Cape Town - Wide smiles and a palpable excitement filled the children’s ward at Victoria Hospital on Wednesday when the DHL Stormers dropped by for a visit.
The paediatric ward came to life as the players interacted with patients.
The visit, done with an aim to lift the spirits of patients and staff, was warmly welcomed by Tamzin Plaatjies, a mother of twins, from Parkwood in Grassy Park.
“I haven’t been here long, but this was really a welcome visit by the players who took time out to come spend time with us.
“It is already challenging being admitted to hospital with both my infant babies and this was a nice way of bringing smiles to our faces and taking our minds off the worry that we already experience,” said Plaatjies.
Joyce Thomas, from Hout Bay, said: “It definitely made us smile and it’s a good thing they did to visit us today.”
Player Juan de Jongh said doing outreach work was always enjoyable.
“This is massive for us. For us to come out here and spread some cheer is always very special to us to be here with the kids who support us and for us to interact with them is always something big and inspiring and for us to say thank you.
“Our motto is to keep Cape Town smiling, and if we can do it for them, it’s awesome because they keep us smiling when they support us,” said De Jongh.
Victoria Hospital spokesperson Sherwin Jephta said the visit brought smiles and boosted the morale of staff who had gone through challenging times in the past year.
“Everybody was excited, and the atmosphere has been something else all week as we anticipated the visit.
“One of the surgeons stopped me in the corridor this week and told me this was the first time something like this had happened in his years of working at the hospital. The credit for me is in the smiles of others, and that is exactly what transpired here today,” said Jephta.
Cape Times