Your support will save lives around Queensland, Australia and the World
As one of Australia’s largest hospitals offering extensive and specialist tertiary and quaternary health care services, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) cares for patients far beyond its Herston campus.
The reach and impact of RBWH is immense.
RBWH and its Trauma Service is one of largest and busiest major trauma centres in Queensland, and is on standby to provide medical expertise for a large part of Queensland and emergency support to Queensland, Northern NSW and the Pacific Rim during times of natural disasters and multi-casualty events.
- Professor Martin Wullschleger
RBWH Director of Trauma and Co-Chair of QLD Trauma Clinical Network
Regional and national impact
Remote patient retrieval and treatment
Many critically ill patients are transported from international, and regional and remote areas to be treated at the RBWH. Additionally, through the strategic use of new technologies and the latest portable medical equipment, RBWH provides health services across Queensland, northern New South Wales, the Northern Territory and surrounding Pacific Region.
Training and education
RBWH provides regional and remote community, GP and health worker education. One key program is the Queensland-wide high-school eduction program called ‘Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma In Youth’ (P.A.R.T.Y.). The P.A.R.T.Y. Program is a one-day injury awareness and prevention program for youth age 15 and older, designed to reduce death and injury in alcohol, drug and risk-related crashes and incidents.
National and international impact
As one of the top 100 hospitals in the world, RBWH impact reaches across the globe through medical and clinician-led research that changes world practice, the education of clinicians in other countries, and the treatment of patients during international disasters.
Internationally, RBWH is recognised as a research leader in the fields of cancer care; burns, trauma and critical care; neonatology and infectious diseases.
Many complex cases will be transferred to the RBWH where patients have access to RBWH’s renowned multidisciplinary approach to injury and disease.
RBWH research impact and collaborations are global.
RBWH staff provide COVID-19 support and expertise to neighbouring countries, respond to natural disasters, deploy as military reservists and train some of the world’s upcoming researchers.
RBWH has Fellowship Programs with applicants from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Singapore and USA and provides health professional education and training throughout Queensland, nationally and internationally.
The gift of a life lived large
Beaudine Cairns is an outback adventurer who travels Australia with her family in an aptly named social media blog, ‘Holiday Road’.
But in 2019, without the intervention of Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) infection specialists, Beaudine’s escapades came dangerously close to ending.
She had been battling an untreatable leg ulcer which regional doctors were unable to halt.
“RBWH didn’t just save my leg, they gave me back my life and I’m always going to be so thankful for that,” said Beaudine.
At RBWH, Beaudine was treated by a Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) comprised of five different specialities.
"At RBWH, we have the facilities, the ability to investigate, diagnose and treat in all the range of sub-specialities, and provide specialist nursing and allied health care,” said Director of RBWH Internal Medicine Services, Associate Professor Cameron Bennett.
Five weeks after arriving at RBWH, Beaudine was sent home for the last time. Her leg has completely healed and the 20-year-old is now planning to trek the width of Australia on camels with her entire family.
“When I’m running down a road or running after something, I’m always going to think, how great these doctors were and what they did for me,” said Beaudine.
A monthly gift will support regional and remote patient care projects, and research with international impact
While every donation makes a difference, monthly gifts are the most powerful way to help ensure more ongoing life-saving projects are funded - including health projects and research for regional and remote areas.
