Hundreds of babies will benefit from a major rebuild of the Waitakere Hospital’s Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) due to the million dollar kick-start from the West Auckland organisation, The Trusts.
The Trust, an organization that gives back to their local community, has donated $2 million towards the $5 million fundraising project which will increase cot space, cot numbers and embrace world-leading technology.
The Trusts CEO Simon Wickham says, “Having the chance to contribute in this way on behalf of the West Auckland community and make a difference in the lives of thousands of local children at a critical stage in their development is immensely rewarding.”
The Well Foundation will receive the funds as they are the official charity for the Waitakere and North Shore hospitals
Well Foundation CEO Andrew Young says this is a great opportunity to partner with a community-owned organisation to build a new, state-of-the-art facility for West Auckland and Rodney’s most vulnerable, premature and sick newborn babies.
“The neonatal unit is now 15 years old,” Young says. “Since it opened, the demand on its space has increased with some local newborn babies and mothers having to transfer to units around the country due to lack of available SCBU cots. The extension will open up bed capacity from 12 to 18 to help meet the projected growth of the region.”
More than 350 premature babies are currently being admitted to the Waitakere SCBU every year.
“We are so grateful to The Trusts for supporting such an important project that will help many in the community now and for years to come,” says Young.
The project is expected to be completed in 2020.