If you want something to be proud about in Durban, here’s the thing: the KZN Children’s Hospital is a magnificent project that, without fanfare, is working quietly behind the restored facades of its heritage buildings, to bring a specialist range of healthcare facilities to the children of the province, writes Anne Schauffer.
Conversations usually falter at some point of the walk on the south side of Durban’s Promenade, as everyone asks: “Anything happening at Addington Children’s Hospital?” Plenty, as it happens.
With sleeves firmly rolled up, KZN Children’s Hospital Trust CEO Taryn Millar and Treasurer and board member Camilla Singh, know exactly what’s happening. Walking through the hospital, it’s crystal clear this project is one of Durban’s public-private partnership success stories. Behind the discreet signs of restoration visible from the beachfront, a team of professionals from all walks of life is inside – either treating children, restoring the buildings to their former glory, or repurposing aspects of the site and hospital to fit its new brief. Don’t think for a moment that nothing’s happening – the Outpatient Neurodevelopmental Assessment Centre has been fully functional since 2013, a full nine years, and over 30 000 young patients have been professionally treated during that time.
The hospital goes back to the 1920s to Mary Siedle – a city counsellor and one-time deputy mayor. She’d heard the story of a young boy, Mickey Freshwater, who, with dysentery, trekked from Mayville to Addington Hospital only to be turned away because there wasn’t a bed. Mary had lost a son in the First World War, and that tragedy drove her mission to get this hospital built – she fired up Durban to support her, and they did. Today, the exquisitely restored ceramic plaques honouring donors have been retained in the walls of the new hospital: donors from Durban Girls’ College to Gordon Road Girls’ School, to local women’s guilds, citizens and celebrities.
The hospital opened in 1931, and tragically in 1984 was closed by the apartheid government because of its multiracial admissions policy. Numerous attempts to reopen it failed, until 2009, when provincial cabinet approved the decision to renovate. The late Dr Arthi Ramkissoon – former CEO – and Professor Jerry Coovadia were highly instrumental in getting the project off the ground, and in 2011, the KZN Children’s Hospital Trust was registered.
Taryn Millar says, “That’s where we come in. We work in a public-private partnership with the KZN Department of Health, and our relationship is governed by a service level agreement. As the Trust, we fundraise, project-manage, handle the architects and quantity surveyors. Essentially, we complete a building, and hand it over to the Department of Health and they run with operations.”
This is not a standard children’s hospital, nor is it a walk-in, it’s only referrals. Taryn explained: “At the outset, the KZN Department of Health completed a needs assessment of the province – the gaps they identified were children with neurodevelopmental disorders, and mental health conditions. Those are the services the hospital provides.”
The KZN Children’s Hospital site has four heritage buildings – the old main hospital building, the nurses’ home, and two unrenovated buildings still untouched. The architects, Ruben Reddy Architects, work with the heritage architects, Trish Emmett and Rodney Harber, who then liaise with AMAFA to ensure compliance with heritage guidelines.
To date, the exterior of the old main hospital building and nurses’ home has been renovated. On the west side of the hospital, a vast area was excavated to create underground parking for 120 cars, and to the north, pillars indicate where the new seven-storey medical facility – the Rainbow Tower – will lie.
“The Neurodevelopmental Assessment Centre sees children with autism, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and various other neuro-diverse conditions,” says Taryn. “It’s a multidisciplinary facility, with a very different approach to healthcare and treatment. The child is seen by the paediatric neurologist, the OT, the physiotherapist, the dietician, the audiologist, the speech therapist, the psychologist and the social worker
and, together, they come up with a treatment plan.”
A work in progress, the old main hospital will function as a Centre for Mental Health – with specialists in psychology and psychiatry for both outpatient and inpatient care – there will be 40 inpatient beds. The proposed Rainbow Tower will house a palliative care ward, orofacial clinic and support services such as diagnostic radiology, a rehab gym and pool.
The Trust has nine board members, each bringing a wealth of skills, experience and expertise to the table. There’s a clear blueprint for the hospital, and Camilla says they’ll need a further R500-million to complete the complex: “We’ve raised R200-million so far, so we have a way to go.”
The KZN Children’s Hospital was always going to be a long-term project, with restoration and facilities moving ahead when funding materialised. A number of major donors have put substantial weight behind the project – recently Victor Daitz Foundation, Elton John Aids Foundation and USAID – as have a number of smaller donors who’ve contributed professional services at discounted rates.
Camilla says the Trust requires around R180 000 a month to fund running costs such as insurance and security. They’re looking to install a Clearvu perimeter fence, so if you’re keen to be part of building a legacy, make the call. You could also contribute by buying a brick on the website.
To see the detailed restoration of this heritage site and building is a joy, and it’s hard not to admire the patience and commitment to a vision which can only move at the pace of the donor funding. So much has been achieved, and the attention paid to the decorative relief work, sculptures inside and out, ceramic detailing, graceful archways and even the landscaping makes you realise how drive, dedication and generosity can effect change.
So, next time you’re ambling along the Promenade, the answer is “Plenty is Happening.”