Whanganui District Health Board receives cheque for hospital art

From left to right: Rotarians Tony Hodge, John van Dalen and Sue Gardner with WDHB chief executive Russell Simpson. Photo/ Supplied

Members of the Rotary Club of Wanganui North have donated $3000 to the Whanganui District Health Board (WDHB) for the purchase of local art and photography.

WDHB chief executive Russell Simpson said he felt humbled to accept the cheque on behalf of the DHB and they were extremely grateful to the club and members of the public who raised the money.

Mr Simpson said that WDHB surgeon and Rotarian John van Dalen was instrumental in purchasing a number of art works and photographs for display on hospital walls that would otherwise be bare.

"Mr van Dalen is a strong believer that patients and everyone else who walks our corridors find art and photography uplifting," Mr Simpson said.

"John says the power that art has over our wellbeing can't be underestimated, so we're making a conscious effort to find and fund works by local artists that resonate with our local population."

Last year the Rotary Club of Wanganui North purchased 26 photographs by local photographer Mark Brimblecombe and gifted them to the WDHB.

The photographs are hung in the corridor that leads to the Maternity and Children's Wards, where they are much admired by all who see them.

It is not yet known what works will be purchased with the Rotary cheque, but the hospital's art group is keen to hang them in the medical wards, the surgical wards and the assessment treatment and rehabilitation ward/acute stroke unit.

Rotary Club of Wanganui North members raised the $3000 in November last year when local businesses competed in the Rotary rowing stakes.