Goulburn Valley Hospice Care Service officially opened its new building in Shepparton on Thursday night, on the back of being ranked the number one community palliative care service nationally.
The organisation received the recognition through the University of Wollongong’s palliative care outcomes collaboration where services voluntarily submit data about their patient outcomes.
“We have slowly risen up the ranks but in the past six months we were the number one community organisation nationally, of about 70 organisations that contribute their data,” GV Hospice executive manager Wendy Ross said.
“It’s an exciting thing, especially given the COVID-19 situation and the fact we were in temporary buildings; so it’s been a great indicator of the work the staff do.”
Now all those staff are working under the same roof in the service’s new purpose-built home at 102 Balaclava Rd, Shepparton, after previously working out of multiple locations.
“It’s allowed us to have clinical rooms and to comfortably house our expanding workforce,” Ms Ross said.
“It gives us space for education and support groups, and it shows a lot of foresight because we have great upstairs rooms that can be utilised for other things and bring in income.”
GV Hospice president Jeanette Powell said the move had been a long time coming, with the buildings they had been in not meeting current health standards.
“This meets all the standards we need and it will take us into hopefully the next 20 years — as the community’s needs grow we will be able to grow with them,” she said.
GV Hospice is a non-profit organisation that offers 24/7 support to Greater Shepparton community members with life-limiting illness, their families and carers to live life well.
For information, visit gvhospice.com.au or call 5822 0068.