Grand gesture underpins health support

Far-reaching impact: With the help of GrandWest CSI, who have donated over R6 million over four years, SHAWCO Health is able to provide primary health care to those in dire need.

This year, the UCT Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (SHAWCO) celebrates the fourth anniversary of its partnership with GrandWest Corporate Social Investment (CSI).

GrandWest CSI is the sole sponsor of SHAWCO's health programme, and has donated more than R6 million to SHAWCO Health since the start of this relationship. The funding, and the dedication of student volunteers, allowed SHAWCO to treat over 5 600 patients at 248 clinics throughout the Cape Peninsula in 2010.

SHAWCO provides a primary health care service, screening and treating patients for conditions such as HIV, diarrhoea, respiratory tract infections, TB, and sexually transmitted diseases. They provide holistic management, which includes care provided by medical, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, dietetics and audiology students.

"We wouldn't have been able to provide the services we do without [GrandWest CSI's] generous giving," says Simon Mendelsohn, SHAWCO Health president. "We extend the greatest thanks to them and specifically to GrandWest CSI Manager, Heidi Edson."

The benefits from the funding are widespread, added Mendelsohn.

"The support from GrandWest CSI has many rewards - from the incredible skill gained by our student leaders and the clinical knowledge and experience attained by our volunteers, to the curative and preventative health care that our communities attending the clinics receive."