
International Nurses Day - Our Nurses. Our Future.
International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.
The theme for 2023 is Our Nurses. Our Future. It is a global campaign which sets out what we want for nursing in the future in order to address the global health challenges and improve global health for all. We need to learn from the lessons of the pandemic and translate these into actions of the future. The Our Nurses. Our Future. campaign will shine the light on nurses and on a brighter future.
If Badisa looks back at the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have many challenges, but it also unlocked new opportunities.
The 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years were indeed challenging for the programmes aimed at older persons. We are still dealing with the after effects of Covid-19, and now the load shedding in our country add to the loneliness and immobility of our people.
They are bound to their rooms in times of load shedding, because they are cautious to move around in poor light conditions. In some homes they are unable to use the elevators to have meals with the other residents or attend social activities. Our homes are spending a lot of their funds on diesel for generators and installing inverters and solar panels. The homes suffered a loss of income during Covid-19 due to less intakes and the inability to host fundraising events, and these additional expenditure put the homes without reserves in a financial crisis.
But despite all the challenges, exciting progress has been made with the roll-out of the following initiatives during the financial year:

- The nursing staff was the heroes during the pandemic. We have a deep appreciation for their commitment and loyalty with which they provided services amidst the pandemic.
- Badisa continued with the implementation of the Badisa 2030 Strategy for Older Persons.
- Quarterly virtual meetings with all the programmes for older and disabled persons where the full management team is involved to provide training and discuss new initiatives.
- In support of the strategy, Badisa developed a comprehensive marketing plan aimed at older persons. The marketing plan was drawn up with the support of a postgraduate student at Stellenbosch University.
- Research has been undertaken to determine the most appropriate and cost-effective management information system (MIS) to implement for the programmes for older persons. The priority for now is the development of a central waiting list system, allowing the public to access this information by visiting Badisa’s website. This initiative can help to accelerate the take-up of vacant beds, which holds financial benefits for the old-age homes. The system is currently in the implementation phase.
Coherence and collaboration among the programmes have increased. The programmes are already working together and supporting each other on various initiatives. We trust that this will help to alleviate the impact of historic and institutional deficits that the programmes are still confronted with.
Follow us on social media for behind-the-scenes stories of nurses and carers, they also share their journeys and why they chose the profession.
We will upload videos, and photos during the week. Click here to visit our YouTube channel for short videos about International Nurses Day.