Macquarie Home Stay is more than just a motel, it is a home away from home for people who need it most.
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Macquarie Home Stay's aim is to provide short-term accommodation for patients and their families or carers who have travelled from the region to use the services of the Dubbo Hospital.
These patients may include expectant mothers prior to giving birth, day surgery patients and people requiring treatment at the hospital who may require accommodation immediately prior to or post admission to the hospital.
With land inside Tony McGrane Place, Yarrandale Road and the Golden Highway, there is a lot of room for expansion, something that is at the forefront of executive director Rod Crowfoot's mind.
With plans in place, Mr Crowfoot is looking at a phase one expansion to take them from 17 units to 63.
"This is on a basis of what demand is already there, not what we think it will be. On Tuesday, August 6 I turned away eight bookings for Wednesday alone," he said.
"They were people who needed accommodation and we couldn't fit them in."
Mr Crowfoot explained moving forward they would build 26 units for oncology, a new office and administration building with commercial laundry, family units and 14 general accommodation units.
"I can put people in them as soon as they're built," he said.
The need is real
Mr Crowfoot has been informed there are people who are delaying coming to Dubbo for treatment because they can't afford to stay in motels or there aren't any availability.
"The commercial motel market is so strong because of tourism so there is a lot of patients that need to be here at certain times and they are physically struggling to find accommodation generally," he said.
As much as we're bricks and water, we are about the people, to give them access to stuff and help them with whatever they're going through.
- Managing director Rod Crowfoot
Mr Crowfoot wants to be able to give people certainty but currently they are unable to do that due to the demand.
"I had a phone call from a gentleman the other night at 2.30am, he asked if we had a room, and I said 'no I don't we're full, try other motels' but they are closed at that time of night," he said.
If Macquarie Home Stay have a room available they have after hours check in that allow people to come at 2.30am but instead the man ended up sleeping on a waiting room chair at the hospital.
"By being able to expand we will make sure people get a good night sleep and they will have somewhere warm or cool to stay when they have to," he said.
How it all began
The seed of Macquarie Home Stay started in July 2011 and after years of research, the group decided they would build accommodation to support medical treatments.
It wasn't until January 2019 that they opened the current 17 units.
"The initial driver was maternity, helping the mums that have to come in from all over northern and western NSW for birth," he said.
"The research we did worked out there was so much more than just maternity needed, there were so many other treatments they had to travel for."
Mr Crowfoot received some solid advice by the NSW Health service to "plan for the unexpected", advice that has served them well.
"An example of that is the Western Cancer Centre, when we first started off with this, the cancer centre wasn't on the radar and now it is," he said.
"So what we've learnt over the past 3.5 years is what has worked well for patients but what we need to change to better support patients, depending on treatments."
Around 30 percent of the current residents at Macquarie Home Stay attend as one person, meaning that not every room needs to be set up for two people.
"We can create some better efficiencies in the size of rooms. A number of our guests are coming in as a family so we need to provide some family units that support that larger family environment," he said.
For oncology, the team have made changes such as maintaining temperature variations for those patients that are extremely unwell and added a kitchenette into their rooms so they don't have to socialise.
"If someone is having a good day or they do want to be social they have the opportunity to use the common room as well," he said.
Mr Crowfoot said they have listened to patients and adapted to their needs.
"We are designing stuff that the community needs and wants, what the patients need and what the treatments need and how we can support them with access and mobility," he said.
"We want to make accommodation appropriate to what they are going through."
Community support is valuable
Mr Crowfoot said what they've come to realise over the years is how they help the region be as healthy as it can.
"We have some clear evidence on how we've been able to help make that happen. We've certainly been able to help reduce the financial burden on patients when they come in for treatment," he said.
An example of that was when a gentleman stayed with Macquarie Home Stay for 201 nights in a row.
"In his particular case he didn't have to worry about deciding whether he was going to maintain his treatment regime on whether he could afford it or not," he said.
Mr Crowfoot said a lot of people hinge their treatment on costs associated with overnight stays, with many not able to work at the time and have other bills to pay.
"Our structures with bulk billing and everything else we can do makes sure our costs aren't a reason why people don't get their health care when they need to," he said.
Mr Crowfoot said some of the most important feedback Macquarie Home Stay has received is that they are a "safe place" to stay, from patients and their families.
"A number of ladies and gentleman who stay with us say the stresses they're going through can be really difficult and they know they have somewhere safe to go back to," he said.
"It's an element they don't have to worry about... I've had a number of patients family members come and say to us after the fact, 'I'm happy to leave mum at Home Stay because I know she will be safe and looked after' and for us that's been really powerful.
"We do help give that assurity in some of those uncertain times."
Funding for expansion
As a charity, Macquarie Home Stay rely on the generosity from those in the community.
"We have a number of people that make donations to us, a number of organisations have fundraising events that make a donation to us, we have a lot of people sponsor rooms and give us money to help us build it," Mr Crawfoot said.
Unfortunately this isn't enough.
"When looking at building costs into the millions and millions of dollars there's only so many lamington drives you can have, so many Bunning's barbecues you can have that will raise towards contributing to that," he said.
With the money the charity currently has, it will only go so far. They are currently looking at getting more state and federal government funding.
"We need that big cash injection to help us get across the line because we can only do so much as a charity when in reality we're only 3.5-years-old, so we are reliant on having some of those bigger parties come to the table to help us to do what we need," he said.
Mr Crowfoot said there would be an "enormous" return on investment as a result of the funding.
They did receive an election promise from the coalition, but with the change of government they are trying to create those discussions.
"That's ongoing and we really do need that big additional support to get us over the line," he said.
To build the next units it would cost more than $10 million.
"I could fill them as soon as it's finished," he said.
With the amount of pressure social workers are under at the hospital, Mr Crowfoot hoped they would be able to employ their own social worker in the future.
"It will allow us to expand and grow and do so many more things and help so many more people," he said.
"As much as we're bricks and water, we are about the people, to give them access to stuff and help them with whatever they're going through."
Sometimes Mr Crowfoot and his team are the first people residents talk to after the loss of a loved one.
"It can be a real challenge to look after ourselves and for the patient and their family to feel comfortable to share with us if we can help them along the way, thats a good thing too," he said.
What does the future looks like?
Mr Crowfoot has big plans for the future, wanting Macquarie Home Stay to be a fully developed site with all accommodation areas full.
"We've got a need there that we are very much servicing through provision of appropriate accommodation. So, the future for us would look like a really well developed and completed site that is being utilised by patients that are coming down," he said.
Another goal Mr Crowfoot would like to achieve is being seen as a charity of choice for people.
"I think there's really good quality charities out there," he said.
But Mr Crowfoot wants to build the Macquarie Home Stay brand so that it will be recognised by people when they hear the name.
The big masterplan for the site is to add another 80 units but they will wait and make sure it is appropriate for the patients at the time.
Mr Crowfoot said it was "touching" when they receive donations from patients or their families after a stay.
"It's touching they've chosen to support us because they've remembered we were important to them in whatever journey they've gone through too, it's pretty cool," he said.
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