Patient’s gift powers care

AN Atherton local’s personal hospital experience has resulted in him donating $20,000 to buy a new ultrasound machine.
The skin on Tom Draper’s hand was peeled back when a lump of timber fell on it, so being a practical sort of bloke, he drove himself the short distance to hospital.
“They saw me walk in and we kept walking – one was behind me getting all my details and then I was in a hospital bed before I knew it,” Mr Draper said.
“You could see all the tendons and everything but I said to them, do you reckon we could peel that skin back over? So that’s what they did, it was pretty amazing,” he said. “I was back working again in a fortnight.”
“They reckoned if we hadn’t done that, I’d have been out of action for six months.”
The former mechanic, Ford dealership owner, Grand Hotel owner, father, grandfather and great-grandfather said he felt “maybe I should make a contribution on behalf of my family who were all born here including myself”, in gratitude for the care and support he received.
He and wife Laura, a retired nurse, donated the gift to the Atherton Hospital Friends of the Foundation, a subsidiary of the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation, which bought the ultrasound for the Atherton Hospital Day Surgery unit.
“This way, the whole community gets the benefit which is something I think is pretty important. You don’t want to need it, but it’s good to know it’s there if you do,” he said.
Atherton Hospital Friends of the Foundation president Mary Fitzsimons said Tom spoke highly of the nursing and medical staff.
“The care he received during his stay was delivered in a professional timely manner enabling the return of functionality to his injured hand,” Mrs Fitzsimons said.
“Tom discussed with the Friends of the Hospital Foundation the best way to thank staff and the hospital was to provide funds that would be used to purchase equipment which would benefit patients in the future,” she said.
Atherton Hospital Perioperative Services Nurse Unit Manager Lena Bath expressed her gratitude.
“This will be of benefit for patients in day surgery who may need ultrasound guided foreign body removal, cyst/subcutaneous body real time examination, anaesthetic lung examination, anaesthetic vascular access, critical care (eg free fluid, cardiac exams),” Ms Bath said.