The Toowoomba Hospital Foundation and Common Ground Foundation have partnered together to help provide low-cost family-friendly accommodation units for rural patients accessing hospital and health services in Toowoomba.
The units, located at Picnic Point are now available to book through the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation’s patient accommodation service for rural patients and their families who need to travel more than 50 kilometres for treatment and care at Toowoomba Hospital, St. Andrews Toowoomba Hospital, and St Vincent’s Private Hospital.
Toowoomba Hospital Foundation CEO Alison Kennedy said the partnership with Common Ground has allowed the Foundation to better accommodate families during their stay in Toowoomba.
“We’re very fortunate to be able to help rural patients with a place to stay at our Clive Berghofer Toowoomba Hospital Accommodation units, but unfortunately we’re always at capacity and definitely felt the one thing we were missing is having the space and ability to truly accommodate families,” she said.
“It can be a very difficult and stressful time having to travel into the city for treatment and for many patients being separated from their families isn’t an option especially if you have young children.
“The Common Ground Foundation through our partnership have been able to provide three two-bedroom units with their own private kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, and living spaces. So, being able to have somewhere that you can come home to close to hospital and health service facilities, with plenty of space for the kids is a godsend.
“We’ve also tried to keep the accommodation as low-cost as possible for patients and their families to help ease some of the financial burden that comes from travelling for treatment, and eligible patients may also be able to access the Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme through their referral hospital to reduce out of pocket expenses.”
Common Ground Foundation Co-Founder Felicity Burton said providing accommodation for regional families coming to Toowoomba for medical reasons was really important.
“It’s nice to have something gated, close to parks and nice schools in a nice area, and it’s absolutely perfect that we can now accommodate up to three families travelling for medical treatment in Toowoomba.”
For more information about the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation’s patient accommodation services or to enquire about booking visit their website at: https://www.toowoombahospitalfoundation.org.au/patient-accommodation
The units, located at Picnic Point are now available to book through the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation’s patient accommodation service for rural patients and their families who need to travel more than 50 kilometres for treatment and care at Toowoomba Hospital, St. Andrews Toowoomba Hospital, and St Vincent’s Private Hospital.
Toowoomba Hospital Foundation CEO Alison Kennedy said the partnership with Common Ground has allowed the Foundation to better accommodate families during their stay in Toowoomba.
“We’re very fortunate to be able to help rural patients with a place to stay at our Clive Berghofer Toowoomba Hospital Accommodation units, but unfortunately we’re always at capacity and definitely felt the one thing we were missing is having the space and ability to truly accommodate families,” she said.
“It can be a very difficult and stressful time having to travel into the city for treatment and for many patients being separated from their families isn’t an option especially if you have young children.
“The Common Ground Foundation through our partnership have been able to provide three two-bedroom units with their own private kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, and living spaces. So, being able to have somewhere that you can come home to close to hospital and health service facilities, with plenty of space for the kids is a godsend.
“We’ve also tried to keep the accommodation as low-cost as possible for patients and their families to help ease some of the financial burden that comes from travelling for treatment, and eligible patients may also be able to access the Patient Travel Subsidy Scheme through their referral hospital to reduce out of pocket expenses.”
Common Ground Foundation Co-Founder Felicity Burton said providing accommodation for regional families coming to Toowoomba for medical reasons was really important.
“We’ve all had our triumphs and tribulations with staying away from home, we’re women from the bush and we’ve all seen our friends struggle with medical issues and needing access to services. We definitely saw a need for this accommodation in a major centre like Toowoomba, where a lot of regional families come for support,” she said.“So having something available for regional families to keep the family together is really important, and we found there wasn’t a lot available or accessible for families especially at the size of the units we can now offer at Picnic Point.
“It’s nice to have something gated, close to parks and nice schools in a nice area, and it’s absolutely perfect that we can now accommodate up to three families travelling for medical treatment in Toowoomba.”
For more information about the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation’s patient accommodation services or to enquire about booking visit their website at: https://www.toowoombahospitalfoundation.org.au/patient-accommodation
