Wanganui Fire Brigade donates $8500 to Hospice development

BRIGADE DONATES TO HOSPICE: Handing over the cheque for $8500 are (from left) Astrid Hartnell, Gary Anderson, Bryan Barkla, Karen Anderson (Hospice Whanganui) and Paul Doughty.

Hospice Whanganui's new development is $8500 better off, thanks to a donation from the Wanganui Fire Brigade's 150th jubilee fund.

The jubilee was held in 2016 but the remaining funds are just being wound up, spokesman Bryan Barkla said.

"The majority of what we have given to Hospice is left over from the national golf tournament we hosted at the end of last year," Mr Barkla said.

"Once the celebrations were over we had to decide what to do with the surplus funds. All our crews were asked for their opinion and we had quite a number of suggestions but the common theme was Hospice along with other organisations.

"We decided to donate the entire $8500 to Hospice. Some of our staff over the years have used the facilities at Hospice and most of the team thought Hospice was a worthy recipient. We approached Hospice to see what it would be best to spend the money on because we thought it would be better if it was one larger item rather than lots of smaller ones."

Hospice Whanganui chief executive Karen Anderson said the donation came as a welcome injection for a rebuilding project the organisation is working on.

"We are building an outpatient clinic area where a nurse practitioner and one of the doctors will run a clinic for people who are well enough to come in for an outpatient appointment," Mrs Anderson said.

"We are lucky that we can provide time for staff to spend with people, unlike a GP who is limited to 10 minute slots."

The Wanganui Fire Brigade donation has been earmarked for furnishing the outpatient clinic.

The rebuilding project includes extending the car park and staff work facilities.

"We are also adding on to the building and will have a training and education centre. We do a lot of training of other health professionals on how to care for people at the end of life and also training of families and friends. Some of these programmes have got too large for our current facilities so we've had to rent places to hold them."

The education suite and outpatient clinic are due for completion by March 2018.