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My Westmead

We often get asked what the My Westmead campaign is really all about, and how it relates to our organisation, Westmead Medical Research Foundation. We've tried to answer those questions below. However, if you have any further queries or concerns, please don't hesitate to call us on 1800 639 037

What is My Westmead, exactly?

My Westmead is a public campaign, run by Westmead Medical Research Foundation, with two key goals:

   1. Celebrating the great stories of Westmead: world class medical services, and compassionate care
   2. Raising urgently needed funds to purchase new medical equipment and facilities for Westmead Hospital and Westmead Millennium Institute.

Where does the money go?

We asked doctors at Westmead Hospital and Westmead Millennium Institute to identify their top priority needs to ensure that patients receive the best possible medical care and our researchers can continue their life saving work.

Our 2010/11 list consisted of life-saving, intensive care equipment for premature babies and heart surgery patients; refurbishments for critically-ill patients in palliative care and young people who suffer from psychoses and suicidal tendencies; and important equipment for use across the hospital, such as wheelchairs and a portable ultrasound machine.

Westmead is a public hospital. Isn't it publicly funded?

Public health is an excellent system that sets Australia apart - in a good way - from many other nations.

However, public funding does not cover everything, and the items on our fundraising list are outside (above and beyond) what is covered by public funding. It will be used to literally save lives in some cases, and make life much easier for patients in others.

You are probably familiar with fundraising activities for public hospitals: the Children's Hospital has done this extremely well for years.

If our community gets behind Westmead, we can make a great hospital even better.

Westmead isn't my local hospital. Why does it matter to me?

If you live anywhere in Greater Western Sydney (including the Auburn, Blacktown, Penrith, Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains, Fairfield, Liverpool, Bankstown, Campbelltown and Wollondilly local government areas), Westmead provides specialist medical services to you and your family.

This includes cancer care, brain surgery, heart surgery, kidney and pancreas transplants, aged care, trauma, and intensive care for newborn babies. In addition, if you live in Parramatta, Holroyd or Baulkham Hills, Westmead is your local district hospital.

We encourage you to support your local hospital. But Westmead Hospital also urgently needs your help. And if you live in Sydney's west and the worst happens, you may need to call on Westmead for help at some point in the future.

Don't you only raise funds for medical research?

Westmead Medical Research Foundation has been raising funds to support the work of researchers at the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research for 20 years, and we proudly continue to do so.

In September 2010, we signed a historic agreement that also allowed us to raise funds for Westmead Hospital. We are doing this through My Westmead, the biggest fundraising and awareness-building campaign in the Hospital's history.