Friday, 29 March 2024
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Medical centre’s first sod turned

Medical centre’s first sod turned

Monday was an important and special day for the Mallacoota community, particularly for those who have been at the forefront in bringing the Mallacoota Medical Centre and Aged Care Facility to the town, with the turning of the first sod on the grounds of the new facility.

For more than 50 years, Mallacoota Inlet Aged Care (MIAC) has been collecting funds for the benefit of the aged members of the community. Aged care facilities go hand in hand with a need for doctors, something that the remote community has always found difficult to attract.

Approximately three years ago, the Community Health Infrastructure and Resilience Fund (CHIRF) was established to attract doctors and funding to go along with maintaining medical care in Mallacoota.

Around the same time, MIAC purchased the property upon which the new Mallacoota Medical Centre and Aged Care Facility is to be built.

The project will see the old facility removed and replaced with a purpose built facility that will house both aged care and medical services.

“It will be a beautiful purpose built facility that has been designed by specialist architects and built by builders who are specialists in the medical field,” MIAC president, Etienne van der Merwe, said.

“The job has been contracted to a specialist contractor, but local builders will be contracted to do the job.”

The $700,000 project has been funded with $330,000 sourced by CHIRF through government funding, $250,000 through MIAC fundraising and $170,000 borrowed.

Celebrating the sod turning on Monday a special cake was ceremoniously cut by Anke De Geus, who joined the MIAC committee in the early 1950s and has been involved in fundraising for medical, ambulance and aged care services ever since, and Wilma Becker, who joined in the 1960s.

The facility is expected to be complete early next year.


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