OUR HISTORY

Karin is an experienced Occupational Therapist who qualified in 1978 from the University of Pretoria. Her interest and expertise have always been in the field of paediatrics. Throughout her career, Karin has worked extensively with most types of special needs/disabilities. She has also been involved in student training at the University of Pretoria.

During her many years in private practice, Karin has been exposed to multi-disciplinary work, management and the general running and maintenance of a practice. She also has extensive experience in the handling, education and counselling of the parents/families of the children she has treated.

Hannie started her nursing career with the completion of her basic nursing training at JG Strijdom Hospital in 1980, followed by Midwifery at Mowbray Maternity Hospital, Cape Town in 1982. In 1984 Hannie returned to Pretoria to study Community Health Nursing at the Pretoria Technicon. She completed her B.Cur degree at the University of Pretoria and obtained a Primary Health Care Diploma at Kalafong/University of Pretoria, both during 1988. Interspersed were stings at the Department of Health doing Family Planning, Occupational Health at the Hyperama and finally worked for 28 years at the City of Tshwane as a Primary Health Care Nurse involved with chronic health, HIV, immunization, acute illnesses, PMTCT, mother and child wellness and antenatal care. She is involved with CANSA doing screenings and also works from home as a Foot Health Practitioner. Hannie joined the BTC Day Care team in March 2019.

Margot completed her training as a General Nurse, Midwife, Psychiatric Nurse and Community Health Nurse in Pretoria, Gauteng. On completion of her training, she started her career in a private care for three years followed by a year working in a hospital in Beru, Switzerland.

In 1979 Margot started her career as a Community Health Nurse in Klerksdorp where she worked for two years. She then went on to serve the community for thirty-four years working as a nurse for the City of Tshwane.

On retirement, Margot started doing contract work for CANSA as well as working for BTC on a part-time basis.

Patricia started working at Chrysalis Preschool (a school for special needs children from three to twelve years old) as a Facilitator in 2009. During that year she completed the HAMBISELA course that teaches positioning, feeding, massaging and exercising children with Cerebral Palsy. Patricia joined the BTC Day Care team in October 2010. She completed courses in PEG- and MIC-Key tube feeding and the maintenance of the MIC-Key tube in 2015. During 2017 she also completed the Tiny Handz course that teaches South African sign language to parents, caregivers and therapists who are involved with the care of toddlers and young children within the special needs spectrum. She is also CPR/First Aid trained and completed a Fire Fighting course. Patricia’s experience and knowledge in caring for and handling special needs babies expands daily by working closely with the therapists and her fellow Day Care staff.

Veio worked as a Facilitator for a family with Cerebral Palsy child from 2004 to 2006. Taking care of the child entailed accompanying him to hospital, taking care of his MIC-Key feeding tube, NUB Oxygen and applying regular brain-gym massaging. Veio started working at BTC in January 2007 as a Day Care Assistant. During 2009 she completed the HAMBISELA course that teaches positioning, feeding, massaging and exercising children with Cerebral Palsy. She completed her training in caring and handling MIC-Key feeding tubes, PEG feeding tubes and Naso-gastric tubes. During 2017 Veio also completed the Tiny Handz courses which teaches South African sign language to parents, caregivers and therapists involved with toddlers and young children within the special needs spectrum. She is also trained in CPR and has attended a First Aid course. Veio’s experience in handling and caring from children with special needs broadens daily by working closely with the BTC therapist and her fellow Day Care staff.

Janine obtained her Dietetics degree (Cum Laude) from the North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus in 2004. After working for a few years in Leratong and Kalafong Hospital as a community service and junior dietician, she started her private practice in 2008 with a special interest in paediatric nutrition. She currently consults at BTC as well as the Pretoria Centre for Cerebral Palsy (PCCP) at Life Groenkloof Hospital. Janine has also been involved as an external marker and e-Tutor for the past ten years at Unisa’s Department of Life and Consumer Sciences and has completed the eighteen-hour UNICEF breastfeeding course.

Hermi completed her BMus Degree at the University of Pretoria in 2013; specialising in flute, music education and Music Therapy. Thereafter she completed her Masters Degree in Music Therapy at the University of Pretoria. In partial fulfillment for the Masters Degree in Music Therapy, she completed a 1000 hours of clinical internships at various institutions such as Weskoppies Psychiatric Hospital, Mohau Centre for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS, Unica School for Autism, Little Eden Rota Village, Eersterust Welfare Organisation for the Aged, and the Paediatric Oncology unit at Steve Biko Academic Hospital. Currently, Hermi runs music therapy groups for young offenders at the Teddy Bear Clinic for abused children and group music therapy at Boys and Girls Town for youth at risk. She also has her own practice in Faerie Glen and Centurion in Pretoria. She teaches private flute and piano lessons part-time in Silver Lakes and performs as often as possible.

Sajida obtained her Bachelors’ degree in Occupational Therapy at the University of Pretoria in 2015. After completing her community service at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital, she continued to work for the Gauteng Department of Health, at Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital for three years.

She has completed training in Prechtl’s General Movement Assessment (GMA) in preterm, term and young infants, as well as on neurodevelopmental supportive care of the preterm infant. She has also completed ‘Hands-on Autism’ training with Autism South Africa. She has clinical experience in paediatric seating and has completed a professional wheelchair service delivery course with the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre. She has attended many short courses to improve her skill in paediatric rehabilitation and continues to build on her knowledge and expertise.

Sajida has a special interest in early childhood intervention and enjoys working with children with a variety of conditions to promote function and development.  She is passionate about helping children develop the necessary skills for the job of life.

Suné obtained her Bachelors in Occupational Therapy in 2015 from the University of Pretoria. She completed her community service at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital after which she stayed on as a production level Occupational Therapist for two years. Sune’ has completed the introductory Cerebral Palsy assessment and treatment course presented by SANDTA as well a course in the neurodevelopmental supportive care of the pre-term infant.

Lizl qualified from Stellenbosch University in 1999 with a B.Sc. Physiotherapy degree. She worked in England from 2000-2006, mostly in the field of Adult Neurology in various settings in the National Health Service (NHS) – hospital and community-based. She returned to South Africa at the end of 2006 and started working in Paediatric Neurology, with a specific interest in ECI. Lizl is NDT trained and has completed her Advanced NDT certification in the early detection and treatment of cerebral motor disturbances in babies. She is certified in Prechtl’s Method on the Qualitative Assessment of General Movements in preterm, term and young infants (GMA) which is used for early detection of neurological anomalies and developmental deficits in later life. Lizl enjoys working in a multidisciplinary setting and is passionate about equipping parents to understand and participate in their baby’s development to allow babies to flourish to their full potential.

Pulane qualified as a physiotherapist at the University of Cape Town in 2018. She completed her community service in the Xhariep District working at Embekweni District Hospital and the surrounding clinics. She joined the Baby Therapy Centre shortly after completion of her community service.

Pulane has a special interest in infants and young children with movement and developmental problems. She plans to do a five-day Cerebral Palsy course under Malamulele Onward organisation in July 2020.

Mehnaaz qualified with a B.Communication Pathology: Speech, Language Therapy and Audiology degree from the University of Pretoria in 2006. She worked for the Gauteng Department of Health for eight years before joining the BTC team in 2015. Mehnaaz has a special interest in babies and young children with feeding, vision and neurological impairments. She has completed the Pediatric Neuro-Developmental (NDT) course as well as the advanced baby NDT course. Mehnaaz is certified in Newborn Behavior Observations (NBO) and has completed the PROMPT-course up to the bridging level. She is also Tiny Handz trained and is currently studying towards an MSc Med Child Health: Neurodevelopment Masters at the University of Witwatersrand.