Brightwater Care Group is nine months and $3 million away from completing its new brain injury rehabilitation centre in East Victoria Park, one of a handful of state-of-the-art medical facilities cropping up across Perth.
The organisation embarked on a $20 million capital-raising program three years ago to fund the redevelopment project.
The state government kicked in $4 million, Lotterywest donated $8 million and Brightwater chipped in $2 million from its reserves. It relied on donors to raise the balance of $6 million.
Construction started in August last year despite Brightwater still being $3 million short of its target.
The first phase of the project is set for completion later this month. Final completion is due in March next year.
Brightwater chief executive Penny Flett explained that starting construction before all the money was raised was not a decision made on a whim.
“We started when we knew that we had enough, when we knew that if we got no more at all, that Brightwater, over a period of time, could manage that,” Dr Flett said.
“If the philanthropic funding dried up, what were we going to do, not build?”
The facility, which includes 35 individual rooms, will double Brightwater Oats Street’s capacity to rehabilitate people with acquired brain injuries sustained through trauma and other events such as strokes.
It will have a full spectrum of housing facilities, ranging from full-time care through to independent living.
Two facilities for the WA Institute of Medical Research (WAIMR) are also under construction.
A new education and training centre for ear nose and throat surgery recently opened at the Ear Science Institute of Australia (ESIA) in Subiaco and a capital-raising program is about to get under way for a new centre for restorative neurology and training, run by the Australian Neuro-muscular Research Institute (ANRI), to potentially be based at the Hollywood Hospital in Nedlands.
WAIMR’s facilities are worth a combined $200 million, $50 million of which came from the state government under former premier Alan Carpenter’s plans to develop two medical hubs at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and what would become the Fiona Stanley Hospital site in Murdoch.
Another $50 million came from the University of Western Australia. WAIMR director Peter Klinken then approached the federal government for funding through the Medical Research Infrastructure Fund.
WAIMR managed to secure $67 million after two years of intensive lobbying. It has also picked up interest earnings of $18 million.
Professor Klinken said the fund-raising process was an eye-opening experience. “You don’t just go in for a single meeting with the minister and assume everything is done,” he said.
“You really need to be talking to the minister’s advisers, the heads of various departments, bureaucrats at various levels to get support, feedback, to understand what the Commonwealth is interested in and how your proposal can actually match national policy,” he said.
More funding was also secured from Lotterywest ($5.4 million), the McCusker Foundation ($1.5 million) and the Stan Perron Foundation.
Brightwater strategic development manager Heiko Plange, who managed the group’s capital-raising program, said that because it had a relatively low profile and the broader community had little understanding of the work done at Oats Street, it was important to highlight the credibility of the organisation.
Economic consultancy ACIL Tasman was contracted to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the Oats Street facility and found the program gave a generous return on investment to the community.
“It was important to us that there was a real rationale we were the best organisation to deliver this project,” Mr Plange said.
“A philanthropist doesn’t get a return on their investment as such but we have been very focused on making sure that we can demonstrate impact.”
The organisation used some traditional methods for garnering support – like having a fund-raising committee and getting patrons on board (former politician Fred Chaney, Western Australia’s chief scientist, Lyn Beazley, and neurosurgeon Bryant Stokes) and has developed initiatives like the Leaping Lizards, a community group which aims to raise $500,000 for the finishing touches such as landscaping at Oats Street.
ESIA’s surgical training and education facility was funded by a $2.7 million grant from the federal government after the organisation partnered with Notre Dame University, St John of God Health Care and UWA to meet the grant’s criteria. It was also advised by consultants Medical Synergies on its case for funding of the Centre for Ear Nose and Throat Education and Research.
ANRI’s centre for restorative neurology and training will cost about $18 million and the plan is to raise the money through a mixture of government and philanthropic support, with the shortfall funded by clinical activities.
