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A Dutch tourist who suffered a spinal compression fracture in a boating accident in St Lucia has returned to South Africa to mark her recovery and thank the medical team at Netcare St Anne’s Hospital’s Level 1 trauma centre for the exceptional care she received.

Manon and her husband first visited South Africa 24 years ago on a camping tour that included Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe. “Somehow the light in South Africa is different, with beautiful sunsets. The people here are very friendly, and we like how multicultural your country is – and the delicious food. Two years ago, we visited again because we wanted to see more of South Africa and share this experience with our children, including the astonishing experience of seeing wildlife in its natural habitat,” she says.

While visiting St Lucia, misfortune struck. Manon was injured on a boat and had to be transported by Netcare 911 helicopter emergency medical services to the emergency department at Netcare St Anne’s Hospital for urgent care.

Pic: After Dutch tourist Manon Rouwette-Janssen suffered a spinal compression fracture in a boating accident in St Lucia, Netcare 911’s helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) air ambulance transported her to the level 1 trauma centre at Netcare St Anne’s Hospital.

 

Pic: Recently, the Rouwette-Janssen family returned to South Africa to thank neurosurgeon Dr Sandile Ngwenya and the multidisciplinary team who cared for Manon at Netcare St Anne’s Hospital, and to complete their trip that was cut short previously.

 

Pic: Once Manon was well enough to be discharged after the intricate spinal surgery, Netcare 911 carefully transported her to the family’s accommodation to await her flight back to the Netherlands to continue her recovery.

 

“As a Dutch tourist, I felt extremely vulnerable in a foreign hospital with a broken back. I cannot express my gratitude enough, not only for the high standard of medical care, but also for the approachability of the healthcare team, for the high level of personal care, the personal approach and sense of involvedness I felt during my stay,” Manon Rouwette-Janssen, of Helmond in the Netherlands, recalls after her August 2023 spinal injury.

“This really meant a lot to me. I was also impressed by the efficiency and speed of action when I arrived at the hospital’s emergency department. The fact that the trauma surgeon and his team knew that I was coming, the immediate examination and scans, and the quick analysis of the problem, all went very fast.”

Netcare St Anne’s Hospital is one of only four private Level 1 trauma centres accredited by the Trauma Society of South Africa (TSSA). Its emergency department is equipped to treat even the most critical and complex injuries for patients from all over KwaZulu-Natal.

This emphasis on an evidence-based trauma system is proven to improve outcomes for patients and aims to shorten the time between injury and appropriate specialist intervention to maximise the person’s chance of survival and minimise harm.

The trauma surgeon made Manon comfortable with pain relief and ordered a CT scan, which indicated a compression fracture of her lumbar spine. Manon was then entrusted to neurosurgeon Dr Sandile Ngwenya to assess and treat her spinal injury.

“We requested an MRI scan to see exactly what was happening. An intervertebral disc was compressing Mrs Rouwette-Janssen’s spinal cord from the back, and it was clear she would need surgery before she could safely travel home to the Netherlands,” Dr Ngwenya says.

“As she was a tourist, we had to engage with her travel insurance to explain that if she were to travel home to Europe in this precarious situation, she could be exposed to further, potentially life-changing, spinal cord injury. As we have the neurosurgical expertise to manage her injury right here, we eventually persuaded the insurance company to let us do what was in the best interests of our patient and perform the spinal decompression and spinal fusion surgery she needed.”

After the intricate spinal surgery, Manon was transferred to the high care unit to begin rehabilitation, when her blood pressure became elevated, and Netcare St Anne’s Hospital resident physician Dr Devan Gounder was consulted to manage her hypertension.

“There is another aspect I found very special and striking in the care I received, which was the multidisciplinary co-operation of the healthcare professionals working together as a team. In the Netherlands, it is my experience that it’s often very difficult to get medical specialists from different disciplines together and to have them confer or work with each other. There are specialised medical clinics, but a multidisciplinary, complementary and efficient medical approach like the one I experienced in your hospital is rather rare, I believe,” Manon says.

Pic: Dutch family Manon and Jean-Paul Rouwette-Janssen and their children visited South Africa in 2023. Just two days after this photo was taken at St Lucia beach, Manon suffered a serious spinal injury in a boating accident.

 

Pic: One of the most significant highlights of the family’s recent trip to South Africa was visiting the Apartheid Museum. “We, as parents, think it is good to not only learn history from books but also to talk about it and to acknowledge the impact of what has happened in the past and what we can learn from it for the future,” Manon says.

 

The whole team came together for Manon’s rehabilitative care, including daily visits from the trauma surgeon and Dr Ngwenya checking in at all hours of the day and night, and physiotherapist Lee-Ash Chuntharpursat, an occupational therapist and clinical psychologist Prishika Pillay.

“When included in a multidisciplinary trauma team, a psychologist can provide treatment earlier, which helps alleviate post-traumatic stress and the formation of symptoms that can often develop after a physical trauma injury,” Pillay explains.

“The link between stress and the mind, the endocrine system, central nervous system, and the immune system is well established, and including psychology therapy as an aspect of healing is important for treating the whole person and achieving better outcomes overall."

When Manon was well enough to be discharged and continue her recovery at their guest lodge, the team stayed in touch and came to check on her progress. Dr Ngwenya also engaged with their insurance company to explain that it was imperative that Manon remain lying horizontally for their flight back to the Netherlands and motivated for additional plane seats to accommodate her.

“The possibility of turbulence on the flight so soon after spinal surgery could have placed Manon at risk, and fortunately, she was able to travel back home lying horizontally across several seats on an air mattress, and she made it safely back to the Netherlands to continue her recovery,” Dr Ngwenya explains.

Back home, the doctors who Manon consulted in the Netherlands were impressed with the spinal surgery she had received at Netcare St Anne’s Hospital on South Africa’s distant shores.

“We know what the spine encompasses and how much is at stake for each patient, and we provide a world-class level of spinal surgery. Our Dutch colleagues could see that Mrs Rouwette-Janssen’s surgery was performed according to international protocols, and she has made an excellent recovery since then,” he says.

It was an extraordinarily moving and significant day when two years after her accident, Manon retraced her journey to KwaZulu-Natal and met up with the trauma team, Dr Ngwenya, and the multidisciplinary team who cared for her during her time of need.

“It was important to me to return to South Africa, as after an experience like mine, the fear that something bad might happen again should not hold you back. When Prishika told me the team was arranging to meet us, I was deeply touched and speechless. Seeing the whole team including Lee-Ash the physiotherapist, the psychologist, the trauma surgeon and Dr Ngwenya once more was the greatest gift I could imagine. It was a very emotional and beautiful day.

“I wish to thank all the members of the trauma team, from the top, middle, and bottom of my heart. I am really very grateful for everything they all did for me, and it filled my heart to revisit South Africa and thank the amazing healthcare professionals who looked after me in person,” Manon concluded.

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