BUYING tickets in a gala ball and buying fabulous furniture made out of disused timber pallets, will help keep cardiac patients in FNQ.
This year’s The Power of Pallets presented by The Property Shop, will contribute towards a second cardiac catheter laboratory at Cairns Hospital.
The Power of Pallets founder Kate Fern and heart patient Richard Hawes (pictured) inspected some of the pieces that have been made, ahead of the exhibition opening this Friday, November 3.
Mr Hawes, 65, had his aortic valve and part of his aorta replaced, and a pacemaker implanted in May this year, after suffering some breathlessness.
“My wife finally got me to go to the doctor and they discovered a murmur so I was sent to Townsville Hospital where they did all this work on me and I was in ICU for 17 days and I’m so grateful,” Mr Hawes said.
Since then he has undergone Cairns Hospital’s cardiac rehabilitation program, with great results.
“I’m back to work now doing quite physical work and I’ve got four grandchildren including one who lives with us, so I can look forward to watching them grow up and get married,” he said.
“Anything we can do to help keep heart patients close to home and having procedures at Cairns, then I think we should do our utmost to do it.”
Meeting Mr Hawes was an inspiration for Ms Fern.
She instigated the event four years ago as a way to do something tangible and productive for the community with items that would otherwise go to landfill.
“We move the funds around different areas of the hospital that needs it and this year as the cardiac catheter lab is the Foundation’s major fundraising push, that’s what we’re going to put the funds towards,” she said.
International gardening guru Jamie Durie is returning for this year’s auction and gala dinner on November 17 at The Tanks.
The exhibition of pieces being auctioned, will be at Tank 4 at The Tanks Gallery from this Friday, November 3, and the gala ball and auction will be on November 17.
For further information about The Power of Pallets and to buy tickets, click HERE.
