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02 June 2022 Media Release: Crèche surprised with mattress donations by Garden Route District Municipality

Media Release: Crèche surprised with mattress donations by Garden Route District Municipality

For Immediate Release
2 June 2022

Crèches or day care facilities are required to provide safe sleep spaces for toddlers or little ones they care for on a daily basis. To ensure that these spaces are comfortable enough to provide a healthy sleeping routine, a mattress is regarded as an essential item for a toddler.

Towards the end of May 2022, Environmental Health Practitioners (EHP) from Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM) and their Portfolio Chairperson for Community Services, Cllr Nompumelelo Ndayi, paid a surprise visit to the St. Elizabeth Crèche in Avontuur. On arrival Cllr Ndayi, on behalf of GRDM, donated sixteen (16) mattresses to the crèche.  A gratified Principal, Caroline Esau, accepted the items on behalf of the little ones and expressed her gratefulness towards GRDM for the donation, especially due to the timing of the donation.  Avontuur experiences extremely cold weather during winter time, reaching low temperatures of 2°C during autumn and winter.

As part of the visit, the team also demonstrated the steps of proper hand wash techniques to the toddlers and daycare staff.

“Applying these steps will prevent you and your families from easily attracting several types of hygiene-related illnesses,” said Cllr Ndayi at the event.

In closing, the team also distributed pamphlets covering information on daily Health and Hygiene habits. The event ended on a yummy note, with the team sharing snack packs, contributed from their own pockets, with each toddler for behaving and cooperating exceptionally well during their visit.

Carike Soman, Environmental Health Practitioner at GRDM, demonstrates proper handing washing techniques to the toddlers present during the visit.

A few health and hygiene tips shared with the toddlers:

  1. WHY IS HAND WASHING IMPORTANT?
  • Keeping hands clean can prevent 1 in 3 diarrhea related illnesses and 1 in 5 respiratory infections, such as a cold or flu;
  • It can result in less illness and fewer missed school days;
  • When the family is healthy, you don’t have to worry about missing school, work or other activities.
  1. STEPS TO WASH HANDS THOROUGHLY:

Wet first; apply soap; rub palms; rub tips of nails against palms or use a clean scrub; rub fingers between each other; place one hand over the back of the other and rub between fingers. Do the same with the other hand that is not washed; rub each thumb with opposite palms; rinse and dry.

  1. USE OF HAND SANITIZER:
  • If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.

Feature Image: Garden Route District Municipality’s Portfolio Chairperson for Community Services, Cllr Nompumelelo Ndayi (left), hands over a mattress to the Principal of St. Elizabeth Crèche in Avontuur, Caroline Esau.

ENDS