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Dr Nicholas Pearce leading COVID-19 response at Universitas Academic Hospital

30 June 2021 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons

Dr Pearce_web read more use — Dr Nicholas Pearce, Head of the COVID-19 Task Team at the Universitas Academic Hospital, leads a dedicated team of professionals at the testing and vaccination site of the Universitas Academic Hospital, adjacent to our Bloemfontein Campus.

It is impossible to quantify the number of hours Dr Nicholas Pearce, Head of the COVID-19 Task Team for the Universitas Academic Hospital, spent working in response to this deadly virus since the first case was reported in South Africa last year.

According to Dr Pearce, who is the Head of the Department of General Surgery in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State (UFS), the initial preparation phase required many hours of brainstorming, planning, and physical hours working on site. He also spent countless hours awake at night trying to come up with solutions for the many challenges faced along the way. This is in addition to being available telephonically twenty-four-seven for any issues related to equipment, staffing, and facilities.

“I was attending a vascular surgery congress in Germany last year January (2020) when China just announced the outbreak of COVID-19. I noticed an increased number of travellers wearing surgical masks at an airport in the Middle East when I was travelling to South Africa.

“Upon my return to work, I approached management to discuss procurement of PPEs, as it was just a matter of time before COVID-19 would hit South Africa and the rest of the world. When things escalated, I was asked to head the COVID-19 response team at Universitas Hospital,” explains Dr Pearce.

Kind human being with a soft heart

(Photo: André Damons)

Dr Pearce, who was brought up to always strive to be better, is driven and motivated to succeed. He has a very analytical brain and loves challenges. In fact, he does not believe in problems and only sees challenges. This kind human being can sometimes seem quite tough on the outside, but actually has a very soft heart.

“I think it is human nature to want to feel needed. I have an inherent urge to help my fellow human beings. This is also the reason why I became a health-care professional and why I am passionate about teaching,” says Dr Pearce.

With South Africa lagging behind with its vaccination programme, the hard work is far from over for Dr Pearce and his team. Says Dr Pearce: “The initiation of a mass vaccination site posed a whole new set of challenges, which once again required many hours of planning. The initial stages of running the vaccination site required many hours of physical hard work a day. Then there is also the daily operations meeting at 18:00 every weekday to discuss the vaccine roll-out in the province.”

Frustrations and setbacks

For Dr Pearce, this pandemic highlighted the differences between individuals from different social classes in our country. Providing quarantine and self-isolation facilities for individuals who do not have access to such facilities at home is one such example.

“We all have a right to clean water and good quality healthcare. This also includes a right to oxygen. This right to oxygen has proved to be one of our great challenges in managing this pandemic. Delivery of these large amounts of oxygen has been especially challenging. Some days we require in excess of five tons of oxygen,” says Dr Pearce.

(Photo: André Damons)

There have been many frustrations and setbacks on this journey, some of which can be quite demoralising and demotivating, but knowing that he is doing something good for his fellow human beings gives this gentle and diligent healthcare worker a tremendous amount of energy. “Positive feedback from patients and colleagues far outshines all the frustrations and disappointments,” concludes Dr Pearce.

Outside of work

After finishing online meetings at home, Dr Pearce relaxes with his partner by chatting about the day’s events and cooking supper together while enjoying a glass of wine. He also tries to connect with family who lives in Gauteng. Because of work pressures and the pandemic, he has not been able to see them as much.

News Archive

Research conducted on economic impact of recent international soccer and rugby matches for Bloemfontein

2004-09-09

The Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently conducted a survey on the economic impact of the international soccer and rugby games that were played in Bloemfontein earlier this year.

The research focused on the soccer match between Bafana Bafana and the Cape Verdic Isle and the rugby match between the Springboks and Ireland .

“The survey was done as a result of a research agenda about local economic development in Bloemfontein ,” said Dr Lochner Marais, researcher at the centre.

“We conducted the research by doing 402 interviews with soccer supporters and 376 interviews with rugby supporters from outside Bloemfontein ,” said Dr Marais.

The centre distributed questionnaires, collecting the following information on the soccer and rugby supporters: their age, gender and origin, the number of nights spend in Bloemfontein , their household expenditure in Bloemfontein and their rating on the quality of service.

“It is estimated that 10 800 soccer supporters and 27 000 rugby supporters came from outside Bloemfontein . Of the rugby supporters 14,4% were female and 85,6% were men. For the soccer international the percentage was 33% females and 67% males,” said Dr Marais.

The highest number of people who came to watch the soccer game in Bloemfontein (35,8%) was from the Northern Free State . The rugby supporters mainly came from Gauteng (21,8%) and the Northern Free State (18%).

When visiting Bloemfontein soccer supporters spend R912 per household, whilst rugby supporters reached deeper in their pockets and spent R1 807 per household.

“The survey indicated that the two international matches resulted in approximately R58 million been spent in Bloemfontein . Rugby supporters were accountable for the largest part (R48 787 205) spent. The largest chunk of the money spent was on accommodation (R14 593 279). On average soccer and rugby supporters from outside Bloemfontein spent 1,4 and 1,9 nights in Bloemfontein ,” said Dr Marais.

Rugby and soccer supporters were also asked to rate the quality of service received from amongst others hotels, guest houses, restaurants, and transport and entertainment facilities. Soccer supporters rated their satisfaction with services higher as rugby supporters. The rugby supporters gave the services at hotels a 3,9 rating, whilst soccer supporters awarded 4,6 rating out of a possible five.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
9 September 2004

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