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Bill Day, Chair of Wellington Hospital Foundation, recently spoke at the Eastern Hutt Rotary Club about building the Children's Hospital.
Bill explained how the new Children's Hospital is coming into being.
After years of unsuccessful political campaigning for the hospital Bill was delighted when in 2016, Mark Dunajtschik, a property developer, committed $50 million to the building of a children's hospital as his legacy, and as a gift to Wellington and the area from Whanganui and Napier in the north to Nelson and Marlborough in the south.
Rather than donate money, which would (said Mark) have led to committees and delays, he committed to building the hospital himself and, with government contributions for demolishing the old buildings and community contributions to fitting out, the new Children's Hospital would be a reality.
The building, with base isolation for earthquake resilience, should be completed by March 2021. It will have 60 patient beds, in mini-suites where parents can also stay overnight, as well as birthing and outpatients units.
Bill's enthusiasm and dynamism shone – the Foundation chose well in making him Chairman.