Lorentzville, Johannesburg – Gauteng

The development of Victoria Yards in Lorentzville, Johannesburg, has reimagined a large disused factory space into a unique project of urban regeneration that bridges commercial and community upliftment goals. Victoria Yards is home to the WeCare community clinic, bringing free, complementary health services to people in overlooked Joburg neighbourhoods.

Access to healthcare is an enshrined right in South Africa, but the reality of overburdened clinics and government’s weak strategies and implementation to fill human resources and equipment gaps have added to a crumbling clinic system. Clinics are where more than 85% of people who rely on public health services have their first contact with the public health system. In 2020, the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Department of Complementary Medicine saw a way to work with partners to establish a community clinic while fulfilling their training needs. Bringing complementary health services to the community also makes the university a more integrated part of the neighbourhood and more in touch with the city’s needs.

What was the problem?

The Johannesburg East communities of Bertrams, Lorentzville and Troyeville have over the last decades become forgotten suburbs to city authorities. They’re plagued by deteriorating services, overcrowding, illegal dumping, illegal trading and general neglect. Clinic services while available in theory are like many clinics in the country (see ritshidze.org.za), battling with long waiting times, poor staff attitudes, equipment and medicine shortages, and poorly maintained infrastructure.  

When discouraged from seeking healthcare, people’s medical conditions worsen and they later become a greater burden for a strained public health system. Many from these low-income households have had little exposure or access to free, quality health services, including homeopathy, acupuncture and chiropractic services, that are also essential for health and wellness management. 

How did they solve the problem?

Dr Tebogo Tsele-Tebakang is Head of Department at UJ’s Department of Complementary Medicine. She told FixLocal: “While we run a clinic with subsidised services on our Doornfontein campus for the public we wanted to look beyond the campus to be in our communities. Lorentzville is right next to us and we know the communities there are made up of people who can’t easily afford the R300 or R400 that is still charged on campus.”

They looked to Victoria Yards in Lorentzville. The private development has become a thriving space bridging commercial and community initiatives through art, food gardens, creative industries and community changemakers. Tsele-Tebakang met with Nando’s, who is headquartered next to Victoria Yards. Nados supported the idea and agreed to sponsor the rental for the space at Victoria Yards. UJ supplies medical equipment and medicines and pays the clinicians who supervise final-year students on internship at the clinic.  

With a solid partnership in place, they opened to the public in August 2020. Since then they have seen over 5000 patients, according to Tsele-Tebakang. She adds: “We see a lot of kids and the elderly. Many people are hypertensive, have diabetes and arthritis. Then there’s a lot of colds and flus, headaches and those general conditions. We treat everything and we can also refer patients,” she says. 

Tsele-Tebakang says the biggest wins for the clinic are the services it offers to the community, as more people access the role and benefits of complementary healthcare. Meanwhile, students benefit by relating to the different lived realities of people. She gives an example: “In homeopathy we might tell a patient to examine their stool – but some people may only have a pit latrine. It means our students need to think about people’s different circumstances – it makes them better at what they do,” she adds. 

What makes the initiative work?

• The University of Johannesburg chose strong, aligned partners in Victoria Yards and in Nando’s – guided by a goal to deliver service not for brand mileage or publicity.

• The initiative leaned on established networks, formal and informal in the community.

• The WeCare Clinic has integrated itself in the community, taking up a role as a health anchor.

• The sustainability of the initiative comes with students spending a year at a time in the community. New students refresh the internship uptake at the facility each year.

Acknowledgements

Author: FixLocal Reporter

Photograph: Supplied