The Exceptional Nurse Night Run is back for 2023 to help raise funds for bursaries that will put more exceptional nurses in SA hospitals!
South Africa (18 July 2023) – South Africa the nurses of our nation need you! Make sure you lace up those takkies, put on your lycra and enter the 5th annual Exceptional Nurse Campaign Night Run taking place in Cape Town and Gqeberha this September!
Why this particular run you ask? Well, it’s a great excuse to get out into the community and breathe in some fresh air, but more importantly you will be honouring and supporting all the exceptional nurses all around SA. At the same time, all of the money raised from entry fees will be used for bursaries so that more people can study to become exceptional nurses!
The 7km night route is symbolic of the 7-7 shifts our nurses work.
“The purpose of the night run is to raise awareness of the critical shortage of professional nurses in South Africa and to promote a culture of honour and gratitude towards all,” says Sister Teresa Basson, the brainchild of this event.
“Nurses play an essential role in the medical profession and health care system, and we hope that through the work of The Exceptional Nurse Campaign and events that we host, we can change the tide of negative sentiment by highlighting all of the ‘exceptional nurses’ that help create beautiful miracles every day. Nurses not only form the backbone, but the beating heart of our Healthcare System.”
The World Health Organisation has estimated an international shortage of around 9 million professional and specialist nurses. As far as South Africa is concerned, we have an ongoing crisis that has unfortunately exacerbated since Covid.
“The main reason for the crisis in South Africa is that 50% of our nurses are over the age of 50 and will be retiring within the next 10 – 15 years,” explains Sister Basson. “Each year in SA over 9000 nurses retire, meaning we are losing 9000 nurses annually in our country. Unfortunately, due to a shortage of Government funding for Nurse Training and qualified Nurse Educators, we only have capacity, as a country, to train 3000 nurses each year. With only 3000 new nurses coming into the profession each year, we lose a total of 6000 nurses annually!”
Whilst we recognise our limitations as The Exceptional Nurse Campaign, we cannot change the financial crisis in our country, but what we can do is:
- encourage exceptional nurses to specialise in Nursing Education
- raise funding for bursaries for exceptional student nurses
- raise public support to honour and appreciate our nurses
- And raise the status of the Nursing Profession in South Africa as a whole.”
“The aim of our annual Night Runs to honour Nurses, is not only to raise funds for bursaries to help students study to become a nurse, but to also show gratitude and love to those nurses who play such a vital role in our communities.”
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