WATCH | ‘I’m on the frontline’: woman collects medicine for the elderly during lockdown

09 April 2020 - 13:08 By TimesLIVE
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Fifty-two-year-old Faieza Cannell Smith from Eldorado Park, Johannesburg, collects the files of elderly hospital patients with her partner Ra-shaat Smith to do hospital runs on behalf of community members during the lockdown.

Smith does a lot of work in her community, while also running her own catering business. With the spread of the coronavirus posing a high risk to the elderly, she has decided to offer some help.

The couple collects medication for the elderly at Helen Joseph Hospital, enduring three- to four-hour waits at the facility.

Mrs Williams, a sick elderly woman in the community, says she is grateful for this gesture and hopes "God will bless them for doing all this good work".

Smith has been making trips to the hospital almost every day since the lockdown began. Her mother, who is 70 years old, also deals with issues of waiting in long queues for hours in public hospitals to get medication.

Though Smith says it is rewarding to serve her community and protect the elderly against Covid-19, she feels the government is not doing enough to make the process smoother for the vulnerable.


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