Groote Schuur Hospital unveiled its new staff wellness centre during a function attended by Health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo, on Tuesday.
The facility would address the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the hospital’s 4500 employees, Dr Mbombo said.
“There will never be health services without health workers, so if health workers don’t take care of themselves, nobody is going to be able to take care of the patients,” she said, adding that the pandemic had had a major impact on the welfare of employees, several of whom had lost colleagues as a result of it.
“The vision of the wellness centre is to have a hospital that prioritises the wellbeing of the staff and to foster a healthy, safe, collaborative and responsive environment where staff feel included and have a sense of belonging,” she said.
The hospital’s mental health occupational therapist, Misha Naik, will be in charge of the centre, and she said its objective was to prioritise the well-being of staff and create an environment where they felt safe, seen and heard.
Among other things, the centre includes a gym, rooms for meditation, a room with massage chairs, a games room and a room where staff can consult with a staff psychologist. Yoga and self-defence classes will be available.
The centre will also provide individual and group counselling or therapy and training
Nurse Dhelia van Kesteren, who has worked at the hospital for 38 years, said she was looking forward to using the facility. “I think this is a good idea as our nurses were going through a lot especially during Covid-19.”
The hospital’s staff psychologist, Dr Lane Benjamin, said it was important to put the wellness of staff first. “We need to have healthy staff in order to have healthy patients.”
