NATIONAL NEWS
12 The Ramsay Way 2020 | 01
Australian hospitals raise $176,000 for
bushfire-ravaged communities
Ramsay Health Care and its employees have raised a combined $176,000 for communities affected by
Australia’s unprecedented bushfire disaster.
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.