Department of Public Relations

Head: Hester van den Heever (Assistant Director)

Hester van den Heever trained as a nurse after matric and, with 16 years experience, broke form nursing to join Baragwanath Hospital as a committee clerk in 1980. She joined the hospital's PR Department during 1982, and, together with her colleague, is responsible for all internal and external communication at the hospital.

Amongst her many achievements are:

• An international Apex award for Publication Excellence for the hospital yearbook (1995)
• Nominated for the PRISA Communicator of the Year Award (1997)
• Nominated for the "Woman of the Year" award (2001)
• Received a signed certificate from the American People to People Citizen Ambassador Programs in recognition of the special contribution made to "International Understanding and Friendship"

She is also responsible for the arrangement of official functions and visitors to the hospital, and, through the years, has met many interesting people, such as:

• Former RSA President Mr Nelson Mandela
• Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, and her husband Prince Philip
• President Thabo Mbeki
• Baroness Margeret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister and her husband Sir Denis
• Mrs Antoinette Sassou-Nguesso, wife of the President of the Republic of the Congo
• Mrs Madeline Allbright, former American Secretary of State

Staff Changes

Welcome to Phinda Magwaza who joined the Public Relations Department during February 2001.

Phinda was born on 4 August 1978 at Baragwanath Hospital. She grew up in Pimville where she started her education at Mdelwa Hlongwane Primary School and obtained her matric from Inanda Seminary in Durban in 1996, from where she went to Technikon Natal to study for her National Diploma in Public Relations.

During 1999 she did her experiential training at the Southern Metropolitan Council's Public Relations Department, where she was involved in various community outreach projects. To gain experience as a marketing consultant she joined the staff of a guest house and conference centre in Bedfordview in 2000.

Her personal interests are reading, travelling and poetry.

I would also like to extend a warm welcome to our new typist/secretary, Rosina Makgoba, who joined our department in the beginning of 2001.

Rosina is an old 'Bara Sussie' who started working at the hospital, as a typist, more than 20 years ago (1981).

She spent most of her career at Bara in the nursing personnel department from where she transferred to become Mr Henry Zwane's typist cum secretary from 1997 until her transfer to the public relations department in 2001.

True Ambassadors

Another busy and successful year has passed for the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital Choir. As would be expected they were in constant demand to perform at various prestigious events.

With their glorious voices the choir has provided memorable entertainment at many outside and hospital events, of which we are extremely proud and thankful.

The highlights for the year included performances conducted at:

• The USA Independence Day Celebrations at the Johannesburg Consulate during July 2001. The United States Consul-General, Ms Sue Ford-Patrick, hosted the event.
• A reception, hosted by King Goodwill Zwelithini, held at Gold Reef City, during September.
• As usual they also participated in the Sowetan, Transnet & SABC Massed Choir Festival.

Publications

We have been unable, due to various circumstances to produce a Staff Yearbook for the last two years.

However, with this edition we may have started the ball rolling again, and hope to be able to publish a better quality book, once again, as from next year.

Our sincere appreciation goes out to all staff members at Netgate who worked so tirelessly to create and continuously refresh the Bara Website. Please visit the website on www.chrishanibaragwanathhospital.co.za and help us with regular contributions to keep it interesting.

Due to the website we have discontinued the Bara Information Brochure, and designed a folded information leaflet in it's place. Staff members who would like to know more about the leaflet can contact us for copies.

The hospital's monthly staff newsletter, the Bara-Update, was revived in April 2001. This booklet will see some changes in future - we would like to increase the number of copies circulated and keep the newsletter informative, entertaining and educational. To enable us to reach these objectives we would like to encourage any contributions from the staff.

Contributions can include letters, articles, jokes, achievements, comments, poetry and/or adverts. This publication is produced to provide the staff with a platform to air their views about issues that effect them both socially and occupationally.

We would like to thank everyone who has contributed articles for publication during this past year. We can assure you that your contributions are highly appreciated, and helped in keeping the Update alive.

Visitors

As usual, Baragwanath has proved to be one of the main tourist attractions in South Africa, given its magnitude and supremacy as a health institute. The interest in the hospital has, once again, seen a lot of people on our doorsteps trying to establish relationships between their organisations and the hospital.

Over the years we have often hosted various delegations from the American People to People Citizen Ambassador Programme, founded by former President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, as a private organisation to promote understanding and goodwill between citizens of the world. During 2000 Hester van den Heever received a framed certificate from the People to People Ambassador Programme in recognition of the special contribution she has made to international understanding and friendship.

Would you welcome additional information on this site? Send your request.