This year, East Rand Palliative Care (ERPC) celebrates 40 years of providing care, compassion, and support to patients and families across the East Rand during some of life’s most difficult moments.
Since 1986, the organisation has offered care in homes, at bedsides, and through meaningful conversations, ensuring that no one faces serious illness alone.
What began as a small initiative by three dedicated individuals, Denise and Mike Heatlie, together with Yvonne Pinker, has grown into a respected community-based service that continues to touch thousands of lives.
To mark this milestone, ERPC has launched the R40 for 40 Years campaign, aiming to raise R400 000. Community members are invited to donate R40 in honour of the organisation’s four decades of service.
“While R40 may seem small, the collective impact of many contributions ensures that essential palliative care services reach those who need them most,” said Jonquil Siepman, marketing and media liaison at ERPC.
These services include medical care, emotional and psychological support, and guidance for families navigating life-limiting illnesses.
Forty years ago, ERPC began in a modest, rent-free space in Ampthill Avenue, Benoni, with a volunteer-driven team focused on emotional support. It soon became clear that families also needed medical care, and nursing sisters stepped forward to provide home-based care. That model of care at home remains the foundation of ERPC today.
Palliative care at ERPC is specialised support for people living with life-threatening illnesses, focusing on comfort, dignity, pain and symptom control, and emotional and social wellbeing. Care begins at diagnosis and continues throughout the patient’s journey, supporting both patients and their families.
Volunteers remain central to ERPC’s work, supporting patients, assisting in charity shops, and helping with fundraising. Community donations enable nurses to remain on the road and provide vital home-based services.
As ERPC celebrates 40 years, it honours its founders, early volunteers, nursing sisters, staff, and every family that trusted them. The organisation’s commitment remains clear: to strengthen services, reach more families, and continue walking alongside those in need across the East Rand.
To support the campaign, visit
For more information or to get involved, visit www.erpc.org.za or follow East Rand Palliative Care on social media.
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