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Mildura Weekly : Friday May 15 2015 Vol 9 No 27
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NEWS 05 FRIDAY, MAY 15, 2015 MILDURAWEEKLY.COM.AU By BEN PISCIONERI MILDURA Base Hospital’s new $9million medical ac- commodation complex is al- ready having a positive influ- ence helping to attract new doctors, nurses and medical students to the district. The 37-unit complex was completed two months ago and is already almost full. It represents a major im- provement on the previous accommodation, which was highlighted as one of the im- pediments to attracting new doctors to the region. “Accommodation was one of the first things people would ask about,” MBH’s Hospital Medical Officer man- ager Kim Faulkner said this week, describing the new units as having no comparison with the previous accommodation. “You couldn’t really com- pare them. These units are all self-contained, they’ve got modern appliances in them, we’ve now got a common room that doctors are able to meet together in and the stu- dents can meet and have study groups,” she said. “These units are a huge improvement on the previous ones.” The new units are predom- inantly used by both medical and nursing students, doctors, and any allied health profes- sionals who may be working in Mildura on a temporary basis. “It’s for people on short- term placements, because ob- viously private rental accom- modation is very difficult to source if you’re here for three months, so that’s the rea- son we need to provide these units,” Ms Faulkner said. “People coming here for 13 weeks have somewhere they can stay rather than hav- ing to go out into the com- munity to pay short-term rates which would obviously make it very unaffordable and they would have a lot of issues get- ting doctors here to Mildura.” Melbourne-based medi- cal registrar Veronica Mezhov moved into the new units two weeks ago and said while ac- commodation issues wouldn’t have stopped her spending a stint in Mildura, it was an is- sue to consider before moving here. However she said word of the improved accommodation was certainly an issue for other doctors. “I had heard about the pre- vious accommodation which was apparently quite difficult to live in,” Ms Mezhov said. “I did hear from the doc- tors who just moved from the other accommodation that the new complex was so much more comfortable and made life a lot easier. “ The shortage and standard of accommodation for health professionals in Sunraysia became such an issue several years ago that a Tri State Re- gional Health and Accommo- dation Project was formed, in part to attract and retain more visiting health professionals with more affordable and bet- ter accommodation. The existing accommoda- tion at the time was described as “very dated and poorly re- sourced”, particularly in com- parison to facilities at Ballarat and Bendigo. At the time there was a push for funding from the Mallee Health Foundation, formerly known as the Mildu- ra Base Hospital Foundation, to pay for new accommoda- tion. Ultimately, the new ac- commodation complex was funded jointly by the Victori- an and Federal Governments. Ms Faulkner said the new units have had an immediate impact. “From our point of view at the hospital, it’s been great having the new units because we’ve obviously got more units than we had at the old building and therefore we’ve had more room to have dis- cussions with people about coming to Mildura, because we can now confidently say that, yes, we have accommo- dation available for you,” she said. Hospital units help attract new doctors • NEW FACES, NEW PLACES: The new Mildura Base Hospital Clinician and Student Accommodation complex contains 37 modern units. RIGHT: Mildura Base Hospital Medical Officer manager Kim Faulkner and visiting medical registrar Veronica Mezhov. NEW FACES, NEW PLACES: The new Mildura Base Hospital Clinician and Student Accommodation complex contains 37 modern units. RIGHT: Mildura Base Hospital Medical Officer manager Kim “We’ve definitely noticed a difference in the doctors since they’ve moved into the new complex, because their way of life away from the hospital is much more comfortable than it was pre- viously.” 204 Deakin Ave, Mildura Phone: 5021 2008 Sunday to Saturday 9am-7:30pm Deakin Lucky Lotto • Ken Knight • Peter Reid • Glenda Lucas This Weeks Winners Are:
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