The Week that Was
Our Club co-hosted with ONE New Level 4 Eurobodalla Regional Hospital Advocates a well-attended Q & A panel discussion on the new hospital by five key people at Narooma Golf Club last Tuesday. Over 120 people were present.
The panel consisted of Member for Bega Dr Michael Holland, Southern NSW Health Director Intensive Care Services Dr Stuart Stapleton, Southern NSW Health District General Manager Brad Scotcher and Corporate Services and Projects General Manager Sarah Galton, and Eurobodalla Mayor Matt Hatcher. COORDINARE’s Terry Hill was MC. Questions were requested two weeks before.
The Eurobodalla Regional Hospital will be a Level 4 health facility including an emergency department, an eight-bed Intensive Care/Close Observation Unit, local Radiotherapy Services, increased capacity for chemotherapy, access to renal dialysis and maternity, and a higher level of palliative care services (both hospital dedicated beds and community palliative care). There will be room on site for future expansion of services.
Dr Stapleton stressed the importance of having Level 4 Emergency Services in the new hospital; that will save lives by having greater capacity here to deal with emergencies removing the need to transport to higher level services outside the Eurobodalla. He and Dr Holland explained we cannot have a Level 4 hospital if an emergency unit is kept at Batemans Bay Hospital. It was acknowledged that the Moruya Bypass is an important future development to reduce travel times from the shire’s north, but the funds to construct it are not yet available.
Re staffing: Staff education and trainingup to Level 4 standards is already underway with existing staff, including GP specialists in anaesthetics, maternity, paediatrics and mental health. Southern Health is also recruiting staff with intensive care backgrounds and looking overseas for more nurses and midwives. Dr Holland mentioned NSW Government funded scholarships in nursing and allied health fields.
The challenge of accommodating staff for the new hospital was raised. Some accommodation for on-call staff will be provided at the new hospital. Matt Hatcher said social and affordable housing was a council priority, including making land available for development. Council hopes to get NSW Government funding to assist.
It was also good to see eight members of the Carers Accommodation Eurobodalla Regional Hospital (CAERH) project at the meeting as well as Rohan and Pauline Gleeson from Moruya Rotary. Col Jaye spoke about CAERH, community fundraising to build it including via the EV car raffle, and sold some tickets. Our Club still has tickets to sell – please see Julie and David.
Our Club received accolades for co-hosting from ONE’s Fitzroy Boulting, who especially mentioned President Lynn, VP David, Chris O’Brien and Ange Ulrichsen.
THIS WEEK
Monday 6 May: Board Meeting 4.30pm Narooma Golf Club
Thursday 9 May: Club Assembly – 6 for 6.30 at Narooma Golf Club
Out and About
News from Lachie in Japan
Our Youth Exchange student Lachie Penglase continues to ‘live it large’ with numerous visits in and around Japan, including Maibara, and visiting numerous towns resplendent in cherry blossoms. Lachie finishes with his first host family and will move to his second host family shortly. Lachie is doing a few new subjects at school in Japan, including Japanese History and Art.
When Lachie visits various Rotary clubs he presents our Club banner to them. Lachie will present them to our Club on his return in January 2025.
Lachie regularly visits and reports to his hosting Rotary Club, Ogaki Rotary, and once every month to a district meeting in Gifu City. This month Lachie will go on a Rotary trip to Osaka, Himeji and Hiroshima. Susanna Chung
From Bega Rotary
Bega Rotary is looking at a possible role during 2024/25 in highlighting Domestic and Family Violence in the Bega Valley. One Bega Rotarian is liaising with local organisations.
Bega Rotary is running the RYDA programme (Rotary Youth Driver Awareness) next week (14-16 May) for Year 11 students from across the Bega Valley Shire at the Frog’s Hollow Go Cart Track south of Bega.
NEXT THURSDAY
Thursday 16 May: Rotary Business Networking Breakfast 7am at Narooma Surf Club Guest speaker is Georgie Staley, founding member of Narooma Mountain Bike Club and passionate mountain track bike enthusiast. The Club has already opened 85km of trails in Bodalla State Forest, thanks to a $4.3m grant from the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund and the hard work of volunteers. The network of mountain bike trails being established along the coast promises year-long tourism. Georgie will talk about their journey, and how local businesses can best capitalise on the anticipated influx of bikers and so boost their businesses. Bookings essential with Laurelle. Breakfast costs $10