Registration fee

R120 per person which also covers the cost of refreshments and lunch

Venue

The workshop will take place in the dining hall at ROYAL HOSPITAL in Pietermaritzburg, KZN.

Address: 301 Burger St, Pietermaritzburg. Find directions at https://rh.org.za/contact/

Time

We have a very full programme. The workshop will start promptly at 08h30 so please plan to arrive between 08h00 and 08h30 so as not to miss anything! The programme ends at 15h30.

Who should attend?

This workshop will focus on providing palliative care from the time of a diagnosis of a life-threatening or life-limiting condition of the fetus or the baby. We welcome anyone who may be involved in the care of a mother and her child during pregnancy, birth and post-natal period, including but not limited to:

• Parents
• Healthcare providers such as doctors, midwives, nurses, etc.
• Social workers
• Therapists
• Genetic Counsellors
• Clinical Geneticists
• Funeral Directors and employees
• Bereavement Doulas

Speakers /Workshop Facilitators

Speakers and workshop facilitators will include:

• Sr Tracy Rawlins (Education & Training Manager – PatchSA)
• Sue Boucher (Programme Manager – PatchSA)
• Dr Julia Ambler (Children’s Palliative Care Doctor – Umduduzi)
• Tracey Brand (Medical Social Worker – Umduduzi)
• Carmen Levey (Physiotherapist – The Nurture Hub)
• Dr Mama-Asu Peprah (OB/Gyn – The Nurture Hub)
• Dr Trudy Martin (Neonatologist – Greys Hospital)
• Nokulinda Mkhize (Traditional Healer/Author)

Click on the links below to learn more about each of the participating organisations.

Collaborating Organisations

The Nurture Hub

Palliative Care for Children South Africa

Workshop facilitators / Speakers

Dr Julia Ambler

Dr Julia Ambler is the co-founder and medical director of Umduduzi Hospice Care for Children. In her role, she consults in children’s palliative care, trains health professionals and is a sessional lecturer in the Dept. of Paediatrics at Nelson Mandela Medical School, UKZN. She holds the only Paediatric Palliative Care post within the Department of Health (DoH) in South Africa working 10 hours per week at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital. She is passionate about holistic care, comfort and ensuring the best quality of life for children with serious illness and their families.

Tracey Brand

Tracey Brand is the Director and co-founder of Umduduzi Hospice Care for Children. She is a medical social worker who is involved in teaching and training doctors, nurses and social workers in paediatric palliative care. She is an honourary lecturer in the Department of Paediatrics, Nelson Mandela Medical School at UKZN and also provides direct services to children and their families.

Carmen Levey

Carmen is a practicing Physiotherapist and co-founder of The Nurture Hub along with Dr Mama-Asu Peprah where they aim to provide a community for new parents to learn, heal, adapt, share and grow. Carmen is passionate about promoting awareness around the importance of mental health of parents, both during pregnancy and in the postpartum period, and breaking the stigma around mental health disorders and diagnoses.

Sr Tracy Rawlins

Tracy Rawlins is a qualified professional nurse, midwife and health educator. Her experience in caring for the terminally ill in her community laid the foundation for her qualification in adult palliative care but her heart and passion has always been in working with babies and children. She successfully completed her post grad diploma in Paediatric Palliative care medicine in 2017 cum laude. She is the Education and Training Manager at PatchSA and is an instructional designer and facilitator of the Patch Academy online courses.

Dr Mama-Asu Peprah

Dr Mama-Asu Koranteng Peprah is an Obstetrician and Gynaecologist in private practice in Pietermaritzburg. She is a mother to 2 energetic boys and has been married for the past 11 years. After being awarded her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree by the University of Cape Town in 2008, Dr Koranteng-Peprah went on to complete her specialist training at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg as well as obtaining a master’s degree in medicine in Obstetrics and Gynaecology in parallel. She worked as a consultant and lecturer at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital and the University of the Witwatersrand until 2017 where she then went into private practice. She is also a director of 100ABC, which is a non -profit organization that seeks to provide scholarships to girls embarking on their high school journey. She is a co-founder of the Nurture hub, a perinatal medical and psychological service that supports, educates and empower parents in their parenthood journey.

Nokulinda Mkhize

Nokulinda is a sangoma and mother of 4. She has been practicing as isangoma since 2008 and is an authority in the realms of African cultures, indigenous spiritual knowledge and cosmologies. Combining her experience as isangoma, academic knowledge, creativity and media expertise she has shared and taught extensively on ancestral, cultural and spiritual practices in the modern professional, personal and community contexts. This experience and expertise led to the publishing of her first book Ancestory: Ancient lessons for Modern Life in 2022. She pioneered the ever-evolving niche for izangoma, including using digital resources to expand the scope of practice of ubungoma. She also founded and hosts the annual GogoSpeaks events, her practice has been featured extensively in local and international media and she is the co-founder and director of Mashoba Media – a Pan-African boutique creative agency and production company.

Dr Trudy Martin

Dr Trudy Martin is currently the Clinical Head of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, one of two in the state sector in KZN that treats newborns requiring surgical intervention. It also manages babies with congenital disorders as well as babies born extremely premature, sometimes close to the limits of viability. Working in an intensive care unit with the above conditions brings staff face to face with pain, suffering and death on almost a daily basis. Dr Martin believes it is because of this that the need for a palliative care approach for any baby admitted to the NICU has become not only a vision but a priority and passion for her and the staff of the NICU.

Sue Boucher

Sue Boucher is the Programme and Communications Manager for PatchSA. She is a qualified educator and published author and has contributed to several papers and textbooks on paediatric palliative care, including the most recent Oxford Textbook of Palliative Care for Children. She has worked in the field of children’s palliative care since 2008 and has participated in the training of healthcare providers in the field both in South Africa and internationally. Along with Tracy Rawlins she is an instructional designer and co-facilitator of the Patch Academy online courses.