Community Life Center (CLC)
The CLC platform aims to turn a health facility into a community hub, where technology is bundled with an integrated service package and community empowerment interventions. Philips South Africa, Philips Lighting South Africa and Rhiza Foundation are collaborating to offer solar power (for a clean and reliable energy supply), efficient and durable indoor and outdoor LED-lighting (enabling extended opening hours and providing a safe playground and football field for the community), healthcare equipment (to enable patient monitoring, diagnosis and triage), and refrigeration (blood storage). In addition to providing healthcare equipment at the facility, Philips has also supplied an Outreach Kit to the center to allow community health volunteers to extend basic health services into the community.
To encourage local entrepreneurship and to maximize utilization of the solar powered LED lighting, the CLC will include a barbershop at the back of the facility, and also power 8-solar LED light poles in an adjacent football field for children in the community to play at night and encourage social and economic development; at the same time, by operating off the grid, it is anticipated that the CLC should be able to reduce operating costs by 80%.
“I am delighted that we have launched our first CLC in South Africa. Through the Philips Community Life Center platform, we have introduced a new value delivery model. We believe that the CLC will not only deliver essential access to quality healthcare, but will also have a positive social impact to the community,” says Jasper Westerink, CEO, Philips Africa. “To ensure the sustainability of the operation, in addition to Philips healthcare equipment, our support will include training, maintenance and remote monitoring, paired with the experience that Philips has with public-private partnerships.”
“The collaboration supports our collective responsibility to make a difference in the lives of South African citizens and we are extremely pleased to extend the day for the Diepsloot community using the power of the sun and creating opportunities for social, sporting and economic activities in the evening through the installation of our new generation of energy efficient solar powered LED lighting” says Reggie Nxumalo, General Manager, Philips Lighting Southern Africa.
The original mobile “Health clinic on wheels” will now start operations in Cosmo City with the aim of providing the community with similar intended benefits through the access to quality healthcare, with a particular emphasis on maternal screening to allow for early detection of complications, as well as dental care.
“Our second collaboration with Philips in Diepsloot is another exciting milestone for us that will continue to build on the significant health outcomes that we have seen come out of the mobile health clinic,“ concluded Alef Meulenberg, Chairman of Rhiza Babuyile.
For more information about the CLC platform please watch : video 1 / video 2