It’s a loved one who we have fought for and hoped would improve in health.
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There were times when it looked like the last rites were about to be given to Pambula Hospital but those who cared continued to advocate and battle for a better outcome.
We long ago accepted that this patient was no longer going to produce a baby but still we hoped for better health.
Today it is great to hear the prognosis that gives hope and comfort to those in the southern end of the shire and also to those visiting.
It’s not a cure but it’s certainly more than a band-aid.
The call for a nurse practitioner has been loud and strong and finally we are to get one at Pambula and not just for the holiday period. While it is admittedly a four-month trial, there is hope that it might continue.
There are more reasons why it might, over and above the desire of the community to have access to some basic emergency treatment.
At times, and particularly over the holidays, the South East Regional Hospital has seen its emergency department extremely busy.
It is well-known statistic that the majority of those visiting emergency departments are classed as triage 4 and 5 with non-life threatening injuries or ailments.
If a proportion of these patients are able to be cared for outside SERH and closer to their homes or holiday homes, the burden lessens on SERH freeing the hospital emergency staff to concentrate on the serious and life-threatening cases that may arrive by ambulance. It’s a win/win situation.
Relatively small sums of money have produced tremendous results with more to come in stage 2 as the much-used sub-acute ward is renovated and two much-needed palliative care rooms finished.
The advocates who have waged war, listened quietly, dealt with disappointment and returned to the table for discussions, are to be congratulated.
Without them the patient would most certainly have received the last rites by now.
And while these renovations and the appointment of a nurse practitioner is great news for the community, there is more work to be completed.
Save Our Hospital Inc want to see external work on the hospital plus an upgrade to the kitchen, “plus anything not achieved in stage 2”.
All worthwhile projects.