Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Foundation The Extraordinary Power of Giving Celebration 2022

Chair of Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Foundation, Ms Susan Buckley, Deputy Chair Ms Kristin Devitt and Board Members; CEO and this evening’s Master of Ceremonies, Ms Simone Garske; Executive Director of RBWH, Dr David Rosengren and Acting Executive Director, Ms Gillian Nasato; Board Chair of Metro North Hospital and Health Service, Mr Jim McGowan; other distinguished guests; donors and supporters; ladies and gentlemen, good evening.

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we gather, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.

I am pleased to join you this evening to celebrate and honour the vital contribution the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Foundation is making to the wellbeing of Queenslanders.

While tonight I address you as Governor of this State and your new Patron, I remain, of course, a passionate healthcare professional.

Supporting the important endeavors of the Foundation is a key part of my pledge to encourage a healthy and active Queensland throughout my vice-regal term.

Because, while we are truly fortunate that the RBWH provides Queenslanders with world-class care—delivered through the efforts of a large, dedicated team of medical experts—I also know how much our public hospitals rely on the generosity and vision of external donors to be able to continuously evolve and innovate.

As our State’s largest and busiest hospital, the RBWH cares for over 600,000 patients each year.

Compare this to 1867—the first year of the hospital’s operation at the Herston location—when there were a total of just over 4,500 patients treated.

This provides some perspective of the growth in demand—and the inherent complexities that come with it—now being placed on the hospital’s services.

Yet it also highlights how necessary it is to continually seek new ways to advance treatment and patient care, and build on specialist knowledge, as our population simultaneously increases and ages.

Integral to this is the compassion of donors, who through the Foundation are helping to forge groundbreaking, beneficial healthcare pathways by investing in life-changing medical research projects.

Your amazing financial support ensures that the RBWH and its research partners are always pushing ahead; that our brilliant scientists are given the chance to explore new frontiers in medicine that will have the power to transform health outcomes here and globally.

Your contribution is making a real difference to saving lives, now and into the future, as it helps the RBWH strengthen and expand its facilities and programs.

On behalf of all Queenslanders, I applaud you for your altruism, but also for your foresight, and take this opportunity to encourage others in the community to follow your lead.

There really is “extraordinary power” in giving.

I also thank the Foundation’s Chair and Board, Hospital and Foundation Executives and Staff, and our State’s incredible Researchers for your unflagging commitment to helping others.

I look forward to celebrating more of your successes.