Our donors are the best!

To the tune of $175,279, the generosity of donors over the past nine months has allowed South West Healthcare to buy, and do, the most amazing things for the community.

Everything from financing international research and a choir’s CD to paying for never-before owned state-of-the-art medical equipment is the result of dozens of groups and hundreds of individuals wanting to make their local health services the best.

Latest donations include:

• The Laang Hall Ladies Committee (thumbnail) has gifted the $2,000 proceeds of its catering from the recent world shooting titles to allow for the establishment of the Joan Cockayne Scholarship. This tremendous initiative, in memory of Joan – a close friend of theirs and a tremendous supporter of our Palliative Care Unit – will help further educate PCU nurses and volunteers.

• Camperdown’s Relic Restorations and Fuelers Hot Rod Custom Club (photo 1) has gifted all but $198 of the $6,900 needed to buy their town’s newborns a Bili Blanket – a phototherapy system for treating jaundice. Our Camperdown & District Hospital Auxiliary paid the $198.

• The Chevrolet Car Club of Victoria – South West Region (photo 2) has gifted the $1,500 proceeds of its latest SHOW US YOUR WHEELS event to help buy our first-ever Orthotics Software System. (Since 2005 this club has donated $5,600 to SWH.) The remainder of the $2,162 Podiatry Unit acquisition was raised with the help of Sophie Holman (pictured), SWH’s 2009 Duke of Edinburgh Award participant.

• The Warrnambool & District Ostomy Association (photo 3) has gifted $7,879 to pay outright for a desperately-needed new photocopier for our Warrnambool Community Health office.

Here’s more of the things our donors and fundraising have paid for this financial year:

Our 1st (skin grafting) Dermatome Machine for the region’s cancer and burns patients – $32,000

Our 1st donation to our public appeal for the establishment of Merindah Lodge’s 1st Palliative Care Suite – $39,285

Our 1st Stroke-Specific Patient Lifter for our Stroke Unit – $15,715

Our 1st Detachable Upper Limb Model for educating our Occupational Therapy Unit clients about the anatomy of their upper arms, post-surgery – $1,760

Our 1st Cough Assist (stimulator) for free loan to the region’s profoundly ill children via our SW Equipment Library (SWEL) – $8,500

Our 1st five Care Alerts for our at-home Warrnambool Palliative Care clients – $1,520

Our 1st Hemocue for our Warrnambool Emergency Department – $1,613

Our 1st Demonstrator Head Wear Kit for our Oncology Unit – $230

Our 1st DVD/TV & Headphone System for two of our Warrnambool Emergency Department treatment cubicles – $1,442

Artwork for our Warrnambool hospital Transit Lounge – $645

A Photographic System for the more cost-effective production of our Annual Reports – $1,060

Two Syringe Drivers, three Pressure-Reducing Air Mattresses and one Oxygen Concentrator for our at-home Warrnambool Palliative Care clients – $20,250

Two Atama (recliner) Chairs and a Lift Chair for our Warrnambool Palliative Care Unit patients – $4,755

A Portable Capnography Machine (CO2 analyser) for our Critical Care Unit – $9,000

Children’s Games for our Warrnambool Paediatric Unit – $255

The production of STARbeat’s 1st CD (our Psychiatric Services’ brilliant choir initiative) - $1,000

The 2009 SWH AEW Matthews Memorial Travelling Scholarship for our Primary Mental Health Team Leader Catriona Campbell to attend the 10th International Forum on Mood & Anxiety Disorders in Vienna and the 2010 Primary Care Live and Nurse Clinic Conferences in London – $7,500

An Apnoea Alarm for our Warrnambool Midwifery Unit – $2,000

Six Electronic Thermometers for our Hospital in the Home (HITH) service – $2,013

A Pulse Oximeter for our Stroke Unit – $1,000

Three Pulse Oximeters for our Warrnambool Acute Care Unit – $3,000

A Tub Chair for our aged care facility, Merindah Lodge - $1,795

Thumbnail Laang Hall Committee representatives Aileen Cook, Edna Johnstone and Ron Cook hand a $2,000 donation to SWH’s Bev King (second left) to establish a palliative care-specific scholarship in memory of Joan Cockayne.

photo 1 Arthur Bruce (middle) checks out the $6,900 Bili Blanket (phototherapy system) he and his fantastic 2009 Relic Restorations and Fuelers Hot Rod Custom Club rally committee raised $6,702 for. The final $198 donation to end the appeal came from our terrific Camperdown & District Hospital Auxiliary. Pictured here with Arthur is SWH Acute Ward nurse Lauren Hart, Adam and Jodie Narik and baby Matilda. Photo courtesy of The Chronicle.

photo 2 The Chevrolet Car Club’s Geoff Allan and Royce Carey (right) hand SWH Duke of Edinburgh Award participant Sophie Holman their donation to help buy a $2,162 Orthotics Software System she volunteered to help raise the money for.

photo 3 Warrnambool Community Health Executive Assistant Michelle Malone shows the Warrnambool & District Ostomy Association’s Gwen Grayson and Ray Hoy what their donation has paid for.