South West regional hub

Ambulance Wish Western Australia is thrilled to announce the official opening of its new regional hub in Busselton aimed at helping terminally ill patients achieve their last wishes.

At the official launch last night [Thursday 12 December] attendees heard how relocating a Wish Ambulance will benefit terminally ill residents in the South West, the benefits of fulfilling final wishes; a description of examples of wishes already fulfilled in the South West; and had an opportunity to explore the features of the Wish Ambulance, including power inverters, air mattresses and a fridge. The event was attended by a variety of residents from the South West, including WA Liberal Leader and Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vasse, Libby Mettam; healthcare professionals; and Ambulance Wish Western Australia volunteers.

The event also saw the signing of a partnership agreement between Ambulance Wish Western Australia and Busselton Hospice Care designed to enhance the overall experience and quality of life for individuals in palliative care. 

During an individual’s final months, weeks or days, Ambulance Wish Western Australia makes it possible to bring terminally ill West Australians joy and comfort through visiting a familiar place that reignites precious memories, or the fulfilment of something special on their bucket list that can give them a sense of achievement and excitement. It provides an opportunity to gather family and friends to create a lasting memory, one last celebration of their loved one.

Ambulance Wish Western Australia is a dedicated, volunteer-run and donor-funded service and Wish Recipients are accompanied by qualified and trained volunteers. The volunteer team eases the suffering of the terminally ill by allowing them to experience joyous family occasions, visit family and friends, meaningful places, or do simple everyday activities that would otherwise be out of reach.

The relocation of a Wish Ambulance (named Kees) to Busselton will increase the ability of South West WA residents with a terminal illness to access the Final Wish Programme – previously Wish Ambulances needed to travel from Perth to undertake wishes in the South West. 

“The establishment of a regional hub, with the assistance of some of our fantastic team of volunteers, will make it even easier to provide wishes for those in end-of-life care in the South West. We are absolutely delighted that we have been able to accomplish this – especially because we are a little charity which receives absolutely no funding or governmental support and is entirely run on donations by volunteers”, said Ambulance Wish Western Australia co-founder and Management Committee Chair, Susie Wilson.

“Without a vehicle locally, one in seven wishes that we fulfil comes from the South West region, so having a local hub is expected to make a huge difference, not only to the ease with which these wishes can be fulfilled, but also to our volunteer availability without the need to travel to and from Perth each time. Our charity has already made a big impact – with many of our South West volunteers coming to us with experience of witnessing the difference a fulfilled wish can make. We are excited and looking forward to making a difference for people receiving end-of-life care and support in the South West community.”

While Ambulance Wish Western Australia has been fulfilling final wishes in the South West since launching its Final Wish Programme, the Registered Charity has recently experienced an increase in the number of wishes from the South West, not only from Busselton Health Campus and St John of God Bunbury Hospital, but from local nursing homes and those receiving care in the community.

Ambulance Wish Western Australia is a dedicated, volunteer-run and donor-funded service and Wish Recipients are accompanied by qualified and trained volunteers -including health care professionals who volunteer their time. The charity receives no formal funding at all and is entirely dependent on the generosity of both its volunteers and the kindness of people in the communities it serves. Support the South West regional hub by making a donation here or using the below donation form.

The charity has just started a ‘Better Beds” fundraising campaign to raise funds to replace the manual ambulance stretchers with new electric stretchers and loading mechanism which will improve comfort for wish recipients; increase the capability to fulfil more final wishes; and reduce the risk of manual handling injuries to the volunteer ambulance crews.