Ex-patient’s warm-hearted gesture

HAVING spent nearly two months as a patient at Aurora Hospital and seeing the dire need for warm goodies for children at the centre, a Graaff-Reinet woman decided to give back to the hospital that took “such great care” of her.

Joy Sharpe, 73, spent six weeks at the physical rehabilitation hospital last year after suffering a fall and hurting her back.

Last week, she donated 13 blankets to the hospital from a charity project she and other women in the Graaff-Reinet and Hofmeyr region undertook.

The women, including Sharpe’s neighbour at Graaff-Reinet’s Brenda Horwitz retirement village, Fransie Dreyer, knit squares during their free time. These are then kept ready to be sewn together and handed over to those in need.

Sharpe said she was looked after “so beautifully” that she had to do something to thank the hospital.

“A bunch of us were part of a charity group called ‘Idle Hands, Idle Chatter’ and we had some squares knitted, which I sewed together and suggested we donate to Aurora,” she said.

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