Felicity du Plessis, of Lady Michaelis Hospital in Plumstead, was first runner-up out of 12 nurses nominated for the Cecilia Makiwane Nurses’ Recognition Awards, held earlier this month to acknowledge the work of almost 13 000 provincial Health Department nurses.
Sister Du Plessis has been in nursing for 41 years. She grew up on a farm and watched her mother, a midwife, deliver many babies.
She started her nursing career as a student nurse at Groote Schuur Hospital and completed her nursing diploma in 1980.
After doing an ophthalmology diploma in 1985, she worked in Groote Schuur’s optical department.
Later she used her ophthalmologic expertise at the Lotus River day hospital, helping patients with eye
problems on scheduled days. She helped to train doctors and nurses at various facilities so the service could be expanded across the metro and also helped to establish a cataract surgery at the Eerste River Hospital.
She does meibomian cyst removals every Friday at Lady Michaelis and is very active in her own community, in
Kuils River, where she provides eye care screening, referrals and health education to the elderly.
