Ackerman family donation boosts incubator campaign

Staff celebrate the donation of an incubator.

This is enough to buy 7 much-needed Incubators which will be sent out across the country to help South Africa's under-funded neonatal units in Gauteng, Northern Region, Free State, KZN, Eastern Cape, Southern Cape and Western Cape.

The group's transformation director, Suzanne Ackerman-Berman donated an incubator to the Somerset Hospital. The total money raised for the Incubator Campaign in the Western Cape has reached R459 936 or six incubators for the Neonatal Unit at Somerset Hospital.

The Incubator Campaign was started in 2009 at Groote Schuur Hospital in the Western Cape, with the aim of raising R1.4 million to buy 20 new incubators for the hospital's neonatal unit. With the help of Cape Town radio station, Heart 104.9 and the Cape Argus, nearly R1.7 million was raised last year, which was enough to buy 24 incubators.

This year, the campaign, which is co-ordinated by The Newborns Trust in association with Pick n Pay, I&J, Nedbank and Kite Advertising as well as regional radio stations and newspapers, is rolling out nationally and aims to raise enough funds to buy 20 new incubators in the Gauteng region, 20 in the Western Cape, 15 in KwaZulu Natal, 6 in the Eastern Cape, 5 in the Southern Cape and 6 in the Free State. These incubators will help to keep prematurely-born babies alive at South African regional hospitals. The incubators cost R70 000 each and the total needed is just over R5 million.

Join in

As support for the campaign to raise funds to incubators for district hospitals across the country gains ground, organizers are appealing to the public to assist by buying R10 donation vouchers at all Pick n Pay till points which will go towards buying life-saving incubators for newborn babies across the country. Each entry stands a chance to win one of 12 x R2000 PnP Gift Cards per region in a lucky draw at the end of the campaign.

Donate R10, and you will help buy more of these.

The chain's marketing manager in the Western Cape Mark Jennings said: "This campaign aims to address the challenges in our hospital's neonatal units. In many cases, there are either insufficient incubators for the number of babies needing them or the existing ones are old and unreliable, putting babies' lives at risk."

The V&A Waterfront's Pick n Pay Store's free concert in the V&A Amphitheatre drew an audience who bought nearly R6000 worth of donations vouchers. Political activist Eddie Daniels, an ex-Robben Island political prisoner, had also donated R70 000 to the cause - enough to buy a new incubator. In the Eastern Cape, Radio Station Algoa FM has donated an entire incubator to the Campaign.

Hospitals in need are identified by The Newborns Trust, a not-for-profit organization which raises funds for premature babies. According to Erica Jacobs, trust manager of The Newborns Trust, this campaign will go a long way in helping premature babies.

Each year approximately four million infants die worldwide in the first four weeks of life. The vast majority of these neonatal deaths take place in under-resourced countries such as those in sub-Saharan Africa. Said Jacobs: "Premature babies are fragile and need as much systematic support as possible. Without an incubator, it is difficult for them to keep warm which puts their lives at risk."

The campaign started in all Pick n Pay regions on 1 December 2010 and is scheduled to run until the end of February 2011.