Petition for Springfield hospital garners support of 3500
A master planned community in one of southeast Queensland’s fastest growing areas is in desperate need of a public hospital as one mum relives her harrowing home birth saying women drive 45 minutes just to access maternity care.
Springfield News
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Young mothers in the Greater Springfield region are being forced to travel up to 45 minutes to access maternity care at Brisbane hospitals, or drive to Ipswich.
A petition started by the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce has rallied the support of more than 3500 people as it calls for a public hospital to service the growing community.
Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce president Neil Coupland said the area had a young demographic and a maternity hospital was essential, as was an emergency department and Intensive Care Unit.
Mother-of-three Chloe Aitken said a public hospital with a maternity ward would save time during an emergency as well as take pressure off surrounding hospitals.
Her husband recently delivered their youngest child at home during the middle of the night, unable to make it to Ipswich for the baby’s birth.
It was one of Mrs Aitken’s fears, having a baby at home, because of post-partum haemorrhaging — and that fear came true.
“Brisbane City has hospitals, Ipswich City has hospitals and Springfield is a satellite city and needs a hospital,” Mrs Aitken said.
“In times like today where Ipswich hospital has cancelled all non-urgent appointments because of a Covid-19 outbreak a public hospital in Springfield would be able to assist.”
Mrs Aitken was due to have her baby on August 22.
“I was having stop-start contractions for two days that started on August 24. At 9pm the next day my contractions had stopped and I went to bed. I woke up at 2am with contractions that were one to two minutes apart,” she said.
“By the time my mum came over to watch our girls, I was starting to feel pressure and said to my husband to call an ambulance, and Everly was born around 2.50am.
“The ambulance arrived five to 10 minutes later. If there was a hospital in Springfield I may have been able to make it.”
She said a hospital at Springfield for prenatal appointments leading up to the births of her children would have made things much easier.
“I live and worked in the community, my other two daughters go to school and daycare in the community.
“It would make sense to not have to travel outside of the community for a hospital and in these unprecedented times it would be safer to not have to travel for health care too.”
The safest place to have a baby is in a hospital and we were just very lucky that everything went well, Mrs Aitken said.
“I did haemorrhage again this time but the paramedics were there when it happened and were able to assist. We really were very lucky.”
Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce president Neil Coupland said it would take the pressure off Ipswich and Brisbane hospitals as well as reduce wait times.
He said a public hospital was always on the agenda for the master planned community however funding had not been forth coming.
“With the population not being enough to warrant in the earlier years, 28 years on now is the time,” Mr Coupland said.
“We are told the Mater are prepared to fund and build the hospital but need the State Government to agree to use the facility,” he said.
“We are told the Mater has secured land already and are in the design stage, almost ready to go.”
A Mater spokesperson said the Greater Springfield area was “one of the fastest growing communities in Australia and a greater range of hospital services would be well-received by the community”.
“Mater continues to work in partnership with Queensland Health and West Moreton Hospital and Health Service to support and enhance our healthcare services in the Greater Springfield community,” the spokesperson said.
Mr Coupland said with thousands of young families moving to the Greater Springfield and Ripley Valley areas, support for a public hospital was “very high”.
With unemployment at an all-time high due to COVID-19, a global pandemic, Mr Coupland said a major reason the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce was behind the project was because it was estimated to create 800 jobs during construction and a further 1000 ongoing jobs when completed.
“This would be a major boost to the region and local businesses,” Mr Coupland said.
“Projects that benefit so many people in such a wide area don’t come along very often so when they do we need to get everyone on board to make this happen.
“Job creation should be at the forefront as we try to come out of these challenging times.
“It would also give future job seekers a glimmer of hope that when they are qualified there are positions available.”
To sign the petition visit change.org.au and search Greater Springfield Needs A Public Hospital
.