Run Ballarat has now raised over $1 million for Ballarat Base Hospital children’s ward with bricks and mortar work on the ward planned for September next year, Ballarat Health Services chief executive Dale Fraser said.
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A record 6,425 people registered across five events on Sunday with all proceeds from registrations donated to redevelop the children’s ward.
BHS will match the $1 million raised through Run Ballarat with $1.5 million to update and expand the 20-year-old ward.
“We’ve got some pretty dowdy facilities so these works will go a long way to bringing these facilities up to a more contemporary standard so the care and services we can deliver is matched by the facilities support that.
“They’re really basic things in terms of better rooms with more privacy, better family space to ensure parents can stay with their kids, kitchenette facilities to ensure families can prepare food.
“A lot of these things are aimed at reducing the stress the kids face when they’re coming into hospital – so healing is done in a way that’s maximised.”
A man carrying his chihuahua around the 6-kilometre course was a mark of the crowd’s diversity, Mr Fraser said.
“It was really amazing the diversity, young children, toddlers, teenagers, parents, older folk – I saw one man carrying a chihuahua over the whole 6-kilometres.
“It was an amazing community experience and if that experience is reflective of Ballarat – which I’m sure it is – by golly we’ve got a great community.”
Jessica Black
Ballarat journalist.
Ballarat journalist.
