Through your donations, Otway Health are supporting health outcomes for an aging population and improving access to urgent care for permanent and seasonal visitors with the upgrade of their Resuscitation Room in the Otway Health Urgent Care Unit.
Otway Health is a multipurpose Health Service located in Apollo Bay that provides a broad range of health services including Urgent Care. Otway Health’s catchment area has 2,533 permanent residents with almost 50% of them aged over 50. As a popular tourist destination, seasonal fluctuations can see the area’s population increase to over 20,000. In order to serve both its permanent and seasonal population Otway Health needs to have facilities available to care for a wide range of conditions and fluctuating numbers of people presenting for care.
A $41,411 grant from the Give Where You Live Foundation assisted Otway Health to convert an existing procedural room into a Resuscitation Room and upgrade equipment, providing the tools to better diagnose and treat patients. It’s anticipated that the refurbishment will impact 1250 local residents and thousands who flock to the region annually.
Within the first week of the completed refurbishment, a community member needed emergency resuscitation and was bought in to Otway Health by Ambulance Victoria. Before the upgrade, this patient would have received life-saving treatment in the main Urgent Care Unit, where other patients may have also been receiving treatment, moving around equipment between wards to provide bed-side access by nursing, medical and paramedic staff.
Thanks to your donations, Otway Health are able to use a permanent, dedicated, purpose designed resuscitation room. It has also enabled the purchase of updated resuscitation equipment to enable Otway Health to deliver the best healthcare it can when resuscitation is required. Feedback from the successful first resuscitation in the new facility was that it enabled all health professionals at the scene to work together in a cohesive workspace with easy access to equipment of the latest design, ample space to facilitate movement around the patient, good lighting, and privacy. Through the new facility and equipment, Otway Health will be able to provide optimal quality of care all patients.
Above: Denise McLachlan (Otway Health Board Chair), Debra Cerasa (Otway Health CEO), Cynthia Scherer (Give Where You Live Foundation) and Richard Riordan MP Polwarth