No matter who you are, where you live or what you do for a living, everyone deserves the best health and emergency care that they can get.
Those living in Swan Hill or any of the other smaller towns in the region, and beyond, whether they’re at the start of or nearing the end of their life, battling an illness, or seeking treatment, shouldn’t have to seek treatment away from their family and friends, especially when they are going through tough times.
Why should someone that lives on the New South Wales side of the Murray River have to travel by ambulance, plane or whatever other mode of transport hundreds of kilometres to be treated?
Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when visits to hospitals and aged care facilities, and seeing others, has been restricted.
If Swan Hill is the nearest hospital to where you live or are, then you should be able to be treated closer to home.
As part of The Guardian team, I first became involved in writing about the need for upgrades to Swan Hill District Health (SHDH) in 2018.
Along with my colleagues, I attended the 1000-strong crowd at the campaign for state government funding outside the front of SHDH in August of that year.
It was great speaking to people, including patients and ambulance officers, about why they supported the need for Swan Hill to get a new hospital.
It was one of those times that the team at The Guardian, community leaders and, of course, the community truly banded together to support and back a cause.
That same year, I also attended the press conference when Nationals Leader and Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh and then Opposition Leader Matthew Guy, made a $44 million pledge to SHDH if the Liberal-Nationals won the state election that year.
Since 2018, I have spoken to the hospital’s chief executive officer Peter Abraham, Member for Mallee Anne Webster, Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie and covered Swan Hill Rural City Council councillor Les McPhee’s motion inviting the now-Minister for Health Martin Foley to visit the hospital facility.
Although it has been great to see so many politicians jump on the cause and assist with the campaigning, the health and life of a person should never become political; it puts people’s health on the line and should be a wake up call that rural and regional hospitals, not just major hospitals in metropolitan Melbourne, need to be upgraded from time-to-time.
I also felt privileged to be part of The Guardian team when we claimed the 2019 Victorian Country Press Association awards best community campaign award for the newspaper’s campaign and coverage on the hospital’s campaign.
It has been a long and tedious campaign, but well done to all involved in getting the hospital the much-needed funding it needs.
Throughout the campaign the state government has gone through several health ministers, but the message to the state government remains the same: Swan Hill needs a new hospital.
