Headway Natal

Headway Newsletter : February 2006

Editorial

Editorial

Heating of our swimming pool has been a constant topic of conversation at Headway this month and we have had to exercise a fair amount of patience! The heater was duly manufactured to our specifications and eventually installed, only for its effectiveness to be challenged due to a delay with the solar blankets and roll-up station. There is no point in running the heater if most of the heat evaporates into the air, so it has been just a little frustrating. The pool company assures us that our covers will arrive very soon! A more satisfactory result was achieved with the pool awning and we thank Seabreeze Awnings and Blinds for their efficiency, for not making promises that cannot be delivered and for very generously giving us a special deal. The awning looks great and not only provides the UV protection which is vital for Hydrotherapy, but is also aesthetically pleasing and significantly enhances the pool area. Once everything is finalised with the pool we hope to be able to offer Hydrotherapy in the afternoons to various groups who have expressed an interest in this facility. Our physiotherapist, Gillian Adam, is to be congratulated on her tenacity in pursuing this project and helping it become a reality. Veronica

Newsletter Enclosures

Please note that enclosed with your February newsletter are the following important notices:

AGM Follow-on Meeting for presentation of the Audited Financial Statements (Wed 29 March at 4.00 p.m. at Headway)

Membership Renewal Form

Welcome to….. Sari Ramkisson, Jonathan Cleland, Victor Archery and Memdutt Sewpaul who have joined the Headway family this month. We do hope that we can lighten your load just a little.

Sad news …

Our sincere condolences to OT Debbie whose father passed away on 19 February after a long period of ill health. We also record with sorrow the death of Sandi Smith on 20 February and honour her life with the following contribution from Rose McArthur:

It is with deep sadness that I am writing about the death of Sandi Smith. Many of you who are reading this newsletter will probably not have heard of Sandi Smith, and yet the very fact that you are reading the Headway Newsletter is largely because of Sandi's hard work and determination. I first met Sandi when my son, Simon, had his accident in 1990. At that stage, Headway-Natal was merely a phone number and a monthly meeting. Sandi was the administrator then, and for the next 8 years, and she had a huge vision for Headway, the result of which is evidenced today in the existence of Headway House with the daily facilities and support which it offers to all who have experienced the trauma of acquired brain injury. Sandi lived the mission of Headway, and gave me the strength, knowledge and courage to help my son and my whole family through the trauma of our experience. Today, Headway-Natal is going from strength to strength - a sincere testimony to Sandi and all the countless hours spent in guiding Headway in the right direction, and also to those who took over the steering when Sandi's health started to deteriorate. Sandi always put up a huge fight, whether it was for better resources for Headway or against the health problems which kept recurring. I have really good memories of an amazing lady to whom I, and Headway-Natal, owe a great deal. On behalf of Headway, I would like to say a belated thank you to Sandi, and send sincere condolences to her family.

Therapy News : OT Department

This report from OT Debbie: Being the month of LOVE, it was a perfect opportunity to design new crafts for Valentine's Day. The bookmarks, key rings, pencils, heart-shaped chocolates, etc. were a great success. Thank you to everyone who supported the sales of these Valentine crafts.The main highlight of February, apart from the Swimming Gala which is reported on by the Physio Dept, was a visit from PAWS (Pets At Work). We were entertained by a group of beautiful dogs and their handlers one Thursday morning. These dogs are trained to work with people with special needs, just to provide love and a cuddle or two. It was amazing to see the therapeutic value of this visit and the delight on the faces of our attendees was a joy to us all. Mildred Cele's pleasure in the beauty of these animals and Kevin H's expression when a dog climbed onto his lap were special moments. Our thanks to Tricia Mullenberg and her team for a great experience - one that we hope will be repeated very soon! Stop Press! We have just heard that the next two visits from PAWS will be on 9 March and 28 April - come and witness for yourself the magic created by the visiting pets.

Physiotherapy Department

Pool Heating in process! (writes physio Gillian). We entered nine swimmers for the DISSA Provincial Multi-Disability Gala at Kings Park Swimming Pool on the last day of February are delighted with the performance of our Headway team who brought home 6 medals! We are so proud of Nikki, Simon, Keith (who needed two taxis, a bus and then a fairly lengthy hike to get to Headway on time!), Murray, Emmanuel, Stuart, Gert, Paul and David. It was the first of hopefully many galas for the last four members who were first-time participants. What is so great is that none of our swimmers needed a single floatation device! Many thanks to Debbie and Ryan for their very demanding role as timekeepers, and to the parents and supporters who were there to cheer on the competitors!

congratulate Mildred Cele who was a non-swimmer before her stroke and can now swim a length of our pool at Headway on her own with moderate flotation aids.

We would like your ideas on a special Headway walking group which could use the Jimmy Bellows rugby field. Any volunteers would be most welcome.

Our Sewing Group Goes International!

The year has started off very busily for our Wednesday Sewing Group as an order has been received from far off lands for our patchwork bags! Someone from America spotted one of our bright Amafu fabrics offcut shopping bags and placed an order to sell to friends. We also use the Amafu fabrics to make the quilts that we raffle and they are always very popular due to the bright dyes and amazing variety of colours and shades. Amafu owner and creator Glenda Kirkiridis is always happy to hear how productively we use the offcuts she donates to us.
Thanks a million!

As always there are a number of people to thank who have shown us outstanding kindness and generosity.

New Switchboard for Headway

The Rotary Club of Westville has, once again, given us enormous help - this time in sourcing funding for our new switchboard as well as going to all the trouble of finding a company that would do the job at a special price for us! Our warmest thanks to Rick Millard who heads up the Community Services committee for Westville club - he put in an enormous amount of work on our behalf and pulled strings with some of his contacts to cut costs to the bone. Westville Rotary Club supports many worthy causes and was not able to allocate funds for the entire cost of the new telephone system, but the members requested a matching grant from Rotary District and an Anonymous Donor funded the remaining amount. Headway had also agreed earlier to allocate to the switchboard the amount raised from the John Dory Charity Evening in October last year and this collective effort provided the amount needed to complete the job. We hope to be ultra-efficient in our communications from now on, as we can no longer blame the frequent breakdowns we were experiencing on the antiquated system we have now discarded!

"Best Sewer" Award

No, readers! That word is "sewer" as in sewing something and not "sewer" as in disposal of sewage! How confusing our language can be!!

We wish to record our gratitude to Gori Noormohamed of GJ Sewing Centre in Pinetown for once again taking interest in the goings-on at Headway and particularly in our Wednesday Sewing Group. Gori wanted to donate a new sewing machine to a worthy recipient, and stroke survivor Rose Smith was chosen from the group. Rose was very touched and proud to receive the machine from Gori but requested that she should only use it when she comes to Headway as she is afraid she might forget how to use it on her own at home. Rose has made many beautiful presents for her family and also contributes her sewing skills to the many crafts produced by the group.

Jewish Women's Guild Visit

Negotiations have been going on for many weeks between Headway and the Jewish Women's Guild as the ladies wished to spend some of their hard-earned funds on some physiotherapy equipment for Headway. The list of needs for this department is always a long one and it was not difficult to select one or two items which it was felt would enhance the therapy being carried out by our 3 physiotherapists. We were delighted to welcome Evelyn and her group of representatives from the Guild to a demonstration of the equipment they sponsored and to give them an opportunity to meet some of our brave attendees and to be inspired by their brain injury survival stories. Thanks to these ladies, the Physiogym now has an Ultrasound Machine, a selection of multi-function physio balls, and a suspension frame will soon be up and running for both physio and occupational therapy use.

Fund Raising

After such an exhausting round of Fundraising Events in 2005, it has been a little difficult to drum up the necessary energy and enthusiasm to get some projects going for this year. So it was a great relief to hear that KZN Rugby Marketing responded positively to our letter of request to again be considered as one of the 12 charities to benefit from the "Tries for Charity" project. Last year we received a total of R9 000 from tries scored by the Sharks Rugby Team in the square allocated to Headway, which was great in itself but another spin-off was the amount of interest this generated in the game from us all. Earlier this month, Rocky van Eyssen and Veronica were invited to a cocktail party in the President's Suite at ABSA Stadium at which the 12 chosen charities were given the opportunity to draw a number for the allocation of the squares behind the try lines. For those who attend Sharks matches or who enjoy watching on TV, you may like to know that our square is number 4 on the north side of the field, counting square one from the sea side. At the first match (which I attended-Ed) there was great excitement as a try was scored at our end of the field and Headway-Natal was announced as the recipients of the R3 000 - only for the bubble to burst two minutes later when it was corrected to Childline, the charity which had been allocated the adjacent square!

We shall just have to keep our hopes alive for the rest of the season! Our thanks to the NRU, Astrapak and Round Table KZN who have made this admirable support for charities possible.

Raffles and Crafts

On the final day before we closed for the Christmas Break last year, a whole stack of raffles were drawn and we record here the winners: The Reindeer Twins : Cheryl Jordaan; Rainbow Cardigan : Riet van der Elst; Rose Teddy Bear : Judy Ansell; Crochet Shawl: Rhona Minny. Our thanks again to all our wonderful supporters who made the raffle items and to the people who bought the tickets.

Other Fundraising Projects

Fundraising brought in a total of R1 398,00 this month from Book and Craft sales (R261), Paper Recycling (R123), Shop Sales (R810), and the remainder from Raffle Ticket sales, sales of Power Pap and from the OT department.

Thanks for Donations this month

Dr J A Soodyall (Raymond Naidoo's sister) (R10000); WL Hancocks Gifts Trust (R3000); Ubuntu Community Chest (R5 000) contributions for January and February; Embroiderers Guild of SA-Coastal Branch (R100); Mutt Cuisine (R200); Friendship Pledges: Shirley Warne (R100) and Natal Accounting Services (R250). We thank these faithful friends whose regular contributions are so very welcome. Always Active Technologies donated R1 000 to Headway this month - last year instead of giving their clients the usual corporate Christmas gifts they asked if they could donate to a chosen charity and we were lucky enough to be chosen as the recipients.

Thanks guys for a great idea!

We also thank Maire Franklin of National Brands for a generous donation of biscuits which had been rejected due to some packaging problems. Even if we have run out of cakes, teatime is never dull with these delicious biscuits (and half the donation has also brightened up morning tea at our Outreach Project, Zimele Molweni).

Despite the heat and humidity this month, some energetic people still found the energy to clear out their cupboards and took the trouble to bring their cast-offs down to Menston Road. As ever, the list of donated items is long and varied - fabric and leather offcuts, clothes, bed linen, towels and curtains, various computer-related equipment, toiletries, magazines and pictures, toys and kitchen items and even some electric curlers. We also received some most welcome blue plastic garden refuse bags and a box of Easter Eggs. It is a pretty safe bet that all these donations will find a home and we thank the following people for supporting Headway this month: Fiona Surour, Sybil Cairns, Sally Bechervaise, Nirvana Bhagwandeen, Kiki Gey van Pittius, Sharon Pullen, Lynne & Mike Amos, Flexible Packaging, Munisami Family, Jane Bishop, Aileen Salmon, Margie Hamilton, the Westville Methodist Evening Women's Auxillary and all Anon-y-mouses!

Headway Outreach Programme

At last there is some action taking place with the proposed building operations at our Outreach Project, Zimele Molweni Centre for Mentally and Physically Challenged Children. Almost a year ago a positive response was received from Community Care Centres (CCC - previously Natal Lotto/Operation Jumpstart) here in Westville to our application for funding for two new classrooms. It has taken this long for the negotiations, municipal red tape and programming of the work but, all good things are worth waiting for and we are pleased to report that last week the earthmoving equipment was at Zimele preparing the site for the building to commence. You can imagine how excited the staff and children are by this development - it means that it will be possible for more effective learning to take place in an environment tailor-made for schooling.. Everyone is bubbling with enthusiasm and ambitious plans, from incorporating a dormitory for orphaned children and those from distant areas using part of the existing workshop from which the centre operates, to setting up a poultry farm and market garden selling vegetables to the community.

Donations are being sought for funding for Vegetable Tunnels - a scheme sponsored and administered by Rotary - and already a cheque has been given to sponsor one of the small tunnels at Zimele. Full guidance and instruction is given on establishing this controlled method of vegetable growing and other outreach projects have reported excellent results. A small tunnel costs R2 500.00. It should be pointed out that, although Zimele is frequently referred to as a school and is run just like a school, it is not controlled by the Department of Education but by the Department of Social Services. Recognition should also be given to the superb work being carried out by CCC - their continued effort since the closing of Natal Lotto to make way for the National Lottery is truly amazing and each year an astonishing number of schools and other community projects have been given new buildings from this source.

Wanted! A visit to Zimele today prompted an urgent appeal for sugar - with the feeding scheme now including porridge for breakfast, the consumption of sugar has escalated. Please, readers, if you could donate a packet of sugar it would be an enormous help!

Information Corner

Road Accident Fund Update

The debate continues! OT Debbie attended a meeting on 10 February at Entabeni Hospital at which our good friend and advisor, attorney Mike Friedman presented a comprehensive rundown on the situation at the RAF as it stands at present. Mike is still fighting for better conditions for accident victims (and particularly those who have suffered a head injury) and strongly disapproves of the proposed changes which will adversely affect survivors who have to carry on with their lives after becoming disabled. A whole year ago Mike was our speaker at our February General Meeting where he gave concise information on how the new bill would affect third party claims. To refresh the memories of our readers a brief summary is given below of the amendments which are causing so much concern to interested parties.

Medical expenses following a road accident would be paid to the service provider (e.g. the hospital) and emergency services would be paid on a "no-fault" basis which means that benefits would be extended to drivers who cause an accident (thus considerably reducing the payout to the "non-guilty" party). Another area of concern is that if a claimant needed treatment urgently, he would have to pay and would not be able to recover his expenses as only the service provider can claim such amounts. Changes to the way that future loss of earnings would be handled are also worrying, as under the proposed amendments this would be a fixed amount and not based on the claimant's actual potential loss of income. There is also a proposal to limit the payout for General Damages which would only apply to "serious injury". The bottom line is that far fewer claimants would be entitled to claim, most injuries would be excluded from any claim, the fixed amount of R100 000 would be for total permanent impairment (regardless of the actual potential cost) and, any injury less serious would receive a lesser amount. This is bad news for anyone who is involved in a motor accident - ask any Headway family who is caring for an accident survivor! Register YOUR disapproval to the proposed changes to the Road Accident Fund on the website www.stopthebill.co.za.

Caregivers - You owe it to Yourselves!

The year has started off at Headway with a steady stream of newly brain injured people or those whose families are now seeking help following a brain injury or stroke that happened some while ago - and the plight of the Caregiver is very real to us. We do our best to help in as many ways as possible and it is particularly beneficial to join our Support Groups. The following is extracted from "In the Trenches: A Caregiver's Perspective" by Kathy Baker and was featured in the Headway Gauteng newsletter last year. When a serious illness or trauma threatens a loved one, the spouse/family members are the ones who absorb that person's physical and emotional pain along with their own. You grieve the many losses brought on by this new reality but try to regain some semblance of normalcy but it is true to say that life, no matter how well things go, will never be the same again. You are not only another casualty of this illness, you are the unsung heroes and heroines "fighting in the trenches" of brain injury every day. In the midst of all this, who takes care of YOU? You say there is no time or energy left to deal with your own needs but you must keep in mind that you will not be able to meet the needs of your family if you don't take care of yourself too. Is it possible for you to still have your "own" life? - living with brain injury seems to permeate everything……..

It is vital that you DO find ways to have your own life. Be creative! Give yourself permission to cry - but keep the tears for private moments. Take advantage of any offers of help from friends. If you like to shop, find time to do some shopping, have lunch or coffee with a friend, take time for a relaxing bath or pampering massage. Have someone relieve you at home and go to a sporting event or movie. Your spouse/loved one will feel better knowing that you can still find time for normal things. Learn to say no - you cannot be all things to all people - and that's OK!

Try not to lose yourself - after brain injury you will get part of your life back and it is important for your spouse/family that they don't lose the person you were before. Try hard to be an interesting person with your own issues and pursuits whilst accepting that there have been changes. You will emerge stronger and will place value on each precious moment in life.

God Creates Dog for Adam and Eve

This little story is recorded here in acknowledgement of and respect for the PAWS visitors:

It is reported that the following addition to the Book of Genesis was discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls. And Adam said, "Lord, when I was in the garden, you walked with me every day. Now I do not see you anymore, I am lonely here and it is difficult for me to remember how much you love me." And God said, "No problem! I will create a companion for you that will be with you forever and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will know I love you, even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish and childish and unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourself." And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam. And it was a good animal. And God was pleased. And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and he wagged his tail. And Adam said, "But Lord, I have already named all the animals of the Kingdom, and all the good names are taken, and I cannot think of a name for this new animal." And God said, "No problem! Because I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG".

Awareness Day : An Invitation!

We have decided to mark National Head Injury Awareness Day on Monday 20 March with an Open Day in which the public will be invited to visit Headway and learn about Stroke and Acquired Brain Injury. An information leaflet has been prepared and visitors are invited to tea, coffee and biscuits and an opportunity to discuss prevention, treatment and other related issues. See you there!?!