HPCA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Administration & CEO 's Office
Barend Kellerman acquired his BA LLB degree from Stellenbosch University in 1997. He was admitted as an attorney in 2000. After practising with the firm Kellerman Hendrikse Inc. for more than 15 years, he joined Aimee Joubert to start Kellerman Joubert Incorporated (now Kellerman Joubert Heyns Incorporated).
He is primarily involved in the drafting of contracts and in the field of commercial litigation in the High Court, Magistrates' Court and private arbitrations. He also deals with constitutional law, sports law (especially doping offences), insurance law, matrimonial disputes and property law. He is admitted as an attorney in the High Court.
He was involved in the Tygerberg Attorneys Association for many years and serves as Commissioner in the Small Claims Court in Bellville. He also serves as a director of the Cape of Good Hope SPCA as part of his service to the community.
Dr Aslam Dasoo is convenor of the Progressive Health Forum, a national healthcare advocacy network.
He is Executive Director of Health Equity Partners, a healthcare consultancy and investment advisor.
He was the founding CEO of the Board of Healthcare Funders and has extensive private healthcare corporate experience.
He is a veteran of the healthcare sector, with public health activism and trade union experience from the eighties and nineties. He participated in the development of health policy for a post-Apartheid SA and has held ministerial appointment as Chairman of Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, the Medicine Pricing Committee and the Road Accident Fund.
Dr. Ewa Skowronska is a medical doctor who trained at the University of Warsaw, Poland, and a Master of Public Health graduate from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, US.
She is a passionate leader with more than a decade's experience in management of international NGOs in Africa. She has executed global clinical research programmes for 14 countries in Europe, Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa. In SA she was executive director of the Topsy Foundation and technical advisor and senior operations manager for mothers2mothers, before taking the reins at HPCA in August 2019.
Job Titles:
- Overstrand Hospice As the General Manager
Fran qualified as a social worker and completed her Master's Degree in Pastoral Therapy, specialising in Narrative Therapy. In 1999 Fran joined Drakenstein Hospice in Paarl as a social worker and later became the patient care manager.
In 2008, Fran was appointed by the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa (HPCA) where, she provided mentorship and training to assist member hospices, NGOs and government institutions to develop and grow their capacity to provide palliative care. Fran is involved in the development and review of psychosocial palliative care training courses and still trains when she has the time and opportunity.
In January 2016, Fran joined Overstrand Hospice as the general manager. Being deeply passionate about palliative care, Fran hopes to continue to support and enable health care providers deliver this critical aspect of health care.
Having lived below mountains for most of her life, Fran loves hiking and trailing. She has three special men in her life (for clarity: her husband and two sons), who, for the most, have kept her from complacency.
Job Titles:
- General Manager of Hospice Bloemfontein
Hanneke is the General Manager of Hospice Bloemfontein, and also works as a counsellor with patients and their families. She is the Chairperson of the Free State Hospice Association.
Hanneke is married to Jan, and has a daughter in high school.
Leigh is the Advocacy & Operations Manager for the Association of Palliative Care Centres (APCC).
She is one of South Africa's foremost social entrepreneurs and a pioneer in the education sector, having co -founded and led TSIBA Education, chaired the board of IkamvaYouth for over a decade and worked in educational reform as the National Coordinator of the Public School Partnerships initiative. M&G newspaper repeatedly recognised her at one of SA's "Top 200 Young People". Leigh holds a BA in Value and Policy Studies from the University of Stellenbosch and an MPhil in Higher Education Studies from UCT. She also earned a Post-Graduate Diploma in Coaching from Middlesex University.
In 2019 Leigh stepped out of the education sector in order to learn and explore how she might be able to offer her experience and skills in the palliative care sector. She convened the successful Midwifery & Dying Conference in February 2020 which attracted a wide range of stakeholders and significant media attention.
Job Titles:
- Treasurer for the NOW Fund
Marcel Lazarus completed his Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting (Honours) at UCT in 2001, and continued to qualify as a CA (SA) in 2005 through KPMG in Johannesburg. After relocating to KPMG's Cape Town offices, he worked as a senior audit manager for 9 years, gaining extensive experience presenting to audit committees of large and listed companies in various sectors.
In 2014, he was appointed Group Finance Director of the Melbro Holdings Group of companies, a multinational group involved in the retail and wholesale sector.
He is experienced in finance, tax, risk management, corporate governance, systems and internal controls.
Marcel also serves as the Treasurer for the NOW Fund, a NPO which raises funds for underprivileged children to attend Westerford High School.
Passionate about community development and access to equal opportunities, Melissa has been involved in the Not For Profit Sector for 15 years.
As the lead pastor of First City Baptists personal assistant many years ago, Melissa helped with securing PEPFAR funding for the church's grassroots HIV AIDS NPO, Sophumelela Clinic. She then felt the call to shift her fulltime focus to non-governmental organisation management.
She spent 7 years in middle management as a Grants Compliance Officer and Technical Assistant for Organisational Change at Sophumelela Centre, the mother body of Hope Schools. She moved on to become the General Manager in July 2012 and joined St Bernard's Hospice as their CEO in 2016.
She is passionate about eradicating social injustices and advocating for Palliative Care as a basic human right. She has a solution-oriented mind set to daily problems. She enjoys finding tools that can facilitate growth and performance, and thrives on providing relevant and tangible help to others.
She became Regional Chair for the Eastern Cape in 2019, and remains in this capacity.
She is happily married to her high school sweetheart and have two children. Joshua, who is 4 and Zoe, who is 15 months.
She loves the Lord with all her heart and is thankful for His promise that He will complete the good work that He has started in us.
Nancy Mini is a professional nurse with 35 years' experience in diverse disciplines of nursing, including oncology and HIV/AIDS. She has a postgraduate diploma in Public Health, and completed a postgraduate diploma in Palliative Medicine at the University of Cape Town in November 2020. Nancy believes that everyone with a serious illness should be given the choice to have palliative care.
Nicola Hyde (nee Stuart-Thompson) has been the Director of CHoiCe Trust since 2011. She joined the organization after moving to Limpopo in 2009, following her work as a Child Protection consultant with UNICEF in Pretoria.
Nicola has a Bachelors of Social Sciences (B.Soc.Sci) and a Bachelors of Law (LLB) from Rhodes University, and has a passion for supporting the realization of rights for vulnerable communities.
Born in Cape Town, Nicola has lived in many areas throughout South Africa and neighbouring countries, including Namibia and Mozambique. She is currently happily settled in Tzaneen where she is raising her three children and remains committed to improving the health and development of rural communities through the work of CHoiCe Trust.
Job Titles:
- Founder and Project Manager of Tshupe Hospice
Ruth Lerato Rangaka is the founder and project manager of Tshupe Hospice. Ruth oversees the day-to-day operations at the hospice facility. With more than 20 years experience as a professional nurse, she brings extensive knowledge. Her responsibilities consist of assisting with communication between patients, families, and staff and providing support to end-of-life patients with the highest quality of care. Her duties include supervising the delivery of pain control and other inpatient treatment, assisting with respite and palliative care, setting up home health care, offering amenities for spiritual needs, and planning bereavement services. She also handles administrative duties, such as budget planning, establishing case goals, inspecting facility equipment, maintaining medical records, and training the staff to work as a team with each other and patients.
Tersia has a strong commercial background and worked in the international Vehicle Armouring industry. Tersia travelled to 53 different countries and spent vast amounts of time in Afghanistan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Tersia's only child, Vicky Bruce was born with a rare and degenerative connective tissue disorder, Osteogenesis Imperfecta. By her 3rd birthday Vicky had suffered 41 fractures. Despite a prognosis of "life limiting" Vicky survived her childhood and got married at the age of 21. At the age of 22 she gave birth to the first of two sons.
In 2012 the doctors said there was no further curative treatment available. The last 10 years of her life was filled with 81 abdominal surgeries, septicaemia, excruciating pain, total loss of dignity and hopelessness. Five months before Vicky's death Tersia managed to secure help from Hospice Wits for her child. Two months before her death Vicky asked her mother to start a Hospice in Alberton so "no-one will suffer the way she did".
On the 1st of January 2013 Stepping Stone Hospice started operating out of Tersia's home in Alberton. Vicky sadly died on the 18 th of January 2013.
Tersia is passionate about Palliative Care for All. She honours her child's legacy every single day at Stepping Stone Hospice & Care Services.
Tersia is Regional Chairperson of the GP HPCA Board and serves on the HPCA Board, Accreditation Committee, Sustainability Committee, Standards Review Committee, Finance Committee and is Chairperson of the Mentorship Committee.
Warren was born in Durban, South Africa and was educated at Lyttleton Manor High School in what is now Centurion, Gauteng.
Warren matriculated in 1987 and went on to complete a Masters in Theology at the University of Natal in 1996. He was an ordained Priest in the Anglican Church of South Africa and served as rector of the parish of Estcourt.
Warren began his involvement in Hospice and Palliative care in 1998 and went on to be an active volunteer in the Estcourt Hospice Association and eventually General Manager of Estcourt Hospice. He later was offered the post of CEO of Msunduzi Hospice in Pietermaritzburg. Warren is a past chairperson of the Hospice Association of KwaZulu-Natal and is currently the vice chairperson and representative to the HPCA Board. Warren's passion is quality improvement and the accreditation programme.
Warren relaxes well with a fine bottle of wine or a well aged cognac and truly enjoys the great South African pastime of a Braai.