Ruresa Award winners
RuReSA Awards for the Rural Rehab excellence
We aimed to inspire people to contribute to rural rehabilitation, create awareness of excellence in rural rehabilitation practice provide opportunity for the nominee to share their rural rehabilitation knowledge and skills. In 2014 we created an
Award that could be given to anyone working in rehabilitation and being
an inspiration to others, RuReSA Award for the Best Rehabilitation Worker of the Year. The Award was inaugurated at the Rural Health Conference, September 2014. In 2023 we specified this Award to be open to any "non" therapist, or organisation, working to improve rehabilitation services in rural areas, as we now offered a new Award RuReSA Award for the Best Therapist of the Year specifically for therapists.
RuReSA Award for the Therapist of the Year 2025 Sarah Wilkins Eastern Cape
Sarah Wilkins. Since 2018, Sarah has served as the sole speech-language therapist at Madwaleni Hospital, but her influence reaches far beyond her scope. She has stepped up to lead the rehabilitation department, pioneered sustainable, community-rooted programmes, and strengthened interdisciplinary collaboration across the hospital.Her commitment extends into the community through the where she has co-founded and led impactful initiatives such as the Qhawekazi Breastfeeding Mentor Project First Thousand Days programme and an innovative early literacy network that now supports over 120 ECD centres. She even established a hospital children’s library to promote a culture of reading, starting from a single shelf Sarah exemplifies rural healthcare excellence — visionary yet grounded, compassionate yet strategic, and always dedicated to lifting others up. Her leadership has brought hope, systems change, and meaningful development to the Madwaleni catchment. It is for these reasons that we honour her as the 2025 Rural Therapist of the Year.
RuReSA Award for the Rehab Worker of the Year 2025 Gelukspan Speech & Audiology Team North West
The award is shared by two outstanding community service officers at Gelukspan District Hospital: Boitumelo Sekoena, a speech-language therapist and UCT graduate, and Susan-Jane “Tshenolo” Visser, an audiologist from the University of Pretoria. Both entered rural practice with nothing more than a reclaimed office space, a few pieces of furniture, and their determination to make a difference. With energy and creativity, they built speech-language therapy and audiology services from the ground up—designing referral systems, creating health education materials, and conducting ward-based screenings. Susan-Jane steadily grew audiology services from health talks and otoscopy to full diagnostic testing with tympanometry and ABR, while Boitumelo focused on early intervention in the neonatal unit, kangaroo care, breastfeeding support, and language stimulation for high-risk babies. Together, they extended services to children with cerebral palsy, developmental delays, and autism spectrum disorder, ensuring families received practical, hands-on support.Their work has already reached schools, preschools, and the wider community through outreach and awareness campaigns, youth engagement, and multidisciplinary teamwork. Despite limited resources and daily barriers, their passion and commitment have transformed access to care for vulnerable children and adults in their district.
RuReSA Award for the Therapist of the Year 2024 Mireo Ralivhesa Limpopo
Mireo was nominated for this award by Gillian Saloojee. What sets Mireo Ralivhesa apart from many rural therapists is that he lives and serves the rural community where he grew up - Matangari, Tshitakani in northern Limpopo. He completed his schooling at Thengwe High School, after which he studied occupational therapy at the University of Limpopo, graduating in 2009. Mireo returned home to his village and completed his community service year at his local hospital, Donald Fraser, and this is where he is still working today. He is a popular and well-loved member of the Donald Fraser Rehabilitation team. Being part of the community that he serves means he is well known in the area, and more importantly, he knows his clients, especially those with lifelong disabilities. He knows where they live, who their families are, as well as their social connections. Mireo is quite spoken and humble and is a role model for young rural therapists. In the words of one of Mireo’s co-workers “Mireo is a very hard worker, it is not unusual for him to work late if there are patients who are waiting. He will not leave until he is satisfied that everyone has been seen. He has a heart for his work, he loves the children and the children and the parents love him.” He has started a day care centre for children near his home in the village, and it is an inclusive day care centre for children with disabilities. He and his family and friends find the funds each month to cover all the costs. Mireo also serves on several committees in the hospital. Earlier this year, he was the Project Manager for the Vhembe District Buggy Revamp Project which with the help of the Dion Herson Boikanyo Foundation aimed to reduce the backlog of buggies in the Vhembe district to zero. Mireo is a humble man, committed to his community and to service.
Katy was nominated by the staff at Madwaleni Hospital, Eastern Cape, for her deep commitment to serving the hospital and its surrounding community since 2013. While Katy’s husband (Dr Andrew Miller) is both the clinical manager of Madwaleni Hospital and previous recipient of the RuDASA rural doctor of the year award, he often shares that they would not be at Madwaleni Hospital were it not for Katy’s dream of living and working at a rural hospital. At Madwaleni she developed a rehabilitation ward and Block System for cerebral palsy, she also set up an NPO, Layita, which would not only support hospital services including employing three rehabilitation translator assistants but with a vision to bring hope and positive change and to see the rural community around the hospital thrive. Click image for her story
Click image for his story
Mpho was nominated by the OT team at
Tintswalo Hospital, Mpumalanga. Initially they were working with him as
an out patient but recognised he was an unusually motivated, reliable,
and skilled young man involved in shoe repairs, gardening and the car
wash project. Mpho never got the opportunity to complete his Matric due
to his illness but this never deterred his ambition to improve his life
circumstances.
Click image for his story
Adri Cronje is an occupational therapist who has remained at Manguzi hospital since 2006. She has single handedly dragged CP services from a 1 star to a 4 star service over the years. Therefore she is a firm favourite with the mothers and children and always goes the extra mile, often fundraising to try and secure safe housing or food parcels where welfare has failed. Adri is passionate about hands, and through her own initiative managed to entice a hand specialist surgeon to provide monthly outreach services (including some surgeries) from the central urban hospital to Manguzi, saving patients a lot of money and improving hand outcomes exponentially. This is the first ever rural hands specialist clinic that we are aware of, and she and the surgeon have presented on national and international platforms. Adri also took it upon herself to travel to the tertiary hospital, 300 km away, and learn the Ponsetti method, to save mothers a weekly 3 day round trip. After applying what she had learned, she was contacted by the Steps foundation and this enabled a further 2 colleagues to be trained in Ponsetti. Today the rehab team, in conjunction with the medical manager, provides the majority of all Ponsetti services- including the tenotomies- at Manguzi hospital. Adri’s clinical excellence, hard work and dedication have made Manguzi's occupational therapy services really exceptional.
From 2010-2019 she worked as Programme Manager for Rehabilitation, Precious
is currently working in the uMgungundlovu Health District as Programme
Manager for Rehabilitation, Disability, Mental Health, Non-communicable
diseases and Oral Health Services. She also works with the uMsunduzi
Mayor on the rehabilitation of street children. Precious is a kind,
bubbly, hard-working therapist.
"Undine is a fluent SeTswana speaker, highly regarded among the disabled and general community in Mafikeng where she lives, and is known to everyone as ‘Mmatumelo’ (mother of faith). I know Undine Rauter both professionally and personally. In my 20 years of experience in rehabilitation in SA, including working in rural areas and government services, I have not met another rehabilitation worker who has committed them self as completely, and has so effectively uplifted, supported and inspired rural disabled people." Read her Story
"Having worked closely with Thandi for the
last four years, and having seen her passion and commitment to the team
and the community, I have no doubt that Thandi Conradie deserves this
award, and I am certain you will find many rehab therapists in our
hospital and our surrounding hospitals who would easily agree. She is a
shining example of someone who has been faithful to her commitments
here, and has served the community with all the passion, energy, wisdom
and skill she has to offer." Read her story
You know you have a special nominee when the nomination form is from a doctor; and you see the words "volunteer therapist" who is named Nosiqhamo by the local community. Elin Hem Stenersen from Norway works in the Canzibe area of Eastern Cape. Read her story - we are happy to say Elin did get her wish for therapists to join Canzibe in 2018!
Click here for full story
RuReSA is proud to recognise the "brave and daring heart" of Dr Pam McLaren for her commitment to social justice for people with disabilities through the development of community based rehabilitation services and policy; and challenging therapists to recognise and share the ethos and ethics of community based rehabilitation.
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The first recipient was The 2014 Award to Jabu Ndlovu , occupational therapist from Manguzi Hospital, KZN. Jabu is one of those rare people who loves working in mental health, and is an amazing rehab mentor.
Click image for her story
Criteria for nomination
Nominations should be accompanied by details of the nominee, including his/her place of work and contact details, as well as a clear motivation as to why the nominee should be considered for the award. Nominators should also provide all their contact details in case more information is required. Please note that current members of the RuReSA EXCO are not eligible for nomination.
- Due date for nominations is: 30 June annually
- Click here to submit an online nomination.