Family Accommodation Project for Westmead Children’s Hospital Needs Your Help. By Larry Woldenberg
One of Sydney’s leading Institutions is the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. It serves as a teaching hospital for both the University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney and conducts children’s clinical research, focusing on translating research into medicine.

The hospital has a bed capacity of 339 and employs a staff of 2500. At the moment, there is a chronic need for extended family accommodation to serve the child patients. With this in mind, Parramatta Mission is contracting to supply 6 badly needed 2-bedroom apartments just 30 metres from hospital’s entrance.

Westmead Hospital strongly supports the project. Childhood illness can be surrounded by fear and uncertainty. A child’s well-being will improve if the family feel confident and relaxed about the illness. Having the immediate and extended family nearby is a tremendous support of the healing process in children. That’s why this $2 million project is so important.

The Parramatta Mission has already borrowed $1.3 million to fund the purchase of the apartments and has a Development Application currently before the Parramatta Council to do a $700,000 renovation of both the interior and exterior of the building.

This will enable the families of children patients from Regional NSW and Inter-State to be with their loved ones at both the Children’s Hospital and the larger Westmead Hospital if rooms remain available. However, the focus will be on the children.

Parramatta Mission is profoundly qualified to oversee the project. Currently, they manage the only motel in Westmead, the Wesley Lodge, which consists of 59 rooms. One of its managers, Dianne Hart, tells of the need: “Right now the existing accommodation for children’s families can’t cope with the demand. Either there’s a shortage of rooms or there is no room for extended family members because only single rooms are available.

“We want to offer a space with Play Stations, a bath for the kids and cooking facilities where more than just the immediate family can stay. Grandparents, cousins, etc., all come and help and this would be an opportunity for Mums and Dads to receive plenty of support.

“For many children throughout NSW Westmead Hospital is the only place they can receive the special treatment they need. Kids with leukemia need 6-month treatment programs. Organ transplants take 6-8 weeks. Radiation therapy patients need daily treatment but can often be outpatients. So they could conceivably stay with their families in this new facility. The same goes for kidney dialysis patients.”

Parramatta Mission’s CEO, Chris Bertinshaw, describes the new accommodations as well set-up and not expensively furnished. “When the apartments open for occupancy in October of this year, we plan to make them available at a low price of $300 a week which is less than a normal rental apartment in Westmead.

“We really hope that people will respond to our Fund Raiser. Otherwise we will need to service the bank loan which will force the rental to go up to conceivably $600 a week—something we all wish to avoid.”

Anyone wishing to contribute can contact the Parramatta Mission directly on 9891 2277 or click on the 'Make a Donation' button above.