Situated on the slopes of Devil’s Peak in Cape Town, world-renowned Groote Schuur Hospital is most famous for the first heart transplant on 3 December 1967. Although the recipient, Louis Washkansky died but a few weeks later of pneumonia, the success of the operation put team leader Chris Barnard and the hospital on the map.
Renal Transplant Unit gets a vibrant makeover
Groote Schuur is the main teaching hospital of the University of Cape Town’s medical school – providing tertiary care and education across all medical faculties. In 1984 a major extension added two new wings. The old main building now houses several academic clinical departments as well as a museum dedicated to the first heart transplant.
Over the years though, as funding from Government decreased due to other areas of need, some sections of the hospital have fallen into neglect and are in need of refurbishing. This is where Dole South Africa has stepped in. Because of an existing association with Lions Clubs International, we were directed to the Renal Transplant Unit of the hospital. This unit handles patients who are being treated for renal conditions, as well as serving as a home for those who have undergone renal transplants. Patients recuperating from such operations could sometimes be hospitalised on a long-term basis. After consultation with the medical staff at the hospital, Dole embarked on the refurbishment of the day lounge and kitchen.
Dole wanted to refurbish this space so that it would become a comfortable, welcoming, relaxing space for these long-term patients. The designers determined that patients should be able to lounge on the sofas, read, watch TV, walk on carpets and see natural light. The environment should be calming, warm and harmonious, and inspirational. It was decided to use natural colour for most of the room, with splashes of colour. The decorative pieces were all made using low-technology methods, so that anyone seeing them would think, “I could easily do that myself”.
The patients’ sitting room was conceptualized as a neutral space. Walls were repainted off white, the floor given a light stone carpet, and a low glass and chrome coffee table provided. Two low armed suede-finish sofas with felt and animal skin cushions were provided. The suede finish poufs in warm jewel colours pick up the colours of the wall hanging. The text on the cushions links up with the interior window. The exterior windows were refurbished with white Venetian blinds, so that the sea would always be visible. The words “love heal live” were chosen because of the nature of the patients’ stay in the hospital and the care they would receive from the staff. The large scale felt and wool wall hanging uses the theme of Namaqualand and the Richtersveld in an attempt to affirm a little known aspect of South African culture. The text and images refer to cultural practices: (the Nama stap is a dance) plants, (half-mens and kokerboom), place names (Lekkersing), typical dress (the kappie), and domestic images (matjieshuise). The lights were conceived as a quiet foil to the wall hanging, using leather riempies knotted on steel armatures.
The passageway extends the Namaqualand theme with two wall pieces of the kokerboom. These are reverse images of each other, one functioning as a pin board for staff and patients, with yellow pinheads in keeping with the flowers of the kokerboom. The pendant light in the passage is made from plastic recycled bottle tops attached to a steel frame, which when lit becomes a beautiful geometric mosaic.
The end result is a soft yet vibrant environment for recuperating patients, as well as a kitchen now more conducive to preparing nutritional meals.
Over time, it is our intention to continue working with the nursing staff in the unit by providing visual and reading material, as well as art and sewing lessons for long-term patients.
Dole is fully committed to employee welfare, labour and social conditions; but moreover, we believe in identifying areas of need, particularly where the standards of living or health and safety of our communities will be enhanced.