News

Hospital’s school shoes donation handed to Voetspore

TV crew to deliver upcycled shoes to Riemvasmaak children
Thursday, July 7 2022

Netcare Pretoria East Hospital staff, doctors and service providers have enthusiastically embraced a challenge to raise funds for the donation of much needed school shoes to children through the My Walk initiative, an innovative partnership between Netcare and Adcock Ingram Critical Care.

Recently, a consignment of 250 pairs of donated school shoes destined for children of the Riemvasmaak in the Northern Cape, were handed over to the presenters of the popular SABC 2 travel series Voetspore for distribution to the community.

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Pic: Netcare Pretoria East Hospital donated 250 pairs of high quality school shoes made from recycled PVC to children of the Riemvasmaak community in the Northern Cape, which will be handed over by the popular SABC 2 travel series Voetspore later this year. The Voetspore team (left to right) Francois Marais, Johan Badenhorst and Nina Badenhorst are pictured with Netcare Pretoria East Hospital’s safety, health and environmental manger, Christine Pienaar; nursing manager, Erna Visagie and hospital general manager, Pieter Louw.

“Initially, we set ourselves the goal of raising enough funds over 13 days to donate 250 pairs of brand new school shoes from our hospital,” says Pieter Louw, general manager of Netcare Pretoria East Hospital.

“The support we received was truly remarkable and we succeeded in donating more than double that number – 602 pairs of My Walk shoes in total, including 193 pairs of school shoes generously donated by doctors practising at the hospital and service providers.

My Walk school shoes are made from high quality recycled PVC reclaimed from safe healthcare consumables, including drip bags and tubing, at 20 participating Netcare hospitals in Gauteng, including Netcare Pretoria East Hospital.

Netcare Pretoria East Hospital was one of the high achievers of Netcare’s internal My Walk “Step into Greatness” campaign. Participating Netcare hospitals took on a friendly challenge to raise funds to donate high quality school shoes for learners in disadvantaged areas.

“Essential footwear can make such a difference to a child’s daily life and their potential to make the most of the opportunities that education brings, with broader benefits for their communities over time,” adds Delanie Bezuidenhout, general manager of the My Walk initiative.

“A pair of school shoes might be the difference between a child going to school or staying at home, limiting their options in years to come. We thank Netcare Pretoria East Hospital and everyone who participated for their contribution to alleviating this kind of hardship for so many children.”

“I would personally like to thank every person involved at our hospital who decided to dig deeper in their own pockets to provide learners in communities near and far facing financial hardship with these comfortable and hard wearing shoes, which we hope will help to make education a little more accessible,” Louw concluded.

 

Ends

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To find out more about the services offered through Netcare hospitals and other of the Group’s facilities, please visit www.netcare.co.za or contact the Netcare customer service centre either by email at [email protected] or phone 0860 NETCARE (0860 638 2273). Note that the centre operates Mondays to Fridays from 08:00 to 16:00.

For more information on this media release, contact MNA at the contact details listed below.

Issued by:            MNA on behalf of Pretoria East Hospital
Contact:    Martina Nicholson, Meggan Saville, Estene Lotriet-Vorster or Clemmy Forsthofer
Telephone:    (011) 469 3016
Email:    [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] or [email protected]