Celebrating World Nurses Day

In January 1974, 12 May was chosen to celebrate International Nurses Day as it is the anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

Together with our community development arm, the Mouton Foundation, we celebrate the work the Foundation has done to bring professional and easily accessible nursing care to our farm workers providing them with primary healthcare and the implementation of wellness programmes focused on a healthy lifestyle.

Healthcare services comprise of a Mouton Foundation Clinic rendering medical services to all permanent and seasonal employees and their families. This service is executed by means of a mobile clinic that visits different farm areas on a daily basis plus a clinic at the packhouse, operated by the seasonal locum nurse. The Foundation subsidises children and the elderly as well as the monitoring of chronic illnesses and baseline health checks.

In addition to this the Department of Health provides free Family Planning services and Chronic Medication. Chronic conditions include hypertension, diabetes, asthma, HIV, TB and epilepsy.

Our Clinic Staff comprises:

• 1 Full time Registered Professional Nurse and Programme Manager

• 1 Seasonal locum Registered Professional Nurse (April – September)

• 1 Full Time healthcare worker

Various projects are run throughout the year, such as an extensive Covid Pandemic management in the past few years, a Breast Cancer Awareness drive in conjunction with CANSA where breast examinations and pap smears were done and the funding of vision screenings for members with poor eyesight or eye abnormalities and cataracts were removed.

At the end of every season seasonal workers are given the opportunity to participate in a voluntary Health Exit Day as part of the Foundation’s goal to create a healthy mindset as an investment in each person’s overall wellbeing. In the past season the following tests were administered to seasonal workers: blood pressure checks, HIV tests, STI screenings and TB screenings.

We thank our nursing staff for their many hours of hard work and dedication and the Mouton Foundation for the difference they make in the lives of our workers and community.