WOMEN and their neonatal babies will have more support now and into the future thanks to the generosity of a local philanthropist.
The Northern Frontier Foundation (NFF), established by local businessman Dean Pradal, has donated $74, 000 towards the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation’s (FNQHF) COVID-19 fundraising campaign.
NFF General Manager Linda Ly said one of the Foundation’s key goals was to support women and children in the Far North and identified pertinent items on the FNQHF’s wishlist for that area.
That $74, 000 will buy two lifepak defibrillators, neonatal pulse oximeters and an adult resuscitation trolley for the Women’s Unit at Cairns Hospital.
Ms Ly said the NFF supports the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation because they know funds donated stay local.
“We know there are no admin fees or anything else taken out of anything we donate and we can see the results of where the money goes. It’s very important to us to support women and children so when we saw these particular items, that’s what we knew we had to contribute towards,” Ms Ly said.
The NFF aims to support individuals and communities, creating a genuine impact on long-term benefit of all in Far North Queensland.
FNQHF CEO Tony Williamson said while the equipment for the Women’s Unit was part of the Foundation’s COVID-19 campaign, it also improves the hospital’s capacity to deal with other medical situations into the future. He added that the NFF’s generosity, together with other donations and pledges, means the FNQHF only needs to raise another $130, 000 to finalise its’ $2.9 million campaign.
Answering the call from the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service, the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation issued a plea in April for $2.9 million to fund equipment at hospitals from Tully to Mossman. “This is the largest fundraising campaign the Foundation has ever undertaken and we’ve been absolutely astounded at the support this community has given us,” Mr Williamson said.
“We are now incredibly close to our goal with just $130, 000 still remaining, due to pledges and other donations. That equates to 20 vital signs monitors or an intra-operative stack monitor for theatre,” he said. “It is coming up to end of financial year and I know there are people in business who are hurting but there are others who are ok and might have some spare cash they’d rather give to us than the taxman.
“We believe the health service and the governments have handled the COVID-19 situation incredibly well but we’ve all seen that it wouldn’t take much for it to get out of control and we want to be as prepared as possible. This equipment also will obviously have uses beyond this pandemic.”
Photo: Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation Fundraising and Marketing Manager Glenys Duncombe with Northern Frontier Foundation General Manager Linda Ly.