Maitland Cottage Children’s Orthopaedic Hospital needs donors to come on board to help cover the running costs of the NPO.
The dedicated paediatric orthopaedic hospital in Newlands specialises in the medical and surgical treatment of children with physical disability due to disease or accident.
Administrator Fiona Kunz said as the only children’s orthopaedic hospital in South Africa, they have positioned themselves to fill a void which expedites surgical procedures for children with orthopaedic challenges.
“Our strategy has been to put the well-equipped surgical operating theatre to almost daily use. A team of top-class surgeons and theatre staff utilises this facility to provide our beneficiaries, mainly children from rural and excluded communities, with top-class, top-quality orthopaedic medical procedures,” she said.
Ms Kunz said they attend to children aged from birth to 16 years of age, who have orthopaedic challenges.
“The aim is to assess the type of orthopaedic procedures needed, whether it’s non-surgical or surgical and the outcome is to improve function and prevent deformities. Think of the life-changing effect we have on children who are born with one leg shorter than the other or a child born with clubfoot or a cerebral palsy child in pain; and they all received treatment that will correct or alleviate the pain.”
Coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic and dealing with the aftermath of lockdown, the hospital is asking for financial assistance to help cover the monthly cost of surgical gloves (R5 000) ; plaster of Paris for casts (R10 000); laundry of surgical theatre garments, hospital bed linen and ward garments at specific temperatures with proper disinfectants (R15 000); three meals a day for patients with healthy snacks in-between to give the body proper healing energy (20 000); and surgical medical equipment (R25 000).
Volunteer Brenda Franklin comes in once a week to help the children in the play area. The former teacher said after she retired and after lockdown restrictions were lifted she decided to volunteer at the hospital.
“I’ve always loved working with children. Volunteering here has been remarkable, you always end up leaving uplifted. The joy you experience from the children despite their circumstances is inspiring,” she said.
To help, contact the hospital on 021 674 2090 or info@mch.org.za
