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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 ...”
Six from Physics receive doctorates at UFS Winter Graduation
2015-07-08
From the left are: Prof Koos Terblans, Dr Shaun Cronje, Dr Hendrik van Heerden, Dr Pieter Barnard and Prof Pieter Meintjes.
Photo: Stephen Collett |
The Department of Physics at the University of the Free State (UFS) is extremely proud of six graduands who received doctorates at this year’s Winter Graduation which took place from on the Bloemfontein Campus from 1-2 July 2015. Three of the graduands are personnel in this department.
According to Prof Koos Terblans from the Department of Physics, it seems to be the most PhDs awarded at the university during one graduation ceremony.
The following people received doctorates:
1) Dr Shaun Cronje (UFS)
He investigated the loss of surface atoms during segregation of Sb from Cu using a computational model and experimental measurements.
2) Dr George Tshabalala (UFS)
He synthesised and characterised down-conversion nanophosphors.
3) Dr Hendrik van Heerden (UFS)
He searched for pulsed high-energy non-thermal emission from the nova-like variable system AE Aquarii.
4) Dr Pieter Barnard (SASOL)
He investigated the surface segregation of S in Fe and Fe-Cr alloys using computational models and experimental methods.
5) Dr Luyanda Noto
He investigated the luminescence mechanisms of tantalite phosphors.
6) Dr Alida Odendaal (UFS)
She investigated the multi-wavelength properties of a sample of Magellanic cloud and Galactic supersoft X-ray Binaries.