Construction of stage one of Macquarie Home Stay (MHS) is under way with its volunteer board hoping to build two more stages by the time Dubbo Hospital’s integrated cancer centre is operational in 2020.
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MHS managing director Rod Crowfoot said “there’s still a lot of work to be done” as he watched an excavator dump soil into a truck on Thursday.
He was thrilled to see it arrive earlier this week at the 3.5 hectares of former Crown land owned by MHS, on the corner of Cobbora Road and Tony McGrane Place.
“We purchased the land under our own steam and Dubbo Regional Council in supporting us was able to donate money equivalent to the cost of the land,” he said.
MHS will need continuing support from Dubbo and the region as its patient and carer accommodation vision grows to include the needs of cancer sufferers.
“They are saying that the cancer treatment centre will be ready in 2020, so we need to have stage two complete and stage three up and running by then,” Mr Crowfoot said.
“So within the next three years we’ve got a lot of fundraising and a lot of grant options to pursue.”
The plan to build a home-away-from-home for western region residents needing the services of Dubbo Hospital previously scored a $3.3 million grant from the state government.
“The government grant is covering much of the construction cost of stage one,” Mr Crowfoot said.
“Donations and sponsorships we’ve received will cover the fit-out and other bits and pieces.”
Mr Crowfoot said a “number of donations and sponsorships received in the past six month” had been earmarked for stage two.
The project’s master plan has received development approval from the council, but Mr Crowfoot said MHS would seek to have it modified for stage three accommodation for cancer patients.
“It probably will need to be a bit bigger,” he said.
Maas Constructions is building stage one that will have 14 guest rooms and shared kitchen and common areas.
The “affordable” rooms will be occupied by the end of 2018.