Picture this. At the time of admission, people’s clothes are usually in a sorry state, either torn or just too dirty to use again. The hospital provides uniforms for the entire duration of admission and when they are discharged, they need to look as decent as possible so that those receiving them at home can feel comfortable that at first glance or from physical appearance, they are indeed better. This works for their own self confidence too. So a new set of clothes and shoes, which families are most times unable to deliver, are a necessity. The patients often look to the hospital administration to help them and when there is a shortage, patients have been known to spend an extra day or more as the hospital sources for some.
We felt that this is one of the lower hanging fruits that we could get involved in by collecting donations from our networks and communities. Sometimes people even give us money which we use to shop from the second-hand clothes market, a fun activity actually, seeing the great bargains we can get for good quality clothes. So, every month of every year, we donate clothes. This has eased the burden on the social workers tremendously as they previously would go knocking on staff members’ doors asking if they have an item to spare.
We thank all our donors and supporters very much for always rising to this occasion.
