A ‘HOME away from home’ for rural and regional families near Westmead Hospital has been reopened after a nine-month closure.
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Tamworth-born and former Inverell mayor Rick Colless, MLC, officially reopened the Sisters of Charity Outreach’s Chisholm Cottage on Tuesday.
The Parliamentary Secretary for Natural Resources and Western NSW said the non-profit accommodation had been a crucial part of helping people from the bush access city treatment since 1996.
“It’s vitally important that kids and families from the bush have the same access to quality health care and medical services as those living in our city centres,” Mr Colless said.
“Chisholm Cottage enables this access by providing much-needed, affordable accommodation for those times when they have to come to the city for medical treatment.”
Chisholm Cottage is located near the busy Westmead Hospital campus in western Sydney.
It was temporarily closed on October 3 last year to allow for a major upgrade, including roof replacement, renovation and refurbishment.
Sisters of Charity Outreach general manager Gary Sillett said the cottage was now an even more comfortable haven for families during what could be a traumatic time.
“Coming to Sydney for a medical procedure or appointment for your child or family member is already a significantly stressful and costly experience,” Mr Sillett said.
“This can become even more difficult when families need to find affordable, comfortable, friendly and flexible accommodation that’s right near where they need to be, sometimes day and night.
“We know, from those who’ve stayed here from all over regional NSW during the past 21 years, that affordable accommodation is incredibly hard to access and in limited supply near the Westmead Hospital campus.”
The cottage rejoins the Country Care Link program, also operated by Sisters of Charity Outreach, which offers free transport to people from rural areas from airport, railway or bus station to medical appointments, hospital or accommodation.
THE NEED
- In the 27 months (July 2014 to September 2016) before it closed for upgrades, Chisholm Cottage hosted 742 adults and 352 children from regional NSW.
- This amounted to 1885 booking nights.
- Guests saved a total of more than $72,000 pa in accommodation costs in Sydney.
- They came from dozens of regional NSW towns and cities, including Tamworth, Armidale, Coonabarabran, Coonamble, Maitland, Dubbo, Grafton, Woolgoolga, Griffith, Yamba, Innisfail, Cobar, Wollongong, Orange, Taree, Cowra, Bowraville, Yass, Coffs Harbour and Wagga Wagga.
THE CHANGES
- The r efurbished Chisholm Cottage has four separate, secure bedrooms and two family rooms.
- It has a live-in accommodation manager and is staffed by trained volunteers, all of whom have passed police and Working with Children checks.
- Guests share two bathrooms, a kitchen, a TV lounge, and free Wi-Fi.
- The property has been re-furnished by Australian online furniture and homewares retailer Temple & Webster.
Carolyn Millet
Based at The Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth, and Namoi Valley Independent, Gunnedah. Covering general news and features on community, council, arts, business, health, education, entertainment and rural matters.
Based at The Northern Daily Leader, Tamworth, and Namoi Valley Independent, Gunnedah. Covering general news and features on community, council, arts, business, health, education, entertainment and rural matters.
