A 182-WORD letter to the Gannawarra Times, which went viral on social media last week, has been noticed by a national television breakfast program.
Cohuna was put on the map when local doctor, Peter Barker, was interviewed live on the Weekend Today program on Sunday, regarding his amusing, but concerning, letter which questioned the State Government’s funding priorities.
Dr Barker drew attention to the government’s recent $250,000 funding toward saving 1000 penguins at the St Kilda Marina and to the repeated, but ignored, requests from the Cohuna District Hospital to replace broken equipment.
“We are just here to make the point that rural people are vulnerable… we get less funding, we are on the end of the pipeline,” he told the hosts, who described it as a “catchy campaign”.
“Of course funds to save penguins is important, but we believe the health of rural people is just as important as penguins.”
Dr Barker’s daughter, Holly, posted the letter, published on April 5, on Facebook, which was shared more than 1000 times by concerned locals, many of whom now dub themselves as “bush penguins”.
Close to 300 people gathered at Cohuna’s Garden Park, waving placards and penguin faces behind Dr Barker while he was interviewed.
“It was a great community show of solidarity,” Dr Barker said.
“The hospital is well supported by our community and we would like to think the Department of Health [and Human Services] would recognise this and allow the well-skilled staff there to get on with the job of supporting our town by funding equipment and staff as appropriate.”
Soon after Dr Barker’s letter made it onto social media, a former local, Kane Church, set up an online fund-raising drive, which has raised more than $30,000 to help finance an upgrade of the hospital’s cardiac defibrillator and an anaesthetic machine.
Dr Barker said the hospital would “gladly” accept “reject” equipment from the base when they rebuild, “as some is better than none”.
“The big issues of equitable funding to the State was raised as there is a Federal election coming and all Victorians are suffering, but it seems we in the bush suffer more,” he said.
Locals celebrated the three-minute publicity, with the Lions Club of Cohuna cooking a barbecue breakfast, with gold coin donations going to the hospital.
“I note some of the kids held banners – ‘natural gas for our town’ and ‘fluoridate our water’ – good things that others get, but it seems our taxes support them only,” Dr Barker said.
“Basic life-saving equipment is all that we request.”
