Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items

A multimillion-rand grant will assist UFS to develop palliative care structures and services in FS

09 October 2023 | Story André Damons | Photo André Damons

A multimillion-rand grant will assist the Department of Oncology at the University of the Free State (UFS) to initiate the implementation of palliative care services in the Free State province and help to improve the quality of life of patients and their families living with a life-threatening disease.

The grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation (BMSF) has already improved the quality of life for patients living with advanced progressive life-threatening diseases (cancer, renal failure, heart failure, AIDS, lung disease) as well as for their families. Prof Alicia Sherriff, head of the UFS Department of Oncology, and Dr Dalene van Jaarsveld, Lecturer and Medical Specialist in the same department, are project leaders for the grant that UFS administers. The grant is for a period three years.

According to Dr Van Jaarsveld, they have also planned for a 10-bed inpatient facility at the Universitas Academic Complex that will be able to accommodate a family member of patients receiving care in preparation for their down referral for home-based care. This unit will also be used as a training facility for all undergraduate health-care students. The grant will provide staff for a limited period to assist the Free State Department of Health (FSDOF) in preparing to absorb the services. They are currently awaiting commitment from the FSDOH to start with renovation of this unit.

Situation in the Free State

Palliative care, explains Dr Van Jaarsveld, provides a service that improves the quality of life of a patient, and his/her family, diagnosed with a life-limited disease. “It is not only for patients who are terminally ill and should ideally be implemented much earlier in the patient's disease journey. Palliative care is a basic human right,” she says.

“A National Policy Framework and strategy on the implementation on palliative care for South Africa for 2012-2022 was published by National Department of Health. We recognised in 2019 that there was no implementation initiated in the Free State, and no budget allocated to the implementation of this critical service.

“Many patients in the province live with these advanced progressive diseases and experience a very poor quality of life that translates into a poor quality of death with a high symptom-burden and suffering during their last days. Similarly, the family will suffer immensely,” says Dr Van Jaarsveld.

Prof Sherriff says they applied for this international grant to assist with the startup of these structures while the FSDOH is given the opportunity to setup the necessary budget to ensure long-term sustainability of this human right as a health-care service.

In the Free State about 16,000 patients die every year with a high need for palliative care. Dr Van Jaarsveld says of the 15 functioning hospices in 2014 and home-based carers that were offering hospice care in most of the sub-districts in the Free State, there are only four registered hospices remaining. Of these only one has four beds where patients can be admitted. The others provide limited care to a very small area, leaving most of the districts in the Free State without any form of palliative care and support. Most of the other provinces have different levels of palliative-care services available. The grant provides funds to initiate the implementation of this service in the Free State.

They are working closely with the FSDOH on a provincial implementation plan that will eventually, once the grant has ended, be taken forward by the province, says Dr Van Jaarsveld.

Impact of the grant

Through the grant a project manager, professional nurse and administrative support are employed as part of a core team at Universitas Academic Hospital with a social worker. They have received training in palliative care supported by the grant. This team, together with Dr van Jaarsveld, provides a consultation service at the Universitas Academic Hospital Complex.

“Nearly 700 patients have been referred for palliative care in the past year and have therefore benefited (with their families) from the grant. Another two professional nurses have been employed via the grant as hub managers for the Thabo Mofutsanyane and Lejweleputswa districts. Both are currently doing training in palliative care. Once a patient is seen by the team, a palliative care plan is developed, family meetings are held, and a discharge care plan set in place.

“To ensure continuity of care, the patients are handed over to one of the nurses managing the districts where the patients are from for further follow-up and support. This is sadly not possible in all districts,” says Dr Van Jaarsveld.

With the grant, the palliative care team, in close collaboration with Hospice Bloemfontein, have started with accredited palliative care training for nurses and other health professionals working for the FSDOH in all districts of the province. This will help with down-referral pathways and support for patients from districts without a dedicated palliative care nurse.

UFS and Vision 130

Dr Claire Armour Barrett, Head: Research and Development in the School of Clinical Medicine at UFS says this project is critically aligned with the second key tenet of the UFS Vision 130, maximum societal impact with sustainable relationships. Although this project is still in its early phase, almost 700 patients and as many as 2100 family members have been positively affected by this work.

“We believe that we are bringing the UFS closer to the theme of the World Hospice and Palliative Care Day for 2023, Compassionate Communities: Together for Palliative Care. We are actively increasing awareness in communities, advocating for patients and families in need not only through service delivery, but also by education and collaboration. We are stronger together.”

World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is celebrated every year on 14 October.

News Archive

UFS awards honorary doctorates during its centenary week

2004-10-07

The University of the Free State (UFS) will award 12 honorary doctorates on Thursday 14 October 2004 to a diverse group of outstanding South Africans and international experts.

This will be the last in a group of 18 honorary doctorates that the UFS will be awarding in its centenary year.

The awards comprise of a number of well-known language experts and writers, experts in higher education, first-time awards in community service and development studies, as well as music.

“This reflects quality and also diversity, a spectrum of convictions as well as the recognition of persons who played a major role in changing society in the last couple of decades, “ says Prof Frederick Fourie, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS.

The awards can be grouped in the following categories:

Language and literature:

Mr Karel Schoeman (D Litt (hc)) – well-known Afrikaans author and former student of the UFS. Some of the awards he has received include the Hertzog prize for prose (1970, 1986 and 1995), the CNA prize (1972 and 1994), the Old Mutual prize (1985 and 1991), the SABC prize for best television drama in 1990, the M Net book prize in 1997 and the State President award (former President Nelson Mandela: Order for Excellent Service – silver) in 1999. It is an honor for the UFS to have this gifted and creative person among its former students. This conferment is a fitting recognition of his status as leading South African writer.

Ms Antjie Krog (D Litt (hc)) – well-known South African poet and former student of the UFS. Her popularity as poet is evident in her piercing honesty and unequalled power of expression. Some of the awards she has received include the Eugéne Marais prize in 1973, the Rapport prize in 1987, the Hertzog prize in 1990 and the RAU prize in 2000. Her writing has been translated into seven languages. She has also received numerous honors for her involvement in and journalistic documentation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) proceedings. It is therefore an exceptional privilege for her alma mater to honor her with an honorary doctorate.

Prof Jaap Steyn (D Litt (et phil) (hc)) – recently, Prof Steyn again distinguished himself as biographer whose thorough research is apparent in the published biographies of illustrious writers such as NP van Wyk Louw and MER. The numerous awards, among which the Stals prize from the South African Academy of Science and Art for the Van Wyk publication, are a matter of record. He conducted the research for this great prize-winning work as honorary professor at the UFS.

Prof Jakes Gerwel (D Phil (hc)) – Chancellor of the University of Rhodes and Director of Naspers, Old Mutual, Gold Fields and Brimstone. His doctoral thesis was published in The Netherlands under the title Literatuur en apartheid. Konsepsies van “gekleurdes” in die Afrikaanse roman tot 1948 (1983). He received an honorary doctorate from Clark College ( Atlanta), the City University of New York and Missouri in the USA, the University of the Western Cape, the University of Cape Town, the University of Natal, Rhodes University, the University of Stellenbosch and the University of the Witwatersrand. He is also outstanding professor in the Humanities at the University of the Western Cape, honorary professor in the Humanities at the University of Pretoria, and was the chairman of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC).

Development Studies:

Dr Frederick van Zyl Slabbert (D Phil (hc)) – for his academic achievements, his endeavors for bringing about a peaceful transition in South Africa and his demonstration of the social investment role of the corporate sector. Dr Van Zyl Slabbert has received honorary degrees from the University of Natal and the Simon Fraser University in Canada. He has published seven books and various academic articles.

Community Service:

Prof Robert G Bringle (D Phil (hc)) – from the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in the USA. He is currently Chancellor’s Professor of Psychology and Philanthropic Studies at the IUPUI and also Director of the IUPUI’s Centre for Service Learning. He is honored for his exceptional contribution to several of the UFS’s community service projects as well as his role in the advancement of a multi- and inter-disciplinary approach to academic development and the integration of service learning within the faculties of the UFS. He has also made a valuable contribution to the conceptual framework of the UFS’s unique community service policy and more recently to the advancement of a research culture regarding community service.

Higher education:

Dr Khotso Mokhele (D Phil (hc)), President of the National Research Foundation (NRF) is honored for his contribution to the South African higher education sector. He has also made a substantial contribution to the development of the research capacity of universities and technikons in South Africa. Dr Mokhele was born in Bloemfontein and matriculated at the Moroka High School in Thaba Nchu.

Prof Saleem Badat (D Phil (hc)), the Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Higher Education (CHE). Prof Badat has devoted himself to transforming and building South African higher education, and has constantly challenged the higher education sector to retain the moral basis of higher education and tackle its challenges with intellectual honesty, ingenuity, creativity and courage. He is honored for his intellectual leadership in the development of a equitable, just and quality higher education system in South Africa.

Law:

Prof HA (Boelie) Wessels (D Legum (hc)) – for his contribution to the fields of Roman Law, Legal History at the UFS. He is currently a part-time lecturer at the UFS’s Faculty of Law.

Medicine:

Prof CJC Nel (D Phil (hc) Posthumous) – for the way in which he strived for the advancement of excellent medical education in the country. Prof Nel also did pioneering work in the field of transformation in higher education. Under his guidance the School of Medicine at the UFS became one of the first medical schools to adopt a parallel-medium system of instruction.

Music:

Prof Leo Quayle (D Mus (hc)) – for the significant contributions he has made to the development of music – not only in Bloemfontein, but also on national level and abroad. His initiative, enthusiasm and dedication contributed to the eventual founding of the Free State Musicon, as well as the first symphony orchestra and the first string quartet in Bloemfontein. Prof Quayle is a former head of the Department of Music at the UFS.

Prof Jack de Wet (D Mus (hc)) – well-known for his exceptional contribution to violin tuition in South Africa. As pedagogue of international stature, he still moulds violinists who compete at national and international level. At an advanced stage of his career, he still actively conveys his knowledge, experience and distinctive insight in his field of speciality to yet another new generation of young violin teachers. Today the symphony orchestras in Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth also stand on the foundations laid by him.

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

Back

Economic and Management Sciences

Education

Health Sciences

The Humanities

Law

Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Theology and Religion

Open Distance Learning

Business School

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept