Friends of Victoria Projects
Fundraise, Donate Funds, Give or Volunteer
Priority Project List
Victoria Hospital has a wide range of equipment and staffing needs that you may be interested in. This ranges from anaesthetic equipment to staffing projects. Click on the link below to peruse our project list. Remember that if you sponsor a project, your entire donation will go to that project. There will be no deduction for administrative costs.
Don’t hesitate to sponsor and be part of saving lives in the communities served by Victoria Hospital. Note: Picture left is a simulated resuscitation.
Abundant Life
As a hospital-based palliative care programme, Abundant Life has set a precedent in South Africa. While it incorporates end-of-life care, the primary focus of the programme at Victoria Hospital is to enable individuals to lead meaningful lives within the limits of their illness. The programme became operational in 2009 and the first year revealed the desperate need and the important benefits in the way of improved quality of life for patients and, importantly, cost savings to the hospital. These savings arise from the more focused management of patients that Abundant Life provides, notably in respect of treatment and attention out of hospital, resulting in more hospital beds becoming available, in freeing up staff for improved productivity and in patients being in an environment that is more comfortable for them.
Donate towards Abundant Life and improve the lives of our patients and their families.
Safely Sleeping
This is a project for the Anaesthetic Department of Victoria Hospital, Wynberg.
Each year, Victoria Hospital carries out 5000 surgeries. We take it for granted that we will go to sleep and wake up, with minimal pain. This is only possible due to our expert anaesthetic team. In the last fifty years surgical safety has increased exponentially. Unfortunately, the cost of anaesthetic equipment has also increased, which is where we need your help. Partner with us in providing the equipment needed to ensure that our expert clinicians can perform the operations with precision and safety. Help us deliver on our promise of safe surgery and rapid recovery to the mothers and fathers, husbands, wives and children that come to us for care.
Donate towards a modernised Victoria anaesthetic department.
Standing Strong
This is a project of the Orthopaedics Department of Victoria Hospital, Wynberg.
We would like to partner with donors to raise funds to operate a theatre. The funds will be to pay anaesthetic and nursing staff while the Department of Health will pay for the cost of the joint, the hospital stay and the surgeons. The donor cost to run a theatre for a day is R 20 000. In that time, we can perform three joint replacements. Our aim is to perform a minimum of 67 joint replacements, requiring 23 theatre days, at a cost of R460 000. This cost is remarkable value for money considering that this would only cover the cost of three joint replacements in the private sector.
Hip and Knee joint replacements – many patients wait between 1-3 years for these life-altering procedures. Donate and decrease waiting times and increase the quality of care.
Cutting Edge Care
This is a project of the Surgical Department of Victoria Hospital, Wynberg.
Advances in technology have allowed us to perform surgery without cutting open the patient’s abdomen. This is “key-hole” surgery or, more formally, laparoscopic surgery.
The Surgical Department needs:
– R 1 million for surgical stack
Laparoscopic surgery is far less invasive, using cameras and fine tools to allow a surgeon to make tiny incisions instead of cutting open the patient’s abdomen. It is the internationally-accepted standard and Victoria Hospital is proud to offer this service. We have recently started curative laparoscopic surgery for bowel and kidney cancers.
Donate and be part of these ground-breaking steps forward.
20/20 Hindsight
This is a project of the Ophthalmology department, with a focus on preventable blindness.
Cataracts remain one of the dominant causes of reversible blindness across the world. Victoria Hospital performs 250 cataract operations each year, using theatres at False Bay Hospital. A critical piece of equipment for these procedures is a phaco-machine. This machine dissolves the cataract, allowing for easy removal by a surgeon. Our current machine is over 10 years old and needs replacing. If we acquire the funding for a new machine, we will not only be able to increase the current 250 operations each year by 20 percent. We estimate that we could treat over 3000 cataracts over the lifespan of the machine.
The busy clinics need this equipment urgently:
– R600 000 for a phaco-machine
Give and help us restore vision.
Happy, Healthy Kids
This is a project for the Paediatrics Department of Victoria Hospital, Wynberg.
The Paediatric Ward was expanded and modernised to world-class standards several years ago but doctors are urgently calling for updated equipment for the resuscitation room and children’s ward, to match growing patient numbers:
Many people are often surprised to hear that the Southern sub-district, the area that Victoria Hospital serves, has more children than any other sub-district in the Western Cape. We also have the third largest paediatric outpatient department in the province, managing a wide range of conditions from allergies to autism. Our paediatric department needs equipment in the form of monitors, and special chairs that allow the mothers to sleep comfortably next to their children in the ward. Our staffing project involves the provision of a social worker, occupational therapist and counsellor to our children. This programme is run by the Victoria Hospital Board and has helped thousands of children.
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Kindness to the Vulnerable
This is a project of the Psychiatry Department at Victoria Hospital
Research shows that patients with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators. Many of these patients struggle to access social grants and to reintegrate into society after their discharge. The Victoria Hospital Board funds a clinical social worker, who works with multiple partners in the community to make sure that once these patients are discharged from a hospital, they are sent to a safe environment. We help them access social grants, and arrange follow up with community care workers who help them with their medication. These are often the most vulnerable members of society who require a touch of kindness to significantly improve their lives. Help us fund our clinical social worker.
