The NexGen Training Academy is an organisation with a mission to bridge healthcare gaps in rural areas by deploying trained community health workers to the three local clinics in Kariega that provide service to over 800 people a day. These clinics are understaffed, with regard to community health workers, and cleaners. NexGen addresses identified needs through practical training, which empowers participants to support these clinics.
The participants provide critical structure and are able to carry out vital tests which lessen the load on nurses and doctors, meaning more people can be treated effectively.
They also deliver chronic medication to homes to ensure adherence, and ultimately enhance healthcare access and knowledge. The young man who founded the academy, Adrian Wagener, holds a qualification in marketing, health care, first aid, HIV/AIDS lay counselling, learning management systems (LMS), and is also an assessor.
He has worked in various professional capacities and is well-known for his flamboyant personality, punctuality, and his positive perspective of life. “I’ve worked in the health field as a nursing assistant for many years; I worked
at a provincial hospital in 2012 where I did my practical, and then worked at Aurora Rehabilitation Hospital as a nursing assistant,” he said. Last year he collaborated with Citizen Connect as a project partner under the Social Economic Fund, the Greater Stellenbosch Trust and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, where he employed 15 community members. He also recently visited the Kouga area to upskill the community healthcare workers alongside the Sakhe Family Care Development Centre. “The plan is to reach every community in the Eastern Cape. Where there are people, there is work to be done. I have no doubt this collaborative work will yield fruitful results in the long run, but we, especially the youth, need to work hard,” he said.
Wagener is also known for his motivational speaking skills, and has a passion for community and the welfare of his fellow youth. “I worked as a Youth Against Drug Abuse (YADA) facilitator in collaboration with social development, I want to see more young people developing themselves, despite their circumstances. At NexGen, we always ensure that our students are mentally healthy to be academically excellent,” he said.
In 2022, the UD Express reported that Wagener released his first book titled, The Life of a Self-made Hard Worker, where in a 36-page soft cover book, he told the story of a boy (himself) born in Kariega in 1992, who went through seemingly insurmountable challenges of life, including sexual abuse at an early age, but he never lost hope.
He has never let anything stunt his growth, and now, Wagener is paying it forward. “The greatest characters and strongest persons are those allowing themselves to mourn and to feel. To forgive is to stop blaming. The weak cannot forgive; forgiveness is the attribute of strong people,” Wagener concluded.
