MEDIA RELEASE
Canberra’s health care workers have been overwhelmed by the generosity and support the local community has provided them throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
The Canberra Hospital Foundation’s #CHFCareShare campaign has been so popular it has already received close to 3,700 donations for our healthcare workers at Canberra Health Services.
CHF CEO Helen Falla said the variety of donations came with a clear message: “thank you for keeping us safe”. “Although we are not through this pandemic yet, it’s clear that the Canberra community values highly the nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, security teams, cleaning staff and administrators who are unrelenting in their drive to keep us safe and healthy,” Ms Falla said.
“Nearly four thousand health care workers have been touched by this generosity because the donations reassured them that the work they are doing, day in day out, is not going unnoticed,” Ms Falla said.
Nadia Burkolter, Project Manager for the Canberra Health Services COVID-19 Response Plan, who worked closely with the Foundation on the campaign, said she had the privilege of working on keeping our staff, patients, and community safe.
“Being involved and seeing the communities’ generosity was by far the highlight on any given day for me,” Ms Burkolter said.
The donations provided ranged from cooked meals to self-care pamper packages, chocolates, fruits, and hand-drawn cards of love and support from school children.
A popular favourite was the 150 meal donations by a local Indian restaurant, aptly named ‘Daana’ which means in the spirit of generosity.
Chefs Sunita and Sanjay Kumar said they wanted to share the care in a very practical way.
“By giving the meals we hoped to give some moments of pure happiness and to bring some smiles and we wanted to support their wonderful efforts in keeping all of us safe,” said Sanya.
“On the very first delivery, the staff of the Calvary pathology unit showed up and waved handmade "Thank You" cards from their glass wall clinic. It was something unexpected and showed their appreciation.”
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