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Faculty of Health Sciences welcomes donations of PPEs

02 September 2020 | Story Andre Damons | Photo Charl Devenish

Faculty of Health Sciences donation of PPEs — A group of medical students pose with their new masks, a donation by an alumnus of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS) welcomed the generous donation of 1 000 surgical masks by one of its alumni to aid medical students in this faculty with their clinical training.

The Professional Provident Society (PPS), a financial services company focused solely on providing intelligent financial solutions for graduate professionals, also donated personal protective equipment (PPE) to the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The first donation was made by Dr Riaan Flooks, a Specialist Physician at Mediclinic Bloemfontein. Dr Flooks received the masks from a friend and decided to donate some of the masks to the UFS.

Thankful for donations

Prof Gert van Zyl, Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences, says they are thankful for the donations.

“All donations help, big or small, and it will help our students to do their tasks and to help where necessary,” Prof Van Zyl said about the second donation by PPS.

Prof Nathaniel Mofolo, Head: School of Clinical Medicine, expressed his gratitude to Dr Flooks and called him a patron of the university and the faculty.

“On behalf of the School of Clinical Medicine, I hereby wish to express our heartfelt gratitude for your generous contribution and support. This comes at the most needed time and will go a long way in assisting us,” said Prof Mofolo.

Dr Lynette van der Merwe, undergraduate medical programme director in the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of the Free State (UFS), added that the donation of essential PPE to students for use during training in the clinical areas was much appreciated.

“The support for the academic programme in a practical, tangible way is highly valuable, as it will assist in protecting students while they are in clinical training.”

Doing their bit

According to PPS, one of the positives of the COVID-19 pandemic is the contributions of so many to deal with the crisis – from individuals to big corporates – who want little or nothing in return.

“We all need to do our bit, and the PPS board has recently decided to contribute R25 million to fight the pandemic in South Africa. In deciding where this would make the biggest impact, our unique positioning among professionals and our relationship with professional associations were considered.”

“We are also very conscious that health professionals, in particular, are the front-line soldiers in this war, and need to be protected. It was therefore decided that a major portion of the money will be used to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) for the safety of medical professionals in both the public and private sectors,” according to PPS.

News Archive

UFS launches unique project to honour great teachers

2011-04-21

Dedicated, hard-working, inspiring and motivational ...

These are the kind of teachers the University of the Free State (UFS) is looking to honour in their Great Teachers Project.

When one is confronted by most images of teachers in the mainstream media, these are rarely the words that come to mind, though. However, for many young men and women these are exactly the traits which they saw in their teachers, and which inspired them to become South Africa’s next generation of poets, painters, architects, mathematicians, drummers, pilots, lawyers, philosophers, doctors, accountants, community developers and more.

One rarely hears about the truly great teachers from our past and present who are the driving force behind the successes of many of our greatest achievers. The teachers who go the extra mile to convey the intricate beauties within their subjects, lead an exemplary life and produced the activists, critical thinkers and leaders we all cherish.

Therefore, the UFS and the Sunday Times have joined hands in identifying 150 of the greatest teachers, who moved, inspired and transformed South Africans during their time at school. These are the teachers who stood out among their colleagues and made a lasting impact on their learners, inspiring them to excel, long after the mathematical equations and English literature tests are forgotten.

The stories will be collected and assembled on a central database and categorised, edited and represented into a coherent array of powerful accounts of inspired and inspiring teachers.

A book entitled Great Teachers will be published in December 2011, detailing the stories of these great individuals. The introduction to the book will present the plan and process that led the storied collection.

Those who are interested are invited to submit a 500 to 750 word essay on any teacher who made an impact in their life and submit it to greatteachers@ufs.ac.za before 30 May 2011.

All proceeds from the sales of the book will be used to provide bursaries to student teachers of today, who may become the great teachers for tomorrow’s generation.

Media Release
21 April 2011
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Director: Strategic Communication
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: news@ufs.ac.za

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