A Helping Hand For New Zealand Hospices

Press release

A HELPING HAND FOR NEW ZEALAND HOSPICES

A major community charitable organisation has just completed a record $4 million in donations for 15 Hospices throughout the country.

The $4 million in donations have been made to hospices from Kaitaia to Otago, and in total is the largest donation Pub Charity has made to a single cause since its inception in 1987.

New Zealand now has 37 hospices, with an increasing number of public and private hospitals and some rest homes offering palliative care, these organisations are now helping more than 8000 new patients and their families a year, and those numbers are steadily increasing.

The donations will mean the difference between doors staying open another year for some hospices, while others will be upgrading equipment, paying wages and expanding or building new premises.

The donations range from $1 million, made to South Auckland Hospice, to help the organisation meet the growing demand for its services. $750,000 for Hibiscus Coast Hospice, to help kick start a fundraising project to build a new hospice. To smaller amounts like $40,000 for Arohanui Hospice Service Trust, to help fund Community Care Nurses in the Marton, Bulls, Taihape and Feilding areas.

Hibiscus Coast Hospice Development Trust chairman Merv Crocker says donations like these go a long way to easing some of the pressure in raising funds for things like capital expenditure.

"The demand for the charitable dollar is increasing. At present our Hospice receives less than 25 percent of its operational funding from the DHB so, we have to fund the remaining costs ourselves and that places a great demand on our community at large."

South Auckland Hospice Charitable Trust Resource Manager Jennifer Kent says "Funding for day-to-day operational costs has historically been the most difficult to achieve. South Auckland Hospice must raise $1.7million per annum over and above partial Government funding for operational costs. A large proportion of these costs are nurses' salaries."

Pub Charity Chairman Maurice Hayes says Pub Charity is at the heart of community funding.

"Our organisation is a small, passionate team committed to helping as many community groups as we can, ranging from hospices to sports groups to schools.

"Hospices play an extremely valuable role in our community. These devoted professionals strive against massive odds to provide the very best care for people at their most vulnerable time, as well as their families and loved ones. Being able to help these people in any way is a huge honour for us and it reflects what our organisation is all about."

Hospice New Zealand chief executive Ann Martin welcomed the funding announcement.

"These generous donations will have a positive impact on the day-to-day service provision as well as service development and patient access. The number of terminally ill patients requiring hospices' services continues to increase and it's important these people have access to good quality palliative care.

"Pub Charity funding will make a difference, helping these hospices provide palliative care to patients in their own homes and through inpatient units," Ms Martin says.

About Pub Charity

Pub Charity is an organisation at the heart of community funding. Funds are distributed back into the communities in which they are generated from gaming machines in member bars and hotels. In the year 2003-05, Pub Charity made donations totalling nearly $42 million to organisations, including schools, community groups, fire brigades, ambulances, sports clubs and teams, support groups and others.

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