The Central Coast Local Health District gathered at Wyong hospital on Thursday, November 23, to celebrate the donations raised by the Bay to Bay Running Festival.
The annual event raised over $70,000 for local charities and organisations, including $20,000 split equally between the emergency departments at Wyong and Gosford Hospitals.
Area director of emergency services, Dr Kate Porges, said the donations would go a long way to purchasing vital life-saving emergency equipment to help district staff care for the community.
“A big thanks to Terrigal trotters and everyone who contributed to making the event an overwhelming success,” Dr Porges said.
“It was also great to see a team of our own dedicated medical, nursing and allied health staff take part in record numbers this year and reciprocate the support.
“Part of the donation will go towards the purchase of specialised equipment for Wyong’s Emergency Department to assist in the training of our nurses and doctors within the clinical environment,” Dr Porges said.
The donation gifted to Wyong was an ALSi monitoring piece of equipment which increases the learning experience of staff by stimulating real-life scenarios.
The second donation was a piece of specialised equipment which assists with the intubation of patients.
Event organiser of the Bay to Bay Running Festival, Mr Mark Dunlop, said he was pleased to see where the money that the organisation raised was going.
“Everybody benefits from a donation to a public domain, since we are all going to visit this place one day,” said Mr Dunlop.
“If you think about it, around 63,000 people came through Wyong’s emergency department last year alone.
“Helping small charities is always satisfying but, although a $20,000 donation might get lost amongst funding of a hospital, the fact that we are potentially helping 63,000 people is astounding, he said.
Event organiser and Terrigal Trotters President, Ms Jenny Barker, said she was ecstatic about this year’s record-making result, and said it was a true testament to the generosity and support of the Central Coast community.
“We were blown away by the result – it’s so rewarding to see the event gain momentum and get bigger and better every year,” Ms Barker said.
“This year’s result well surpassed our 2016 total which saw $52,000 raised.
“As the event continues to grow, it means we will be able to make a bigger contribution to our nominated charities, and most importantly, all donations received remain on the Coast to benefit the local community.”
Source:
Media release, Nov 23
Clare Graham, Communications Officer
Presentation notes, Nov 24
Suzy Monzer, journalist