Ramsay Newsroom

Thousands of workers – both clinical and non-clinical – dug deep to raise almost $88,000 through a series of fundraisers and raffles held in January across more than 70 hospitals, clinics, day surgeries and corporate teams.

Ramsay has matched these donations dollar-for-dollar, bringing the total amount raised through its Bushfire Relief Appeal to $176,000. Proceeds from the fundraisers in Victoria, Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland will be donated to both the NSW Rural Fire Service and Country Fire Authority in Victoria. Proceeds from fundraisers in South Australia will be distributed to the South Australian Country Fire Service Foundation.

Ramsay Australia CEO, Danny Sims, said there had been an overwhelming response from staff who wanted to show their support for fire-affected communities, and do their part to assist with relief efforts.

“It is often during times of hardship that people display incredible generosity and band together; this has certainly been the case during this bushfire emergency. It is uplifting to see such care and goodwill among our teams at Ramsay,” Mr Sims said.

“Some of our own staff were among those people whose properties were damaged or destroyed in the blazes and their colleagues have really rallied around to support them.”

“The vision of our founder, Paul Ramsay, was to be a health care company with a philosophy of people caring for people. We strive to make sure this value is at the centre of everything we do.”

Ramsay’s Bushfire Relief Appeal was among a suite of national initiatives developed by Ramsay Health Care in response to the bushfire emergency.

Ramsay also committed to:

• Providing regular wages to Ramsay staff members who volunteered in emergency services, so they were financially supported while they served their communities.
• Providing financial assistance to Ramsay staff whose homes have been directly impacted by the bushfires.
• Providing access for all Ramsay staff and doctors to professional and confidential counselling, coaching and support through our Employee Assistance Program. This is a free 24/7 counselling service.

The Paul Ramsay Foundation has also set aside $30 million to support communities affected by the bushfires. This amount was one of the largest individual donations to the bushfire appeal. An initial $3 million is being provided to the Red Cross, the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal and St Vincent de Paul for immediate relief efforts with the remaining funding allocated to longer-term work with disadvantaged communities.

In addition to Ramsay Health Care’s national initiative, many hospitals have undertaken their own local activities to support the bushfire relief effort in their local communities. This includes sourcing medical supplies and donating them to wildlife carers who are treating injured animals.