About Cotlands

2. Cotlands Outreach Programmes

 

2.1 Home Based Care (Gauteng and KwaZulu / Natal)      

        

Goal:
To provide palliative care to chronically and terminally ill children in their homes and empower their primary caregivers to care for them in the absence of a trained home caregiver.

 

Objectives:

 

  • Helping families to care for their HIV positive children at home.
  • Home care for minor medical problems and referral to the clinic or hospital if necessary.
  • Assistance with hygiene needs, such as bathing and household chores.
  • Assisting families to link up with resources such as social grants.
  • Counselling families.
  • Provision of material relief, such as milk formula for babies.
  • Helping families to prepare for the imminent death of a family member with AIDS, including identifying caregivers who will take responsibility for caring for children after the death of their parents.
  • Identifying orphans, establishing what assistance each child requires and taking practical steps to meet these needs.

 

2.2  Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital Counselling Project (Gauteng)

 

Goal
To provide psychosocial care to the HIV positive babies and children receiving treatment at the Paediatric HIV clinic and wards at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital ¾ and to their primary caregivers.

 

Objectives

 

  • To ensure that holistic outpatient care is provided to HIV positive babies and children referred to the Paediatric HIV clinic and wards at CHBH.
  • To empower the primary caregivers of HIV infected children by training them to care for their children at home.  
  • To create a ‘safety net’ for children living with HIV/AIDS and children affected by the epidemic through early identification of vulnerable children and implementing the intervention programmes.
  • To support the primary caregivers of the children in the use of ART.

 

2.3 Nutrition Project (Eastern Cape)

 

Goal:

To address the malnutrition problem in children from birth to five years, while empowering their caregivers with income generation skills.

 

Objectives:

 

  • To provide a nutrition project targeted at children between birth and five years of age residing in East London in the Eastern Cape (the Mzamomhle, Duncan Village, Mdantsane and Reeston communities).
  • To educate the community about proper nutrition.
  • To refer the parents of the children being assisted through the nutrition programme to training programmes delivering income generating skills.
  • To improve the quality of care offered to the children by providing additional support services to their families
  • To initiate food gardens to supplement the material aid provided through the nutrition project.

 

2.4  Orphan Care (KZN)

 

Goal:
To mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in Hlabisa by implementing an effective orphan care programme that is appropriate in a rural environment. 

 

Objectives:

  • To identify orphans, establishing what assistance each child requires and taking practical steps to meet these needs.
  • To manage childcare teams who monitor the orphans and vulnerable children.
  • Development of an effective Orphan Care Model.

 

2.5 ECDC (Mpumalanga)

 

Goal:
To offer an educare service for children from three to seven years that provides an inclusive programme to vulnerable young children, taking into account their unique requirements, developmental delays and psychosocial needs.

 

Objectives:

  • To provide a daily educational and care service to children who are too young to attend formal schooling.
  • To provide a safe and healthy environment where children’s daily needs can be met under competent adult supervision.
  • To provide the children with a wide variety of opportunities to experience and discover the world around them.
  • To provide a curriculum that is sensitive to the children’s special needs and addresses their educational, social, emotional, physical and cultural needs as well as essential life skills.
  • To equip the children with the skills required for formal schooling.
  • To create an environment where children are stimulated and encouraged to learn.  
  • To ensure that older siblings are relieved of their responsibility to care for younger family members so that they can attend to their own educational and social needs.
  • To maximise the use of the facility by transferring skills to the community in the form of HIV/AIDS awareness workshops, child care information and parenting skills.

 

2.6  HIV/AIDS Outreach Clinic (Gauteng)

 

Goal:
To improve the medical care offered to chronically and terminally ill children who are patients of Cotlands Home Based Care programme in Gauteng, through the establishment of a paediatric HIV/AIDS clinic.

 

Objectives:

 

  • To diagnose and treat opportunistic infections and other medical conditions.
  • To establish the child’s HIV status and evaluate suitability for ART.
  • To refer patients directly to the appropriate state medical facility.
  • To offer training and support to primary care givers during their visits to the clinic.
    • Food Gardens (Gauteng, KZN and Western Cape)

 

Goal:
To increase food security amongst the population served by Cotlands.

 

Objectives:

 

  • To establish community food gardens at all Cotlands outreach projects.
  • To equip Cotlands clients with the skills and resources to establish and maintain food gardens
  • To assist Cotlands beneficiaries to have an adequate food supply that will ensure a healthy diet. 
  • To contribute towards the alleviation of hunger associated with poverty and unemployment.