A fund-raising appeal has been launched to help build specialist palliative care hospice in Wagga | videos

A public appeal to help meet construction costs of the $5 million project was launched by Peter Fitzpatrick, chairman of The Forrest Centre where the hospice will be developed alongside the Mary Potter Nursing Home.

The appeal is off to a flying start, with $300,000 already donated by the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary and $250,000 each from the Catholic and Anglican churches.

Another $310,000 has been donated by The Golden Gowns Committee, Housing Industry Association, Wagga Takes Two, Committee 4 Wagga, AFL Football and several bequests.

Mr Fitzpatrick said the hospice would be the final piece of the puzzle in a palliative care alliance that includes a respite care unit in Calvary Hospital.

“This unit will have separate 24-hour access and will be exclusively used for palliative care patients, no matter their financial circumstances, religious beliefs or age,” he said.

The project, however, falls short of what public palliative care campaigner Craig Hesketh has been demanding.

“I don’t think it’s the best solution,” said Mr Hesketh, who believes free Medicare-funded palliative care should be made available at the new Wagga Rural Referral Hospital.

“Why should other areas receive publicly-funded facilities and in Wagga we continue to have private partnerships where the public is going to be out of pocket.”

Province leader of the Sisters of Little Company of Mary, Sister Bernadette Fitzgerald, said the hospice would continue the unique ecumenical joint venture that began with The Forrest Centre.

“Again, there is a need for the people of the Riverina to establish a service that can provide support and care on a longer term basis for those who are dying,” she said.

In asking for the public to support the fund-raising appeal, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wagga, Gerard Hanna, said Wagga in the past had shown a great generosity of heart.

“We are going to invest in a facility which will help people die well and (care) for their relatives in that process,” said Anglican bishop, Trevor Edwards.