Regional health services to receive $3 million boost

The Good Friday Appeal will invest $3 million dollars in six Victorian regional health services following record breaking donations in 2024.

The Good Friday Appeal will invest $3 million in Victorian regional health services to help sick kids get world-class care closer to home.

Good Friday Appeal chairman Penny Fowler said: “This funding will further enhance regional capacity, support essential projects to improve patient care, and provide regional hospitals with crucial resources.”

In 2024, six regional health services shared $2.5 million from the record-breaking $23,368,724

raised by the Good Friday Appeal.

They included Barwon Health, Latrobe Regional Health, Goulburn Valley Health, Albury Wodonga Health, Grampians Health and Bendigo Health.

Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas, Mrs Fowler and Good Friday Appeal executive director, Rebecca Cowan, will announce “an additional $3 million in funding for these regions” at an event in Geelong on Monday.

Children like Tom O'Shannassy who has refractory epilepsy will benefit from the funding boost. Picture: Alan Barber

The Good Friday Appeal, which supports Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, has raised $468 million for sick kids and their families.

Ms Cowan said regional funding helps “support vital projects aimed at enhancing patient care and equipping regional hospitals with much-needed resources.”

She added: “We want to ensure that regional Victorians have access to high-quality health care closer to home.”

Tom O’Shannassy, 6, who has a rare condition which causes epilepsy and seizures, knows too well the benefits of receiving health care in Geelong, a 20-minute drive from his family’s home in Bannockburn.

The brave boy lives with refractory epilepsy, which means his condition cannot be treated with standard medications.

Tom takes three anti-seizure medications twice a day, and follows a strict ketogenic (high-fat, low-carbohydrate) diet.

His mother, Jess, says Tom’s seizures began when was 2.

“I thought he was playing around, until he became unresponsive,” Jess said. “Then different seizure types started happening. We got good control over it, and he was seizure free for two and a half years … and life was normal.”

Jess, Maggie, Ollie, Daniel and Tom. Tom O'Shannassy is a case study for GFA regional launch. Picture: Alan Barber

However, in March last year, Tom’s seizures “came back with a vengeance … like nothing we’ve ever experienced.”

Since then, Jess has slept in Tom’s room every night to monitor her son.

“He has a lot of nocturnal seizures,” Jess says. “If I’m not waking up to him having a seizure, I’m waking up to check his breathing. That’s our life, but we make the most of it.”

Tom missed half of the school year in 2024 due to overnight seizures and tiredness the next day. He plays cricket and takes swimming lessons.

But the Hawks fan is especially keen to play his first season of Auskick soon.

Jess said Tom, and his supportive siblings Ollie, 12, and Maggie, 10, have faced his condition with courage and understanding.

“It’s difficult,” Jess said. “The kids will often ask, ‘Will you be here in the morning?’ because we quite often get an ambulance overnight to go to hospital.”

Jess O’Shannassy said funding for regional health services are invaluable for kids like Tom, and children and families facing similar challenges.

“Tom is amazing,” she says. “He accepts what’s going on and he doesn’t complain. The doctors and nurses go above and beyond for him.

“The hospital is not scary for Tom because he’s only had good experiences.”

Originally published as Regional health services to receive $3 million boost