Valuable Learning

Post by Joy Ruwodo, Hospice Wits Marketing Manager

Joy Ruwodo

I've been at Hospice Wits now for just over two years. In that time, the relationship with Suncoast Hospice has always been something that I've heard of and felt mildly in our Skype phone calls.

The relationship and understanding of how valuable this partnership is really came to light in full force when we had your team over for a visit. I could then touch and feel the reality of our partnership and benefitted immensely from our conversations and other interactions. I learned so much about how you do things in your hospice and how we could adopt some of your ways to improve our own way of working.

Because of the amount of learning from your short time here, I really felt that it was more important for us to keep the relationship going beyond your return to the States. And hence the idea that we should find a way of getting our teams here to be in contact with their counterparts there on a needs basis. I feel that a lot of good progress could come out of that.

Total Gratitude

Post by Nigel Unwin, Hospice Wits CEO

Nigel Unwin

As a nation South Africa is still in a difficult transition...so is Hospice Wits. The visit by Stacy, Susan and Terri was energizing and uplifting for all of us. Even though we knew that they would come with so much to share and give, we were overwhelmed and humbled by their generosity from all perspectives. This included the six laptops, suitcases full of materials, Learn Center tool, team building with all parts of the organization, work with our management team and visits with our home care sisters. So much in two short weeks.

To feel that Suncoast Hospice, this time through Stacy, Susan and Terri, genuinely sees Hospice Wits as their partner is overwhelming. We feel we have so much to learn and take and not much to share, apart from our absolute commitment to excellent hospice care. Other hospices here in South Africa, which nominally are partnered with hospices in the U.S., are blown away by what our partnership means and what it achieves for Hospice Wits.

From our perspective the best thing about our partnership is that we know that you have so much more that you want to share with us. Amazingly, it doesn’t feel like a one-way street. Perhaps it's enough to give and to be received with total gratitude? Hopefully it is.

Quite a Spectacular Day

Today (Tuesday) Susan, Terri, and I spent the entire day in Soweto. We had an amazing day. We began our morning with the Soweto nurses and community care workers. We had 27 people all together in one room. Terri facilitated the auto bio poem activity with them. We've done this activity previously with the leadership team and the clinical staff in Joburg. We learned a lot about each other. Some of us really like chocolate (what's not to like...). Others described themselves as loving caring people (they are). Many stated they want to be remembered as making a difference in other people's lives (absolutely no doubt about that).

After that activity they presented us with a lovely tea. Tea time is very important here. The staff brought in tea, coffee, and many different sandwiches-along with a tablecloth.  It was quite lovely.  After tea we each left to make home visits with a different sister. As a surprise to the three of us we all met at the shopping mall in Soweto for a late lunch together at Nando's!  David, Deb, and Gayle (the 2011 trip members who were introduced to Nando's together) are you jealous? The food was delicious.

My day was quite spectacular. I did something I've never done before... I was spending the day with Maria. She has been employed by Hospice Wits and working in Soweto for 27 years. She is an amazing nurse. She told me we were going to an NGO (non governmental organization) meeting. I figured we were meeting with other not for profit organizations. Maria said that someone from Hospice Wits had attended previous meetings. Well, when we got there and went inside Maria showed me the agenda. I saw that we were attending a meeting of the ANC Women's Auxiliary! The ANC is the ruling party of Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa. Needless to say I wasn't quite sure what to expect!  I must say it was an amazing meeting. The attendees are very respectful of the chairperson and everyone follows proper protocol. I think we could learn a thing or two from them about how to run a meeting. Anyhow the meeting was about encouraging women to stand up against substance abuse as most cases of violence against women (of which there is much) involves substance abuse. They will be marching peacefully to the police station to deliver a petition and then ending with a prayer service. Hospice Wits will participate. The chairperson said she was humbled to have someone from America at their meeting and directed some very nice comments to me. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

We will post additional blogs about our patient visits. I wish everyone could witness the amazing work this staff does.

Stacy

Reflections on the Last Two Weeks

It's hard to believe that we've been gone for two weeks. Today (it's Sunday the 17th as I write this) we spent a lovely afternoon having a long leisurely outdoor lunch hosted by Nigel and Dee (Hospice Wits CEO and his wife and my host and hostess). We ate at their outdoor bowling club (not like our American bowling).

Many of our previous Hospice Wits visitors were there including Bev, Dorcus, Ntombi, Penny, Patrick, and Ritta. Joy, marketing manager was also there with her family. It was a delightful afternoon.

We all remarked how fast these two weeks have gone. I can see the sadness in our Hospice Wits's colleagues faces. I can already feel my own beginning telltale signs of starting the saying goodbye process. This disengagement is always difficult. I feel so at home here, surrounded by friends doing similar work. At lunch we were talking about a patient Susan, Terri, and I saw with Penny last week who was admitted to the IPU in Soweto the end of the week. It was nice to be able to confirm what Penny was telling Dorcus and Bev about this patient's primary caregiver.

We've accomplished so much. We spent two half days with their leadership team sharing leadership best practices and reviewing resources available to hospice staff including our Learn Center. I don't believe I told you that Suncoast Hospice donated 6 laptops to Hospice Wits. We brought them in our luggage. These laptops will be placed in the Soweto and Johannesburg offices so staff can access the Learn Center and the Internet (for additional resources).

By the end of Monday we will have provided a day of education to all clinical staff at both locations. By the end of Tuesday we will have made visits with the homecare sisters at both locations. We also spent a day making visits in Soweto with Penny, their social worker.

We have provided support activities, team building, and a powerful activity that reinforced the connection to and importance of all their employees.

We've learned a lot also. I have pictures of a clinical room used for counseling of adults and children I'd like for us to replicate. The walls are painted using nature scenes and mythology to assist with connecting to the symbolic aspects of therapy. I have ideas of how we might use such a room on our campuses.

I have facilitated discussions with the staff and leadership team about how to continue enhancing our partnership. I'll be sharing these suggestions with all of you. First and foremost they'd like to communicate directly with their Suncoast Hospice counterparts. Much more to come.

We will send a few more posts before we leave.

Wish us well during our final three days here. We travel Wednesday night arriving back in Tampa around noon on Thursday. Another 24 hours or so of travel... Susan, Terri, and I will be back to work on Monday the 25th.

Know that we've done a great job representing all of you during these two and a half weeks.

Gratefully,

Stacy

Beautiful Portia Celebrates Win

Portia, a Hospice Wits employee the day after Nigeria won the Orange

Cup, the African football (soccer) tournament.

Home visits with Penny

I was so excited to have the opportunity to travel in the field visiting patients and families with social worker Penny.  Being a social worker by training, I had the opportunity to visit with Penny when she traveled to the US in November as a part of our exchange program - Hospice Wits and Suncoast Hospice. Today, we traveled the roads in Soweto, some paved and some not, to visit a few of Penny's patients.

The first was a woman living with AIDS, who resided with her daughter and granddaughter in a 8 x 10 hut made of cardboard, blankets and tin.  Penny assessed the patient's need for a food parcel and the possibility of moving to another location providing better shelter, while the community care worker (hospice aide) gently massaged her hands and arms to counteract the effects of her neuropathy. 

They all spoke in their native language, Zulu.  The universal language of hospice was understood by all of us, even though we never said a word, other than greetings and goodbyes.  The patient was so appreciative of everything Hospice Wits has done and could do for her... and thanked, us...the American visitors, for taking the time to visit with her.  Can you imagine...she thanked, us....just for being there. Another lesson in the power of presence.

Susan Bruno

Home Visits With Sisters

Visiting with the Sisters (nurses) has been an incredible experience.  The love and compassion extended is truly universal.  The circumstances and setting might be a bit different but the caring and love has only one voice.  Sister Joanne leans over the patient who is turned on her side facing the wall - she can't see the Sister's face and it only adds to her confusion - so Sister Joanne gently wedges herself between the wall and the patient, lying on a mattress on the floor of the living room, and crawls up until they are face to face "oh my darling, my darling", the patient whispers.... "it is you" and with that she smiles.

On another visit, I witnessed the power of the interdisciplinary team.  Sister Joanne delicately began to explain that the journey the patient was now on was one that was moving in a different direction than the past 8 years.  The patient laid in bed, rigid from years of brain inactivity, her wedding picture showing a very different vibrant woman.  Her daughter agonizing over what else she could do to keep her mother in the present.  Terri, the chaplain and I, the social worker, were able to begin to share a very different journey that her mother was approaching and so too, was the daughter.  We  communicated through our eyes and hearts as we gently walked next to this family on their journey home. 

I feel so privileged to have this honor to share my skills with our sister hospice...Hospice Wits and at the same time learn from them about caring compassion at all times and sometimes, in the face of utter poverty.  Love is truly universal.  Joy too is universal....and so is music!  The smiles, laughter, and the hope always overcome the sadness. Let us always remember that we need them all.

Susan Bruno, LCSW.... Suncoast Institute

Today Was Spectacular

Today was spectacular. I mean truly spectacular. I am so proud of the team with me. Susan and Terri are doing a wonderful job sharing their many gifts of self with Hospice Wits staff.  It's going to be hard to put into words to describe how I feel about today. I know there will be more to share once I've had a chance to be still and think.  For now I'll tell you about our day. It's almost 5:30 pm in Jo-burg.

This morning we spent 4 hours with the management team. All 6 of their leaders committed to giving up half a day (on a Friday) to be with us.  We started with an activity led by Terri. We all completed an autobiographical poem about ourselves and then shared them with each other. I then led a discussion about leadership which culminated with each of the managers and CEO completed two different leadership questionnaires. Given the amount of trust in the room, the Hospice Wits staff began sharing some feelings regarding their own leadership strengths and leadership behaviors they'd like their colleagues to help them with.  Terri then ended our time together by facilitating a very heartwarming activity.  She will blog about this herself so I won't say more.  Just one hint... It involves each manager being 'pinned' by us. The pins are jigsaw puzzle pieces. We repeated this activity in the afternoon with all the staff on the Jo-burg campus and we'll repeat this activity in Soweto.  By the time we leave every paid employee will have a pin. I'm sending a few pictures for you to see.

After all the staff left Susan, Terri, and I stayed in the room to process the day and the week. We cried, laughed, and expressed gratitude to each other, our families, and you. This trip would not be possible without everyone's support.

So my heart is full. In fact it is brimming and overflowing with love right now. Tonight we're having dinner with the management team to celebrate our first work week here (please slow down time...). We understand we're being taken to an authentic South African restaurant. I heard someone mention worms...

Tomorrow is the weekend. We'll work on more posts so you'll have plenty to read Monday.

Until then,

Stacy

We made it to Johannesburg

Sisters wearing Care4Soweto and Suncoast Hospice buttons

Hi everyone!  We made it to Johannesburg.  Our flight was good and we enjoyed watching movies- good thing because none of us slept very well or very long.  So, here we are in Johannesburg, where the time zone is 7 hours ahead of Clearwater.  Even though we're pretty tired (and fairly silly from not sleeping much in the last two days), we're super excited about out first day.

We arrived at Hospice Wits around 9:00 in the morning, Tuesday (we left Tampa at 6 am Monday). The hospice had a nice welcoming breakfast for us and many staff stopped by to say hello.  Penny, Dorcus, Ntombi, and Bev (who were with us in October/November) came and were wearing their red Suncoast Hospice buttons!!

Jacqui Kaye and Stacy Orloff at Resale Shop

We toured a few of their Hospice Resale Shoppes and their beautiful campus in Johannesburg.  Then we went to our host homes so we cold unpack and relax before dinner.  We hope to sleep well tonight. 

We'll be in Soweto all day Wednesday.  Susan, Terri, and I will be providing a full day of education to the nursing sisters and community care workers.  We're very excited to spend the day learning together. 

Keep reading the blog and post comments.  Your comments help us to feel even more connected to you- plus I'll share them with the Hospice Wits staff too!

Until tomorrow,

Stacy

Hospice Wits, Here We Come

Left to Right: Terri Peterson, Stacy Orloff and Susan Bruno

Our next group of staffers is ready to embark on an exchange trip to Hospice Wits in Johannesburg, South Africa next week. Going are Suncoast Hospice’s Stacy Orloff, vice president of palliative care and community programs and Theresa “Terri” Peterson, a care team chaplain and Suncoast Hospice Institute’s Susan Bruno, director of institute business.

The three are excited for their two-week visit. Terri and Susan are first-timers and eager for this new learning experience. Stacy has made several trips and been involved a long time with our partnership. They’ll arrive bearing gifts, including much-needed medical supplies donated by Suncoast staff and volunteers.

During their visit, they’ll observe and work with Hospice Wits’ care staff and management team. This time there will be an even heavier focus on education. They plan to share resources, provide support and make presentations on interdisciplinary care teams, self-care, palliative arts, leadership development and more.

They can’t wait to get there and meet everyone. It’s going to be an incredible visit.

Packed and Ready to Go

Pat Sargent, Suncoast Hospice R.N., says farewell to her knitted friends she and her husband made for this year’s staff exchange trip to Hospice Wits which serves Soweto and Johannesburg, South Africa. She’s hoping her dolls don’t have jet-lag when they arrive in South Africa and that they quickly find new friends to love them in their adopted country.

Hospice Wits Staff on Their Way to America

The day has finally arrived and Hospice Wits staff are on their way to America. While visiting they will share with our Suncoast Hospice staff experiences gained from providing health care to their patients in South Africa. They will also attend the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) Clinical Team Conference in Orlando, Florida. We have many activities planned for them while visiting our facilities and staff in Pinellas County, FL and hope they return to S.A. with new perspectives on providing care to their communities.

Pictured: Staff members Penny Mather (l), Bev Tembo (c) and Dorcus Ramakuela (r) ready to depart from the Soweto Hospice to start their trip to our sister Suncoast Hospice in Clearwater Florida.  Fellow traveler Ntombi Hatta departed from the Houghton office and is not in photo.

2012 Staff Exchange at Suncoast Hospice

A special part of our partnership with Suncoast Hospice and Hospice Wits is our staff exchange.

Our staffers who have visited our hospices in United States and South Africa have had enriching experiences. They have immersed themselves in our care and cultures, shared knowledge and resources and developed wonderful friendships.

Suncoast Hospice will be honored to host four Hospice Wits staffers for two weeks this fall. They are Dr. Suzanne "Sue" Walter, Dorcus Ramakuela, Penelope Mathe and Beverley "Bev" Tembo. We look forward to welcoming you to our community in Pinellas County, Florida.

Our partnership committee is planning many activities for you. Here in Pinellas, you will tour our facilities, observe our staff in the field, see some beautiful sights and be our special guests at our events. You will also attend a national clinical conference and visit Walt Disney World in Orlando. And more is in the works.

This is going to be an amazing experience. We will see you very soon!

Ebony



Our committee enjoyed meeting you on Skype.



Susan Moloto, Soweto Hospice sister tells her story

Susan Moloto, a sister (nurse) with Soweto Hospice tells of the care given to the "poorest of the poor" in Soweto, South Africa.