Why Grampians Health is preparing to build 16 new apartments in Wendouree
Grampians Health staff know some patients would rather forgo hospital treatment than be separated from their family and pets. Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue readingSave 30%All. . .
Grampians Health staff know some patients would rather forgo hospital treatment than be separated from their family and pets. Subscribe now for unlimited access. or signup to continue readingSave 30%All articles from our website& appThe digital version ofToday'sPaperAll otherin your areaAbout a quarter of patients treated at Ballarat Base Hospital come from outside the city, often placing significant pressure on them and their families being away from home. With that in mind, Grampians Health has quietly raised $4. 1 million to build a new pet-friendly family accommodation village in Wendouree to help reduce stress for patients and their families during treatment. Artist impression of the new Grampians Health patient and family accommodation village to be built in Wendouree. Image suppliedThe new village will feature 16 one-bedroom units with kitchenettes and courtyards, as well as communal spaces including a kitchen. It will be built at one of Grampians Health's existing facilities on Gillies Street, Wendouree, near Stockland. Grampians Health chief executive Dale Fraser said the village would provide a place for patients and their loved ones to stay together in times of need, minimising stress and anxiety during treatment. It will support families from outside Ballarat with a child in the Special Care Nursery, where previously siblings and parents might have been separated due to a lack of accommodation. Families with a loved one in intensive care, or in the acute mental health unit, who previously might be separated because of a lack of affordable accommodation nearby will also be catered for in the no-cost or low-cost patient family accommodation. "Governments give us a lot of money to redevelop our sites but the money doesn't go to a whole range of things that would add additional value to our community," Mr Fraser said. "Twenty-five per cent of patients coming to us come from outside of Ballarat. For many of them it's a journey to get here and some of them are back in one day, but others have got multiple days of stay and if you've got a baby in the special care nursery, for example, you could be here for a couple of months. "Not everybody has the opportunity to stay somewhere, so having a patient accommodation village gives us the opportunity to offer accommodation that is safe, close to the hospital and takes one burden away. "Grampians Health chief executive Dale Fraser. Picture by Kate HealyGrampians Health has six existing one-bedroom units at Durham Street in Newington but they are almost exclusively used for cancer patients and are older, with demand for accommodation far outstripping the current capacity. That demand will only grow when theBallarat Base Hospital redevelopmentis completed next year and the hospital is able to treat thousands more patients each year in its expanded facilities. Mr Fraser said it was important that the new accommodation be pet-friendly, to reduce the stress for patients and families. "A lot of folk coming down don't want to leave their cat or dog at home so we are trying reduce the stresses as best we can so you can focus on getting well and not having to worry about the burden of travel or the separation from pets," he said. Construction on the new Wendouree family accommodation village is expected to start before the end of the year, and open during 2027. Last week, Grampians Health launched itsCare Closer to Home Appeal- the largest fundraising campaign in the organisation's history. Since 2022 the campaign has been running in its "quiet phase", and donors, philanthropic organisations and community partners have donated more than $4 million to its first project, the family accommodation village. The public campaign is now running to help build a clinical trials centre. As it happensBreaking news alertBe the first to know when news breaks.