MICA and PLASCON partner for a cause
On Wednesday 29 March, the teams from Mica Hardware and Plascon handed over a cheque to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital (NMCH) was the brainchild of Nelson Mandela, who believed sick children have specific needs and deserve their own care facility. It’s the tangible result of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust (NMCHT) mandate which involved raising R1bn to build a specialist paediatric hospital. The NMCH Trust, in addition to building a hospital, presented a project that put the healthcare needs of children at the forefront. Thanks to generous donors from around the world, ranging from corporations to ordinary citizens and children, as well as key strategic partners, construction began in 2014.
A PERFECT ENVIRONMENT
Construction was completed in 2016 and the hospital opened in phases, with the first patients being admitted in June 2017. The phased-in services started with radiology. Today the hospital offers a wide range of medical services, from neurology and cardiology to dentistry, occupational therapists and psychology.
So much more than just a hospital, it’s place where children themselves have played a role in its creation to ensure patients can feel at home. Facilities include private and public gardens, creative playdough-inspired seating, wallpaper designed from ‘doodles’, parent accommodation, student-designed ‘Symba Beds’ (cots with a difference) and fun wall murals designed to entertain and relax the children.
Colour plays a dominant role in the layout of the hospital as each section is identified by a different hue – not only making the hospital easy to navigate but providing the cheer that colour brings.
THE MICA PLASCON INITIATIVE
Mica and Plascon are both proudly South African Brands that recognise that Children are our future. These values align with those of the NMCH, and the marketing teams from Mica and Plascon put together a promotion to raise funds for the hospital to ensure the ongoing success of this iconic, world-renowned facility.
A 20L Africa-themed tin was designed for the promotion and the aim was to get 10 000 units into the market.
This represents two million metres2 of coverage which, as a point of reference, is enough to cover any one of the below:
• 300 soccer fields
• 3 Disneylands
• 5 Vatican Cities
• The City of Johannesburg (which is only 1,6 million sqm).
The special tin was designed to be repurposed, giving longevity to the promotion and a percentage of the sales of these 20L tins was donated to the NMCH. The promotion was an outstanding success and culminated in the handover of R300 000!
SERVING OUR CHILDREN
Ayabulela Poro, the communications and marketing specialist for the NMCH opened the event by welcoming guests and giving a brief history of the facility before handing over to CEO Dr Nonkululeko Boikhutso, who explained the facility was built by our people, for our children from around the continent. She explained the facility is a public/private facility open to all, no matter their economic circumstances. She thanked Plascon and Mica and ended with the hope that this was just the beginning of a long-term partnership.
Dr Stanley Maphosa, chief programme officer at the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund explained that the NMCH is an NPO and that with its unique private/public model is very reliant on fundraising. He said how happy he was that Mica and Plascon are now part of the family.
The considerable size of the donation earned Mica and Plascon ‘Globe Trotter’ status and a certificate confirming this status was handed over to them. Jaco Hattingh, managing director of Mica, explained the promotion and the significance of 200 000 litres of paint and then the cheque handover took place, after which visitors were treated to a tour of the facility.
