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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

Lots of inspiration at Autumn Graduation Ceremony

2013-04-08

Photo: Hannes Pieterse
27 March 2013

The university’s Autumn Graduation Ceremony promises to be another special occasion, with speakers from South Africa and abroad that will address the graduates.

A total of 526 diplomas/certificates and 2 796 bachelor’s and honours degrees will be awarded at the ceremony. The diplomas/certificates and degrees will be awarded during eight ceremonies in the Callie Human Centre on the Bloemfontein Campus from 16 to 19 April 2013.

Well-known radio host and Idols South Africa judge, Gareth Cliff, will be the guest speaker at two ceremonies on 18 April 2013. He will be joined by Vicus Visser, the South African YouTube singing sensation dubbed Bloemfontein’s Justin Bieber. Vicus and his brother Vincent, will perform during the two ceremonies.

Graduates will also be able to draw inspiration from the American student and tap dancer, Joshua Johnson, whom overseas media report widely about. Joshua inspired American audiences with his story of hope and perseverance. The student from Penn State University travels five hours by bus to New York every weekend, where he dances on the subway train to earn money for his tuition fees.

Joshua has appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show and his story has also been told in the New York Times and on the American news programme ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.

Joshua will be the guest speaker at the ceremonies on 16, 17 and 19 April 2013. He will also deliver a dance item.

The programme for the respective ceremonies is:

Tuesday 16 April

09:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of the Humanities: only Social Sciences and Communication Science.
14:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of the Humanities: Social Sciences and Communication Science excluded.

Wednesday 17 April

09:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Education.
14:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculties of Health Sciences, Law and Theology.

Thursday 18 April

09:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences: only Agricultural Sciences and Architecture.
14:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences: only Natural Sciences.

Friday 19 April

09:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences: all diplomas and degrees in the Faculty, except BCom and BComHons.
14:30 Diplomas and certificates up to and including honours degrees in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences: only BCom and BComHons.

The Qwaqwa Campus’ graduation ceremony will take place on 8 June 2013. Diplomas/certificates up to and including doctorates will be awarded at this ceremony.

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