss you. The Rehab departments are pushing forward with full steam. Despite being short staffed, all departments are supporting most of the services at Grey’s. Teaching, mentoring, clinic support, training, in and outpatient work continues.

HR NEWS TUITION FEES Circular Minute G2/2010 instructs HR offices NOT to deduct tuition fees for the current year. Tuition fess will be deducted in a once off annual deduction in April. TAX NUMBERS HRM Circular 15/2010 states that it is mandatory that all employees earning R60 000 per annum register for tax. Those employees who fail to submit tax numbers to Human Resources by 31 March 2010 will be penalized in their May 2010 salaries.

Why does a slight tax increase cost you R200.00,

and a substantial tax cut saves you R30.00?

Creche Christmas party

The children at the Crèche were treated to their annual Christmas Party with a visit and presents from Father Christmas. Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right.. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.

Telephone 033-8973274 or phone us on extension 3274 and we will have your order

ready for you to collect.

Business hours: Monday – Friday

07h00-17h00 Saturday and Sunday

08h00-14h00

Look out for our Wednesday specials: Breyani and salad,

Beef lasagna or Cottage pie R19.90

COMPETITION. Identify each picture

and tell us what it is and where it is found in the hospital. Send your answers to Sr A Guise-Brown at the campus, by Friday 19th March and you could be the winner

of a chocolate cake sponsored by Chatters coffee Shop.

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