ST LUKES CHURCH ORCHARDS
Churches in Sandton

St Luke’s Hospice was established in 1980, when Dame Cicely Saunders (founder of the modern hospice movement) visited Cape Town after repeated requests from Christine Dare, then a 5 th year medical student who had worked with Dame Cicely at St Thomas’ Hospital in England. The result of this visit was a gathering of concerned persons who formed an organisation (St Luke’s) to meet the special needs of patients facing life threatening illnesses, as well as their families. Our Head Office is in Harfield Road, Kenilworth, but satellite community hospices function in certain other areas of greater Cape Town and environs. Certificates for tax deductibility can be supplied on request. We’re also very dependent on our trained volunteers who assist our staff members in all aspects of care and fundraising. They are at the heart of the St Luke’s Hospice circle of caring. If you want to give of your time in a rewarding and meaningful way, join our team of volunteers. It’s a critical and very frightening moment in the life of any person, and their family, when the diagnosis of a life-threatening disease or chronic degenerative illness is received. In most circumstances, medical treatment will follow if appropriate. Its objective is to keep the patient free from all distressing symptoms, particularly pain if it is present, so that they have quality of life, and live as actively as possible. Care also supports the patient’s loved ones in every way necessary. But, should the time come when the patient and family are informed that there is no more treatment available, this is when Palliative Care becomes essential. And the natural human instinct is to avoid that connection and possibility. St Luke’s has patients whose care at home by our specialised nursing sisters, has run into years of duration. However long, or short, the time of hospice care, patients and their families benefit totally and holistically through what we do with the help of our donors. We care for patients from all walks of life, irrespective of their ethnic/religious affiliations or their ability to pay. Patients themselves, are never expected to pay for the services provided to them. Only when patients belong to a medical aid, an attempt will be made to get some payment from the medical aid itself.