Over $35,000 raised for Cohuna District Hospital

Former Cohuna local Kane Church was inspired to help staff and patients at Cohuna District Hospital after listening to Dr Peter Barker talk to 3AW’s Tom Elliott. Dr Barker was lamenting the recent boost of funding for St Kilda’s penguin colony.

“It makes me feel like we should be standing out the front dressed in penguin suits,” jokes Dr Barker.

According to Dr Barker, the hospital desperately needs additional equipment that is expensive and lacking in rural hospitals.

Helicopters have to land in a neighbouring paddock, but there is no pathway from the hospital to the helicopter paddock, rendering it almost impossible for patients to be transported from one to the other.

“An ambulance came from Swan Hill, 90 kms back to Cohuna to take a patient 60 metres when the helicopter’s there, waiting,” says Dr Barker.

“Really, we get the feeling that rural people don’t matter.”

Kane Church created the mycause campaign Cohuna Hospital Critical Care Medical Equipment Drive on April 7, with an initial target of $5000 to pay for an external pacing unit to work with the hospital’s cardiac defibrillator. Over $12,000 was raised in the first nine hours through the mycause campaign - with donations continuing to pour into the campaign once the target was achieved.

mycause contacted Kane with the wonderful news and the target was soon increased to $25,000 to purchase additional hospital equipment. A twitter campaign was also launched to promote the page and increase online awareness for Kane’s cause.

Kane has also been regularly updating his donors, which is a great way to keep the lines of communication open with supporters who can increase the reach and power of your campaign.

“So far we have raised $23,965...which is amazing considering the page has been online for just a few days. The page will be open for a couple of weeks, so keep on sharing and we will hopefully surpass $25,000 soon.”

Over $35,000 has been raised to date, with over 700 campaign shares online. 

This figure will no doubt continue to increase, thanks to Kane’s donors and online supporters.