Helping put food on the table
April 2020
| Some of our most vulnerable patients have been offered a helping hand during the COVID-19 crisis, with the Western Health Foundation organising grocery boxes of basic pantry staples, thanks to donations from our community. The patients, identified through the BreastWest and Greatest Need support programs, will receive a delivery of essential grocery items to help get them through this difficult time. Items include toilet paper and ingredients for meals and snacks. BreastWest Support Officer Jennie Wetzler welcomed the support. "With supermarkets experiencing stock outages of many essential items, this directly affects our patients. The last thing we want is for our patients who are immunocompromised to have to make multiple trips to the supermarket and expose themselves unnecessarily just to find basic grocery items," she said. "At any time, a breast cancer diagnosis will have a financial impact to patients. On top of this some have lost their jobs or partners have lost their jobs. The grocery boxes are something we can do to help them out during this difficult time."
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Tiffany Crossland, Western Health ACE Coordinator preparing a grocery delivery for a Greatest Need recipient.
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Patients identified through the Greatest Need Project will also benefit from the grocery boxes. These patients are some of the most vulnerable in the community often experiencing multiple hospital admissions for chronic conditions and experiencing financial hardship.
Additionally, Sunshine Hospital has also established 'The Pantry' for those in immediate need of necessary grocery items. This might be for a patient being discharged to an empty home for example, to assist them in settling in and recovering for a few days without having the added worry of going to a supermarket. Patients can gain immediate access to basic grocery items donated through the Western Health Foundation. Plans are in progress for pantry staples to be available at Footscray Hospital in the near future.
