Imagine the fear a mother feels when her child is sick and needs to be admitted to a hospital. Not only does she need to navigate the unknown, unfamiliar setting of a hospital, she is dealing with long days of investigations, blood tests and her child's tears. In this intensely stressful time, the superhero mother's main aim is to be a strong pillar for her child. But added to all this, she just cannot get a good night's sleep. Without the essential sleep she finds her child's illness even more difficult to deal with.

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Unfortunately, in many public hospitals across Johannesburg, the mother's comfort is not featured in the allocation of the hospital's budget. That is where we come in. We are a group of doctors at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (with the help of our friends across multiple hospitals) that are passionate about our patients and their parents. We believe they deserve comfort and dignity throughout their stay in our wards. Currently our mums spend long hours on hard, plastic chairs during the day followed by a night of fragmented sleep lying on the floor next to their child's bed. We are on a mission to create a space where mothers can rest so that they have the energy to face the challenges ahead of them.

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We have partnered up with the Wits Paediatric Fund in their annual Soweto Marathon fundraiser with over 50 doctors and friends pledged to run a combined distance of over 1000km. 

 

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We raised over R250 000 for this project - thank you to all our runners and donors - you all rock!