The Discovery COVID-19 podcast

Professor Salome Maswime: “Getting vaccinated gave me a sense of hope”

Professor Salome Maswime shares the profound sense of relief and hope that being vaccinated against COVID-19 brought to her and to her parents. And, she reminds us to do all we can to help our elderly loved ones and older people in our communities to access their vaccines.

30 Jul 2021 10 min

Dr Illana Links: “We healthcare workers were so burnt out. However, the vaccine was sign of hope”

Dr Illana Links, a psychiatric registrar at Dora Nginza Hospital in Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth), was one among the first, of the country’s COVID-19 frontline doctors, to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in February this year. She tells us what having her vaccine has meant to her, and shares…

27 Jul 2021 13 min

Dr Despina Demopoulos: “The COVID-19 vaccine is the way to go”

Dr Despina Demopoulos, a paediatric intensivist and head of the paediatric ICU at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Johannesburg, shares the way in which COVID-19 vaccines have brought hope and kept many doctors and healthcare workers going through the very tough experience of the pandemic. She adds: “Don’t…

27 Jul 2021 9 min

Dr Khatija Kadwa: “Choosing to be vaccinated means choosing to protect those who are vulnerable in our communities"

Specialist obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Khatija Kadwa says the best way to fight the COVID-19 pandemic is through sticking to the preventive habits that limit our exposure risk and having our COVID-19 vaccine. She shares how the pandemic has changed her life and what being vaccinated in February meant to…

27 Jul 2021 9 min

Professor Brian Allwood: “People ask me if the vaccine is safe, and my answer is that I’ve had it."

Professor Brian Allwood says having a COVID-19 vaccine is an important step for all South Africans to take in the collective fight against the pandemic. For him, being vaccinated felt like he was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after a year at the coalface, spent treating very…

22 Jul 2021 6 min

Professor Mosa Moshabela: “COVID-19 vaccines are safe, and will help us to get back to a degree of normality”

Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Mosa Moshabela led the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) COVID-19 response. A chance trip to Singapore in February 2020 gave him early insight into the impact that COVID-19 could have on a city and its people and allowed him to return to…

22 Jul 2021 14 min

Professor Liesl Zühlke: “COVID-19 vaccines show us what science can do”

Professor Liesl Zühlke had her COVID-19 vaccine on 26 February at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. She shares her experience of the pandemic and encourages all of us to have our vaccine as soon as we are eligible.

22 Jul 2021 10 min

Dr Sumy Thomas: “COVID-19 vaccines save lives”

Dr Sumy Thomas says that for the elderly and for people who live with chronic illnesses, COVID-19 is “a matter of life and death”. She explains the benefits of COVID-19 vaccines and encourages everyone, especially the elderly, to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

22 Jul 2021 11 min

Dr Fikile Mabena: “We can’t be vaccinated against COVID-19 vaccine soon enough”

Paediatrician and infectious disease specialist, Dr Fikile Mabena, shares her experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, and encourages all South Africans to help our elderly family members, friends and colleagues to register for and get vaccinated.

22 Jul 2021 6 min

5 ways to cultivate compassionate leadership in turbulent times

In our dramatically changed world, mental health is not the private space it once may have been for leaders and employees. The pressures brought to bear by the Covid-19 pandemic have meant an increase in stress, anxiety and mental illnesses across the spectrum, for people the world over. The world…

5 Nov 2020 8 min

Opening special needs schools safely in the context of COVID-19

Ilana Gerschlowitz is director of the Star Academy, which caters for the education needs of children on the autism spectrum or with a related disorder. She is also the author of a book called “Saving my sons - a journey with autism”. In her latest podcast, she shares key insights…

22 Sep 2020 13 min

Dr Colinda Linde’s top advice for employers and employees managing the return to the workplace

In her latest podcast for Discovery, Clinical Psychologist Dr Colinda Linde speaks to employers and employees about dealing with the very real fears, anxieties and discomfort people have around returning to the workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. How does a leaders’s anxiety filter down to employees? And how do feelings…

4 Aug 2020 15 min

Top tips: Dr Odette Volmink on keeping high-risk household employees and family members safe during COVID-19

One of the groups that’s been economically hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic is the roughly 1.2 million household employees who work in South Africa. These employees have eagerly anticipated their return to work and their employers have looked to welcome them back. However, the pandemic has resulted in anxiety…

28 Jul 2020 30 min

Discovery sends Pulse Oximeter to high-risk 74-year old assisting in his COVID-19 recovery journey

Multiple members of Dewald Wentzel’s immediate family who live on the same property – including his 74-year-old father – contracted COVID-19 within days of each other. As a trained paramedic, Dewald knew that a pulse oximeter was critical to monitoring the seriousness of his father’s symptoms while he recovered at…

28 Jul 2020 6 min

Manage your COVID-19 re-entry anxiety

When COVID-19 lockdown was first instituted it might have felt unfathomable to stay at home almost 24-7. Now despite the easing of alert levels, for some of us it may feel strange and nerve-wracking to do anything but stay at home. Psychotherapist Louisa Niehaus explains why we may be feeling…

28 Jul 2020 11 min

Make sense of your feelings of suffering

Clinical psychologist Dessy Tzoneva says it’s impossible to deny that being human comes with many limitations. People we love can become ill and die. We might suffer illness or serious injury. Across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought these realities to the fore for us all, also acting as…

26 Jun 2020 11 min

“Inside COVID-19” BizNews: Alec Hogg explores private primary healthcare for household employees for R249 per month

Around 1.2 million people work as employees in private households in South Africa. These individuals provide an invaluable service in their roles as domestic workers, gardeners, drivers and caregivers. COVID-19 restrictions have eased, and household employees are returning to work. However, both employers and employees share concerns around the health…

25 Jun 2020 12 min

Are COVID-19-related pressures burning out your people?

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought massive uncertainty to South African and global businesses. Psychologist James Gower says that up to 80% of employees – especially those working remotely – feel the need to prove to that they are working hard. With fear of retrenchment looming large for many employees, people…

25 Jun 2020 13 min

Must-know tips – bring employees back to work during COVID-19 and maintain their mental and physical health

This podcast is a must-listen for business owners navigating the uncertainty around bringing employees safely back to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Tshidi Gule – employee wellness specialist and Chief Medical Officer of the MLI Group – says that while COVID-19 has disrupted life on every level, the show…

24 Jun 2020 23 min

Tools for healthcare professionals to cope with the stresses of COVID-19

Medicine is a stressful profession under normal circumstances. Medical personnel are even more at risk of burnout so under crisis conditions such as during a pandemic. Psychotherapist Louisa Niehaus, looks at how healthcare professionals can cope during the time of extreme anxiety and uncertainty brought by COVID-19. This is a…

12 Jun 2020 12 min