MOBILE HEALTH UNIT SERVES RURAL FARMING COMMUNITIES

Cookhouse Wind Farm’s Primary Healthcare Flagship Initiative, a public-private partnership with the Department of Health, is staffing up a mobile clinic, to bring essential healthcare services to the rural farming communities in Bedford and Adelaide.

Since the mobile unit came into operation in June 2018, a total of 46 farms have been serviced and treating a total of 2,235 patients, a truly significant impact.

Bongani Ntshayiya, who works at Waterfall Farm, is one of the many beneficiaries of this programme, a textbook example of how a wind farm’s socio-economic development programme, in partnership with government, can make a real difference.

Bongani tells of how he previously had to request a full day off of work, to access medical care. But now, because of the mobile clinic, both he and his family are able to get treated on the farm. “This has helped me save money, relieve much stress and also saved me a lot of time,” he says.

As part of the Cookhouse Wind Farm Primary Healthcare Flagship Initiative, which was launched in January 2018, five healthcare workers have been appointed. These healthcare workers support the existing Primary Health Care Clinics in Bedford and Adelaide, with three of them being dedicated to providing healthcare services to the farming community within these towns.

Elton Gordon, Community Operations Manager within the Community Operations Department at Cookhouse Wind Farm tells of his vision to reduce the need for patients to travel long distances to their nearest town, which will ultimately relieves stress on many levels, beginning with members of communities, as quality healthcare can now be accessed within their immediate surroundings.”

Cookhouse Wind Farm’s Primary Healthcare Flagship Initiative is a high impact pilot initiative, which invested R2million during 2018, in the four beneficiary towns, with the aim of supporting quality primary healthcare through resourcing of public clinics.