On Mandela Day, 18 July 2014, 18 first-year students from Medi-Clinic visited DENOSA Head Office in Pretoria as part of their orientation where they were given the last 18 Talking Books to share knowledge on healthy living with children in their communities.
Students were taken through DENOSA as an organisation, what it stands for and why it supports professionalism and service excellence and what is expected of nurses.
In an honest way, DENOSA Provincial Organiser in Gauteng, Thomas Chauke, took them through the don’ts in the profession once in the practice as these would come back to haunt them during disciplinary hearings. He stressed the need to go back to applying the basics in nursing profession as a way to keep nurses away from disciplinary and ultimately their removal from the nurses’ register roll if found guilty.
DENOSA Professional Institute coordinator, Thoko Kgongwana, took them through the professional development programmes that the institute is leading to assist nurses to advance their professional contribution in patient care, and the essence of DENOSA representing nurses as both a union as well as a professional body.
“You have made the best choice for choosing nursing. However, it’s the most challenging choice. If you are material-driven as a person, then nursing is not a well-paying job. But it is the most satisfying job ever,” she told the students.
DENOSA Projects Coordinator, Kedibone Mdolo, handed students the talking books which promotes healthy living among young people. “It is a miracle and yet a powerful day, because today is the 18th of July and Madiba’s birthday, we received you as 18 students. And when I checked in my box, these 18 books were the last books remaining, enough for each and for each of you,” she said, urging students to gather children in their townships and take them through what the books say about healthy living. Then they were taken through the office’s amenities such as library, book shop and museum.
The country is faced with an enormous challenge of non-communicable diseases, which talks to the bad lifestyle that South Africans live. The books preach the ‘back-to-the-basics’ in terms of living and eating habits as well as exercises.