Spotlight shines

Spotlight Warrnambool’s Sheree King (left) and Sheree Rentsch give Community Partnerships Manager Suzan Morey their store’s $5,470 donation for SWH’s $64,000 Cancer Lymph Node Detector Appeal.
The Good Guys’ Jason Morley also put a very generous gift under SWH’s Christmas tree.
General
Thursday, December 08, 2011
The hard work of Warrnambool Spotlight staff wanting to help local people beat cancer has seen to a significant donation.

The $5,470 raised via their 2011 Annual Student Design Awards means South West Healthcare is now at the half-way mark of its $64,000 Cancer Lymph Node Detector Appeal. 

Used to detect the spread of breast cancer and melanoma, this piece of high-tech medical equipment identifies potentially cancerous lymph nodes, which saves patients having to undergo unnecessary radical surgery. It enables surgeons to remove the least amount of tissue necessary, when removing the cancer. 

This more-sophisticated detector will replace a 2005 model which, impressively, has helped surgeons track the cancer of more than 150 local people. 

The appeal was launched mid-November with a $7,240 gift from Reid Langdon and a $4,155 gift from the Warrnambool and District Breast Cancer Support Group. The Christmas-time $5,470 Spotlight donation and a $1,017.15 donation from Warrnambool’s The Good Guys means the appeal now sits at $32,708. Just $31,292 to go! 

The next significant fundraiser for this cause is Alison’s of Warrnambool’s always-sold-out fashion parade, in the lead-up to the city’s May Races. For more information on this Sunday April-1 affair call Alison’s on 5560 5854. 

On top of this appeal, SWH is also currently fundraising to buy the following medical equipment for our new $115M Warrnambool Base Hospital: 

  • A pair of Paediatric Unit Vital Signs Monitors. Worth $17,850, $15,105 is still needed. 
  • A patient hoist to be shared between the Short Stay and Acute Units. Worth $8,000, $7,000 is still needed.

Since the success of the hospital’s $3.5M Medical Equipment Appeal in September, the never-ending generosity of SWH’s donors, supporters and sponsors has allowed for the funding of the following: 

  • Our first-ever Emergency Department Video Conferencing Equipment – courtesy of an $11,200 gift from the Aussie Farmers Foundation. This initiative will provide video link-up between our Warrnambool Emergency Department and trauma specialists at the Alfred, Royal Melbourne and Royal Children's hospitals via our Rural Critical Care Support Project. 
  • Our first-ever Emergency Department Digital Macroview Otoscope ($1,045). 
  • Our first- ever Dialysis Unit Defibrillator ($6,623). 
  • Another Electric Bed ($5,000). 
  • Our 2010 AEW Matthews Memorial Travelling Scholarship – courtesy of a $10,000 gift from the AL Lane Foundation. This enables SWH Emergency Nurse Practitioner Kate Sloan to attend an international NP conference and site-visit Emergency Departments in Europe and the UK in 2011. 
  • A year of Delta Therapy Dog visits for Palliative Care/Medical Unit patients – courtesy of the South West Region Chevrolet Car Club ($500). 
  • A year of Delta Therapy Dog visits for Paediatric Unit patients – courtesy of Warrnambool’s St Pius X School community ($500). 
  • The establishment of Cyber Youth – a self-esteem initiative of our Mental Health Services, Aspire, WRAD and Quamby House for 18–25 year olds from Warrnambool, Camperdown, Hamilton and Portland to meet online and attend an outdoor camp. WDEA gifted $10,000 and State Trustees gifted $5,000 to make this happen.