Health service launches festive fundraiser

BENDIGO Health is asking the community to give where they live during its annual Christmas appeal to ensure kids can access the healthcare they need locally.

This year, donations will go towards fitting out the new day rehabilitation centre’s hydrotherapy pool to make it more kid friendly and purchasing purpose-built child sized gym equipment.

Manager of the outpatient rehabilitation service, Wendy Millar, said the purchase of play-style equipment was important for treating young patients, as much of their therapy was via play.

“For many kids they do love water and it’s a very normal thing for them to play in water,” she said.

“Because it’s in water, you’re also supported so there’s lots of options for kids to do exercises and activities that are easier for them to do than on land.

“The money that’s raised here will give the team additional resources that they wouldn’t have had which will allow them to both see more children and provide better therapy options.”

Twelve-year-old Teale Hammond started his rehabilitation at Bendigo Health last year after being diagnosed with bone cancer in his leg in late 2019.

He said he never expected to be working in a pool with doctors.

“They were helping me with the hydrotherapy, I was doing that every Wednesday,” he said. “I was practicing my walking, balancing and sideways walking.”

His mother, Rebecca, said the therapy helped her son bring movement back to his leg after spending six weeks in a cast.

“Because he wasn’t using his muscles, he couldn’t straighten it. When we first came in, he couldn’t even walk, he was in a wheelchair,” she said.

Last year’s Christmas appeal raised over $80,000 for the organisation and social worker in the paediatric rehabilitation team Katie Moss said “the sky is the limit” this time around.

“There’s a lot of people in the community who are hoping to find some connectivity and to give back, particularly after the last 18 months we’ve had with COVID,” she said.

“We would encourage that this is a really worthy appeal to get behind so if anybody has got capacity to throw a little bit towards this, we would really welcome it.

“Having the opportunity to create a meaningful play space for kids where they get to return to some sort of normality more quickly in their rehab is incredibly important.”