Who are we?
Stellenbosch Hospice is now a five-star, COHSASA (Council for Health Service Accreditation for Southern Africa ) -accredited Hospice. Established by Stellenbosch Rotary Club, we initially operated out of a tiny garage, with our first patients benefiting from the compassionate care of Sister Libby Reynecke.
The dream of providing a holistic service to the whole Stellenbosch Community became a reality in 1992 through a partnership with Stellenbosch District Hospital, who kindly allocated a downstairs wing to accommodate the new Hospice administrative offices, and later a small two-bed In Patient Unit. Major demands for our services have resulted in macro growth, to the extent that we now have 70 staff, supported by 40 volunteers, who together serve an average of 760 patients per month.
What do we do?
We have a dedicated team of highly qualified nursing sisters and well trained carers who provide daily palliative and chronic care across the Stellenbosch District for our ever- increasing number of patients, who suffer mainly from Cancer, HIV/AIDS and TB. Our psycho-social staff combine with the medical team to offer a holistic palliative service to enable patients and their families to cope with not only the burden of disease, but also the very tough socio-economic conditions and the challenges of bereavement.