Bandon locals rally to raise €240k for hospital dayroom

Construction of a €3.44m community hospital has been completed — but locals have to raise funds to build a dayroom for the facility.

Around €240,000 has to be raised by the Friends of Bandon Community Hospital to fund the construction of a dayroom at the new complex in the West Cork town, as the Government will not pay for one.

Patricia Brennan, spokeswoman for the board of directors of the Friends of Bandon Community Hospital which is overseeing the fund-raising campaign for the new dayroom, said the group was happy to raise the funds.

“We were happy to do so because we knew it was for the benefit of the community as a whole. When a resident moves into a nursing home now, it is their home and we want it to be as comfortable and as attractive as possible.

“We have located the proposed dayroom at the front of the building because it’s busy there with lots to look at.”

In September 2015, the Friends’ group formed a board of directors specifically tasked with raising money to build a dayroom at the front of the proposed new hospital building.

Ms Brennan said the proposed dayroom, on which construction began earlier this month, would be bright and spacious, with floor to ceiling glass windows.

The dayroom is expected to be completed by November or December of this year. Construction on the new hospital building finished this month.

Once open, the complex will accommodate about 25 elderly residents and will have provision to provide palliative care and facilitate patients with dementia.

In a statement Cork Kerry Community Healthcare acknowledged the hard work and dedication of the group: “We would like to thank and acknowledge the Friends of Bandon Community Hospital for their ongoing commitment to the facility.

“Over many years, they have provided invaluable financial assistance for the purchase of equipment and decoration at the community hospital. We are particularly grateful to the Friends for their agreement to fund a day room at the front of the new extension to Bandon Community Hospital.

“This day room was not part of the capital funding allocated to the project.”

Meanwhile, the old community hospital building is expected to continue to be used for a number of purposes such as administration, physiotherapy and a mental health unit.