Doctors run the good race to raise funds for caregivers of children at Joburg hospital

On Sunday, the Wits Paediatric Fund campaign took strides beyond healthcare, transforming compassion into action at the annual Soweto Marathon.

A team of doctors, along with their friends and supporters, ran a combined distance exceeding 2,000km and raised more than R250,000. The funds will be used to improve comfort for parents and guardians of children admitted to the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital.

At many public hospitals in Johannesburg no provision is made for parents and guardians in budget allocations, and they have to endure uncomfortable nights on floors, benches, or chairs while staying close to their hospitalised children.

In many public hospitals across Johannesburg, parents and guardians often have to endure uncomfortable nights on floors, benches, or chairs while staying close to their hospitalised children. (Photos: Wits Paediatric Fund)

Dr Noxolo Khanyile, a trainee paediatric registrar, who wrote the proposal for the marathon fundraising campaign, said: “The biggest thing that came to my mind was, ‘Are we taking care of the children if we are not caring for their mothers?’ This stems from my experiences at Charlotte Maxeke witnessing the mothers sleeping on the hard floor.

“When their children are admitted they are already distressed emotionally for the sick child and now to have this added physical strain of sleeping on the floor makes the entire admission even worse than it should be.

“And that’s how the idea came about to get beds for moms too, because we need them to be well rested and taken care of so they can also take care of their children.

“Working in the public sector we know there are resource constraints, and as doctors this initiative allows us not only to identify the issues but also to be part of the solution.

“Outside of the marathon, we also had our children in the paediatric ward to draw pictures which we put on our running socks, which we sold as a means of fundraising.

“The project means so much to me and it has shown me that there is so much bad in the public healthcare system — the mothers having to sleep on floors is a bad thing. But how we were able to flip the bad into good so cheerfully does show there is good and healthcare workers who want to see good.”

Target exceeded

Professor Ashraf Coovadia, the academic head of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Wits University and head of the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, told Daily Maverick: “We intend to buy with the raised funds chairs that can be converted into beds so they don’t have to sleep on the uncomfortable floors.

“Initially, we had a target of R120,000 based on a similar fundraising concept we used in the previous years [2022 and 2023] which coincided with the Soweto Marathon.

“In 2022 we bought ‘lazy boy’ recliner chairs for Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital for their neonatal ward. At that stage, we only had 10 runners but managed to raise altogether over R100,000.

“Last year we raised R120,000 and used the money to renovate the paediatric outpatient department in Rahima Moosa. This is a waiting area for children and their mothers so they can find it more comfortable and they can play.

“This year we chose Charlotte Maxeke for this particular initiative and have raised R263,000. We have not yet identified which project we will fundraise for next year because the people who grant the project are not just in paediatrics; we are joined now to the Gauteng Department of Health but also belong to Wits University as a teaching department.”

Healthcare workers’ mental health

Out of the 25,000 runners in the Soweto Marathon 2024, at least 145 participated in this year’s Wits Paediatric Fund (WPF) campaign; 80 were current and former paediatric staff and 65 were friends and family members.

The captain of the WPF Champions team, Michelle Koch, a doctor at the Department of Paediatric Cardiology at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital said, “Seven years ago, I used to run the Soweto Marathon as a platform to raise funds for the WPF.

“Back then, two doctors and two friends were on the team. Over the years we have used the same race and slowly seen an increase in the numbers of the team. This year we reached out to our departments again.

“I expected the same 20 or so doctors to join the team. So you can imagine how overwhelming it was to see the response. We reached a team of 145 runners this year. This included current and past members of the Department of Paediatrics as well as friends, family and amazing doctors from other departments who supported our cause.

“Over the last few years, I have become acutely aware of the many mental health battles that doctors face silently. There is an unhealthy perception that as doctors we should always be available, work long hours and give our everything to our jobs.

“This often means sacrificing ourselves for our patients and the system. Adding to that, the daily need to make life and death decisions, the knowledge that one small human mistake can result in a catastrophic outcome to a patient, and the stress and anxiety associated with losing patients you have spent hours trying to heal.

“One of the major components of looking after your mental health is exercise. We work better when we look after our bodies. So it has been an incredible breakthrough to see just how many doctors are starting to look to exercise as a way to be a better doctor.

“Not only is the exercise good for the body but it also creates a social aspect and a community which is so important. Many of our runners ran their first 10km, half-marathon or marathon on Sunday.

“I was so grateful to captain this team. The sense of achievement felt by the group at the finish line was palpable. And I know we have inspired many new doctors to get their running shoes on and join the team in the future.”  DM

If you would like to contribute to the Wits Paediatric Fund campaign, you can do so here.