Seeing the rising sun poking through the clouds, it is easy to forget that this is one of the most controversial developments in Queensland, the new Children's Hospital.
I don't intend to buy into the controversy but I will share a little anecdote which I think goes part of the way to explain why some parents are so concerned about the development. Soon, instead of having two children's hospitals in Brisbane one on each side of the river, there will be just one, the one on the Mater site being constructed in this photo.
My story starts less than an hour into 2008. We'd all said our "Happy New Years" and being the party animals we are, we went to bed. Then I heard a horrible noise from my son's bedroom and I found him blue, choking on vomit, and having a seizure. Although he had been diagnosed as having epilepsy he had been almost two year seizure free and this was a new level of terrifying.
An ambulance came quickly and we were asked which hospital. I suggested the Mater as that was where his neurologist was based.
The paramedic advised strongly against this saying trying to cross the river on New Year's Eve would be disastrous. We would be diverted. We would be delayed.
So we went to the Royal Children's Hospital.
I guess my point is that soon there will be no choice. If you live on the north side you will have to cross the river at a time when minutes really, really matter.
That's something to ponder as the sun rises on the dawn of a new children's hospital system in Brisbane,
Seriously a cracker of a shot Susan wow
ReplyDeletefab photo, scary story. I know here our local hospital shut the childrens' ward and centralised services 12 miles away. Problem being if parents and children injured in a car accident they take them to separate hospitals when surely it is the one time a child needs its parents
ReplyDeleteFantastic photo x
ReplyDelete