Heroes of Groote Schuur is celebrating the women working at the hospital in honour of women’s month; this week, we meet Lisa February.
Cape Town, South Africa (18 August 2022) – Heroes of Groote Schuur is a Facebook page dedicated to highlighting the amazing people who work or visit the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
The page highlights all the incredible work being done by the staff who keep everything running smoothly. Heroes featured on the page often have the most interesting jobs.
For Women’s Month, the Heroes are featuring some of the women that keep the hospital running or the nurses and doctors that work with the patients. This week they have featured Lisa February, who is the personal assistant to the office of the hospital CEO. Take a look at what she has learned while working at the hospital.
“I got my first career break when I was given a job at Groote Schuur in 2018 as admin support to two of the medical managers.
I did a Bachelors in Administration after high school, which was a four year degree, and I continued to do my BTech in Public Management. After studying, I applied for a graduate internship at the Department of Health head office – you’re just desperate for any experience after studying, and I was there for three years. But for the first year and a half I never got any interviews; I was never short-listed; I had nothing to put on my CV. It became very disheartening because I didn’t get a job for a long time, despite trying all the time. You get to a point where you think, ‘I’m probably not good enough’. At my darkest point I finally got invited to interviews, which at least gave me an opportunity to learn how to calm my nerves, how to prepare etc. And then I finally was employed by Groote Schuur in 2018.
And this May I was appointed as the personal assistant to Groote Schuur’s CEO, Dr Bhavna Patel.
I had to apply for the post. It’s lovely – Dr Patel is amazing to work for. I admire her leadership style and her management style – you can never underestimate her. She has so much faith and belief in her managers, the people who report directly to her; she listens to their guidance, and she’s a woman – woman power!
I’m hoping that this position allows me to network because I learn very quickly and love the challenge. I’m still learning about the position and navigating my way around but because I get bored very quickly I like to be involved in as many things as possible. Because of this position, I’m now working with the top level of management and people like the MEC for Health so interpersonal skills have become very important for me. I’m new in the job, and no one knew me when I arrived, so I have had to work to get them to embrace me because I am the face of the office now.
I love it here. I think Groote Schuur has such a deep-rooted culture and even though we are not patient-facing staff, but behind a desk running a diary, patient care is what all our work is centred around. I’ve just finished my Masters in Business Administration. I have to admit that it was really tough to do my Masters while I was working, and Covid didn’t help either because I didn’t have face-to-face contact with my supervisor. It made things really challenging. But I hope it opens doors – I’m just trying to create a better future for myself.” – Lisa February, Personal Assistant, Office of the CEO
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