Wauchope Lions Club President Stephen Perkins, District executive Brian Grieve and District Governor Robin Parker with one of the refurbished recliners and a very happy Registered Nurse Joy Barnes and UCC Nurse Unit Manager Natalie Schmude.
Lions take great pride in supporting hospital
Sep 22, 2021Wauchope Lions Club has a long history of supporting its local public hospital, and this week the club’s president was on site to present a refurbished gift from seven years ago.
Back in 2014, the hardworking Lions, with a dollar-for-dollar grant from the Lions Clubs NSW-ACT Public Health Care foundation, donated two treatment chairs at a cost $13,000 to Wauchope District Memorial Hospital’s newly opened Urgent Care Centre.
In the years that have passed, the treatment chairs have been used by thousands of patients and, consequently, were showing the signs of constant use.
In true Lions form, the club recognised the chairs needed some TLC and, with the Foundation’s help, donated the $5131 cost of reupholstering them.
The as-new treatment chairs are now back in the UCC, and looking a million dollars, said Natalie Schmude, the UCC’s Nurse Unit Manager.
“The Wauchope Lions are remarkable in every sense of the word,” Ms Schmude said.
“Their commitment to their local community is evident everywhere in Wauchope, and especially so at our hospital.
“We are humbled by the support, and proud to be one of this venerated group’s beneficiaries.”
In 2015, the Lions undertook a labour-intensive garden makeover at the hospital. In 2017, the club donated a $13,500 specialised lifting chair, in 2019 it was a $10,720 ECG unit and $12,000 for five pressure mattresses for the Palliative Care Unit. The latest donation brings the Lions support of Wauchope Hospital in the past seven years to a remarkable $42,351.
“By any measure, that is a tremendous amount of support for our patients, and we remain forever grateful,” Ms Schmude said.
Club president Stephen Perkins said he was proud of his team’s fundraising efforts, which made such donations possible, and grateful for the community’s response to Lions’ fundraisers.
“We are very fortunate to have such a robust club, where our members are determined to make a difference in their community,” Mr Perkins said.
“It’s a privilege to serve, to improve the health and wellbeing of our community and support our local hospital.”
Also present at the handover was the Lions’ District Governor Robin Parker from Maclean and District Global Leadership Team Leader Brian Grieve.