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20 December 2021
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Story Igno van Niekerk
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Photo Igno van Niekerk
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Dr Samantha Potgieter, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine and Dr Nicholas Pearce, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Surgery comment on their team members’ commitment and determination during the pandemic.
On the forefront of the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, two UFS doctors are leading a team of inspired healthcare workers in a superhuman effort to make a positive difference.
With the pandemic in its second year and the recurring challenges of new waves and strains consistently in the news, one would expect the doctors to be tired. However, quite the opposite is true. Upon entering the office where Dr Samantha Potgieter, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Internal Medicine and Dr Nicholas Pearce, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Surgery are in a meeting with colleagues, the debate is vibrant; an energetic sense of mission.
Miraculously succeeded
My brief is to collect stories and experiences they’ve had over the past 18 months at the Tumelo ward for general and high-care patients, where the team has miraculously succeeded in not running out of oxygen or ventilators, despite handling high volumes of patients from the Free State and Northern Cape. “We saw those pictures of piled-up bodies in Italy. We were committed to avoiding that at all costs. And we did.”
Success stories? First mentioned are their team members’ commitment and determination. The team had to stand in when families could not support dying patients. “They did not die alone. Our team was there.”
“Really sad and frustrating are the deaths that could have been prevented. Unvaccinated patients. They arrive ill, wanting to know if they can get it. Too late...” – Dr Nicholas Pearce
Then came hope
Sad stories? The past year has had its share of sad stories. “Someone comes in during the morning, needs oxygen, in the afternoon they are in ICU, then ventilator – and then they die. We’ve never faced anything like this before.”
Then came hope. Vaccines. Dr Pearce is in charge of the vaccination site at Universitas Hospital. “Really sad and frustrating are the deaths that could have been prevented. Unvaccinated patients. They arrive ill, wanting to know if they can get it. Too late ...” He opens his cell phone – shares the stats. “We can handle 2 000 vaccinations a day. At the moment about 250 comes in.” He shakes his head.
“We can beat this virus, but we need to stand together ...”
Facilitation session for Extended Curriculum Project
2009-03-13
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The Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently held an academic facilitation session in its Extended Curriculum Project for first-year Sociology students on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein. The purpose of this project is to improve the throughput and pass rates in the B.A. and B.Soc.Sc. extended programmes, as the failure and dropout rates in the faculty are high, especially among first-year students and in the extended programmes themselves. This will be done by establishing a support system for students in their first year of study to help them with and support them in integrating skills with the academic content of the mainstream modules. These extended programmes were introduced in 2005 in an effort to provide students who are not sufficiently prepared for higher education with a better opportunity to be successful in their studies. This year the focus will be on the first-year students in these extended programmes. Pictured are the project facilitators: Ms Melanie Nel (2nd from left), Ms Puleng Maleho (4th from left) and Ms Bianca de Vos (6th from left), with some of the students.
Photo: Mangaliso Radebe |