Chair and Co-founder of the Coffs Harbour Pink Silks Perpetual Trust Tanya Johnson (left) and fellow committee member Nicole Pymont (right) with surgeon Shehnarz Salindera (centre) and Perioperative Services team members Kimberley Naylor, Brie Louez, Janice Chew, Kim Batty, Cherie Manuel, Leisl Dowling and Manager Margaret Laidley. Dr Salindera is holding one of the retractors and one of the monitors is at the back with Kim Batty.

A Million Reasons to Thank Coffs Harbour Pink Silks Trust

Apr 30, 2020
This article was published 4 years ago.

Coffs Harbour’s Pink Silks Trust has donated almost $30,000 in medical equipment to Coffs Harbour Health Campus, bringing the group’s donations in support of local women to an extraordinary $1 million in the past 13 years.

The latest donation, $29,881.04, has purchased two LCD monitors, monitor stands and two breast retractors which will be used by surgeons during breast cancer and reconstruction surgery.

The monitors enable members of the surgical team to see what the surgeon sees during an operation, while the breast retractors facilitate a natural breast reconstruction following surgery.

Pink Silks Trust Committee Chair and Co-founder Tanya Johnson said the donation was the culmination of a combined effort from local businesses and members of the Coffs community, who wanted to make a difference in the lives of other locals.

“Our mission with all our donations is to help as many women as possible with their recovery from illness and to their future health,” Ms Johnson said.

“It’s locals supporting local women diagnosed with cancer, chronic or traumatic illness and those with disability. It’s about helping to make a difference in their journey… and that effect rippling out to all who know and support them.

“The Pink Silks Trust Committee is honoured to be helping the work and dedication of the Perioperative Services Department and their staff at Coffs Harbour Health Campus.

“We are grateful for the contribution they make to the health of the women of the Coffs Coast community.”

Perioperative Services Manager Margaret Laidley said the hospital was grateful to the Pink Silks Trust for the difference it was making to local women and their loved ones.

“We have a brilliant perioperative team at Coffs Harbour, and consider ourselves very lucky to have the support of our community, in particular the Pink Silks Trust and those who support its fundraisers.

“That generous community spirit has a tangible impact on local families. We a very grateful for the equipment that helps us to treat and care for the mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers, aunts and friends who are our patients.”

In the 13 years since the Pink Silks Trust was formed, more than $1 million has been donated to the Coffs community, and includes 10 per cent to research. Some of this money has funded a diverse array of equipment at Coffs Harbour Health Campus, including a $30,000 Bi-Pap unit for Emergency, a $60,000 Prismaflex, which pumps blood through a patient’s circulatory system, and a $25,000 portable ventilator to Intensive Care, $30,000 in surgical equipment to the operating theatres, $40,000 to the Palliative Care Unit, $15,000 to Stroke and Rehabilitation Unit for equipment and refurbishment of rehabilitation unit, $12,500 to Mid North Coast Brain Injury and Rehabilitation Unit,  $20,000 to Maternity for an ultrasound unit, $22,000 for a two-year post-natal depression program, $20,000 to the gynaecological department, $1500 to the health campus’ Sexual Assault Service and $50,000 to the North Coast Cancer Institute.

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