On Thursday 8 September 2016, Centurion Day Hospital made its theaters and facilities available for the whole day to accommodate needy patients in desperate need of dental day-procedures.
Some of the children that benefitted from this project comes from community organisations in and around Pretoria including El-Shalem in Centurion for children with severe disabilities and Smile of Joy who assists HIV positive orphans with dental procedures.
Most of these children have to undergo dental procedures in hospital under anaesthetics because it would be too traumatic to have it done in a dental chair. CDH wants to alleviate the financial pressure on these organisations by giving these children the procedures they need at no cost.
Centurion Day Hospital opened the doors of their new facility earlier this year and is Worldwide up to 60% of surgical procedures can be done in a day hospital where the costs is much lower than in an acute hospital.
A day hospital is a hospital where smaller day procedures are executed and patients don’t stay overnight.
Some of the procedures include Dental surgery, Certain surgical procedures, Ear, Nose and Throat procedures, Gynaecology, Maxillofacial & Oral surgery, Cosmetic surgery Orthopaedic surgery and Endoscopic procedures carried out by specialists.
According to Mrs Elmarie Marais, general manager of Centurion Day Hospital, the hospital wants to give back to the community because they are grateful for the successful launch of the facility.
“Today there are so many patients whose lives can be changed by a day procedure but they simply can’t afford it. Through the open hearts and hands of the medical community in Gauteng, we hope to make a lasting difference in the lives of patients through Project Open Hearts.”
The Pretoria branch of SADA (South African Dental Association) visited a few community organisations as part of National Dental Health Month in September to identify kids in desperate need procedures. The dentists that performed the 11 procedures as part of Project Open Hearts are all members of this branch and did it free of charge because of Dental Health Month.
Centurion Day Hospital contributed their theatres and ward facilities, as well as the anaesthetics and medicine for recovery. The anaesthetists that assisted in all these procedures free of charge is Dr. Dave Viljoen en Dr. Charl Liebenberg.
Centurion Day Hospital made this a memorable experience for the patients with gift bags, balloons and snacks for sore throats after the procedure.
“Surgery can be a very stressful experience, but our children friendly facility and staff will make sure everybody will have a positive hospital experience”, said Marais.
Amori Booysen, the Smile of Joy clinical manager was full of praise for the hospital: “Smile of Joy HIV orphans oral care is deeply grateful for Centurion Day Hospital’s pro-bono treatment of 9 of the orphans and vulnerable children in need of theatre treatment. It is not just the relief of pain, but the gentleness, love and sincerity the children were treated with that made a huge impact in their lives”.
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