{"id":115643,"date":"2015-07-25T01:36:05","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T15:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=115643"},"modified":"2020-11-20T11:45:18","modified_gmt":"2020-11-20T01:45:18","slug":"what-more-can-we-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2015\/07\/25\/what-more-can-we-do\/","title":{"rendered":"What More Can We Do?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Former South Burnett Private Hospital nurse Racheal Collier with Ava, 14 months, and husband Scott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 25, 2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Are 9265 signatures enough to convince someone somewhere that South Burnett residents really value their private hospital in Kingaroy and want to keep it open?<\/p>\n

South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann announced at Friday morning’s supporters’ rally that 8712 signed submission forms had been received back at Council just a week after the campaign was launched.<\/p>\n

But by the end of Friday another 553 forms, collected by local businesses, added to the tally.<\/p>\n

That’s 9265 signatures collected in just over a week from a region that only has about 33,500 residents in total – men, women and children!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Supporters of the South Burnett Private Hospital gathered from 7:00am on Friday to hear local GP Dr Debbie Tellam add her support for the hospital, and listen to another impassioned plea from Mayor Kratzmann.<\/p>\n

The red balloons, T-shirts, stickers and a live broadcast by CROW-FM added a colourful air to the rally but there was a serious message: 70 jobs have been lost since the hospital doors closed on June 30, and local residents could well die if another hospital operator cannot be convinced to take it over.<\/p>\n

Mayor Kratzmann said a magnificent facility was not being used “and that can’t be allowed to continue”.<\/p>\n

He pledged to continue to do his utmost to find a provider.<\/p>\n

“Hopefully I can get back to you in a week or two with some good news; if we don’t have good news I can assure it won’t be for the lack of trying,” he said.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kingaroy Rotary Club members were kept busy dispensing bacon and egg muffins, donated by SupaIGA to help the cause.<\/p>\n

Amongst the crowd were many former nurses from the hospital hopeful a new operator will be found quickly.<\/p>\n

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South Burnett Mayor Wayne Kratzmann added his signature to the supporters’ wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Debbie Dennien, Kingaroy, with Dr Debbie Tellam, from Markwell Medical<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Harrison Braithwaite, 8, from Kingaroy, signs the wall … his siblings Lawson, Patterson and Rhianon also signed<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Shaz from CROW-FM with station mascot
Charlene<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Charlene pops up again, this time with CROW-FM brekky announcer Corky<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Craig Yarrow was making sure everyone could be spotted supporting the hospital<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Darrin Kefford (Rotary) and John Box, from Kingaroy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Gary Cecil, Kingaroy, with Insp Mark Long (QFRS)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Des Cook, Neil Black and Lex Petersen, from Kingaroy Rotary, were kept busy serving up bacon and egg muffins … a queue formed at their booth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Cr Damien Tessmann, Alan Broome, Kingaroy; and Mayor Wayne Kratzmann<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Elaine Madill, Wondai, left; and Rhonda Kath, Benair; with Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Former South Burnett Private Hospital nurses … Jan Lang, Linda Nielsen and Marion Kucks, all from Kingaroy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Luke McCormack and Geoff Griffith, from Kingaroy<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Jo Lindner travelled from Yarraman to sign the wall<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Half of Markwell Street was blocked off with barriers to allow the crowd to listen to the speeches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Evan, Bryce and Barbara Winter, from Kingaroy … Bryce and Barbara were born at the old St Aubyns<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n
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Maureen Allott, Booie; with John Bjelke-Petersen, Kingaroy; and Carl Rackemann, Wooroolin<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Dennis Cotter, Kingaroy, and Frances Wyeth, from Tingoora, snap up a T-shirt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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South Burnett Child Care staff members Dana Slade and Estelle Wolski with Clare Petersen shared balloons and T-shirts (Photo: SBCCC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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