Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Investment Projects | 2021

Saving our aquatic life.... one hatchling at a time!

The Southern tip of Africa is encircled with the most beautiful of coastlines, home to a variety of marine life and aquatics. Within this picturesque landscape lies a harsh reality for the turtle community that are faced with ocean pollution, predator attacks or the misfortune of getting caught in an ocean current, relocating them hundreds of kilometers away into an entirely different habitat, their carapace covered in unwelcome passengers like barnacles and algae. 

“When a turtle arrives at the Aquarium and gets into the hands of the turtle rehabilitation team, the first thing that happens is that it is stabilised. This means that before the team does anything, the little hatchling is placed in a bath of shallow freshwater - shallow enough for it to be able to breathe without lifting its head. This gives the little hatchling a chance to rehydrate and slowly warm up.” - Two Oceans Aquarium.

This leaves the little hatchlings extremely dehydrated and hypothermic upon arrival and when rescued by the Turtle Rehabilitation Center, the primary priority is to stabilize and warm them up.

In early 2021, the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town received 52 turtle hatchlings that were stranded and in dire need of help. One of our valued customers in the region, Winelands Radiology immediately jumped into action and offered their complimentary support in scanning the turtles, ensuring the wellbeing of the tiny reptiles. 

“Turtles are very prone to lung diseases and this also affects their buoyancy. The scans are done to evaluate their lungs to see what pathology is present. This is more than just for pneumonia and includes areas of air trapping, cavity formation and looking for atypical infections. They are also prone to middle ear infections and we scan them for this as well. We can also do an MRI on them under sedation given by a vet. All the turtles, once healthy are released in summertime. Some however take quite some time to heal properly. There is a dedicated team of people who do this and their work is quite amazing.” 

The CT scans were done on the Siemens SOMATOM Definition edge scanner, providing precision digital imaging for the patient’s treatment outcome.

When the story of this remarkable journey came to light, our local team jumped into action with the intention to support both our customer and our sustainability pillar of CSR.

Siemens Healthineers South Africa is proud to announce the addition of our newly adopted turtle Healthineers: Uli, Ray, Zapp, TC, Squirt, Rax. These micro aquatics are currently receiving the best care and rehabilitation at the Two Oceans Aquarium.

We are so proud to partner with an association that has wildlife conservation and sustainability at their core values and together with our healthcare practitioners we are shaping the future of healthcare for wildlife. 

Supporting local clinic bring access to healthcare for all

At Siemens Healthineers, we are defined by our core business principles. These principles are values that every Healthineer across the world lives by.

Earlier this year, our beautiful country in the Southern tip of Africa faced immense challenges as a civil unrest spread across the nation leaving destruction and many broken businesses in its wake. One of these businesses was a start-up clinic in Mlazi township in Kwa-Zulu Natal which services the local community and meets the gap between shortfalls of government in these semi-rural township areas, servicing mostly women and children. This critical healthcare provider in the area saw up to 30 patients a day at a fraction of the cost as the more mainstream clinics in the suburban areas which were far out from the rural areas and not easily accessible. 

The aftermath of this looting was stolen equipment, vandalised furniture and a shattered building as the losses continued to mount. The impact that the Precious Women’s Clinic has on the community resonated with Siemens Healthineers as one of our main sustainability pillars is accessibility to healthcare for all people.

Siemens Healthineers is proud to have partnered with the Mlazi clinic in support of their rebuild and have sponsored Precious Women’s Clinic towards their practice recuperation, helping them along their journey and impacting the access to healthcare in KZN.

Professional nurse, Sister PJ Dlamini is the Executive Director at the clinic and shared her gratitude with the team:

“I want to express my deepest and humble appreciation to Siemens Healthineers for the beautiful donation made to my clinic. I want to acknowledge The Management Team - Ayanda Swana who sat around a table and made this increasable selfless and priceless decision, saying priceless not because it has minimal value but because its value is immeasurable way beyond money and anything else.

All of these items have made a positive impact not only to me, my team but also my patients. One of my patients said “these chairs are so comfortable, I don’t want to move”, others sing praises thanking Siemens Healthineers for helping their clinic to stay open as they were in panic when they saw that the practice has been looted. The donation has replaced what was lost and also added to ensuring provision of services is much quicker thus decreasing waiting time. I have been able to resume other services which were on hold before the donation came through as most of the furniture and equipment we stolen. I can attest “The clinic looks more posh”

Thank you for throwing me and my team a lifeline, you have given us hope and also made us believe that we and our patients matter. Thank you for giving me a dose of oxygen, now I am able to breathe.”

Stationary Drive

Stationary Drive

With the country still in the grips of Covid-19, we knew that many parents would struggle to be able to purchase new uniforms and stationary for their children.

Company wide we held a drive for staff donations of stationary items and school uniforms. In addition to this we were able to donate over 200 sanitary pads towards this cause to ensure basic hygiene for teenage girls who are unable to afford this necessity.

The beneficiaries that we were able to share these donations with were:

Rays of Hope

Rays of Hope is a Non-Profit Company (NPC) and a Public Benefit Organization (PBO), which manages a large number of social outreach programs in Alexandra Township (Alex) in northern Johannesburg. The NPC aims to enable individuals and families to improve all aspects of their lives, thereby creating a lasting impact on the broader Alex residential community. Rays of Hope started operating with one project in 1991 and has grown to a network of nine community-based programs, focusing on education, vulnerable children, and work readiness.

Over 2,600 people are impacted in total every year. As such, the organization is hands on in Alex, having developed close relationships with community leaders, the police, high schools, the Alexandra Clinic and the Department of Social Development, which has enabled it to leverage appropriate assistance when available and necessary.

Chayil Foundation

The Chayil Foundation has seven areas in Johannesburg where they run Care Centres that feeds close to 2000 children weekly after school. These centres offer mentorship programs and work on developing their day-care and reading centre. Their Skills and Empowerment Centre allows youth who are unemployed and lost to receive a sustainable way of living. They assist youth who are unemployed, unable to be funded for studies and many young girls that have overcome drug addiction, a chance to see hope through Skill & Empowerment. The Centre offers free classes for 6-8 months to teach all students to design & sew garments.