The Medical Centre
A community-built facility designed to keep local healthcare strong, accessible and close to home.
Securing affordable healthcare
In 2021 the Mirboo North & District Community Foundation completed the development of a purpose-built medical and allied health facility on Mirboo North’s main street at a cost of $1.85 million. This building was then leased by the Mirboo North Medical Centre and it opened its doors with twice the space of their previous premises.
“The Community Foundation built this facility to strengthen and sustain the medical services across its district,” explained Paul Pratt, then Chair of the Mirboo North & District Community Foundation. “We worked closely with the Mirboo North Medical Centre practice to help secure their mission of providing a medical and health service of excellence without financial discrimination in an accessible location.”
The Mirboo North Medical Centre has always been a bulk billing medical practice. In working to set the terms of the Medical Centre facility lease, a reduced rent was agreed to allow for the practice to continue their bulk billing service, securing affordable healthcare for local residents.
“The Mirboo North Medical Centre has exceeded all our expectations in providing a purpose-built facility to provide affordable and accessible medical and allied health services to all in our community.”
Securing affordable healthcare
In 2021 the Mirboo North & District Community Foundation completed the development of a purpose-built medical and allied health facility on Mirboo North’s main street at a cost of $1.85 million. This building was then leased by the Mirboo North Medical Centre and it opened its doors with twice the space of their previous premises.
“The Community Foundation built this facility to strengthen and sustain the medical services across its district,” explained Paul Pratt, then Chair of the Mirboo North & District Community Foundation. “We worked closely with the Mirboo North Medical Centre practice to help secure their mission of providing a medical and health service of excellence without financial discrimination in an accessible location.”
The Mirboo North Medical Centre has always been a bulk billing medical practice. In working to set the terms of the Medical Centre facility lease, a reduced rent was agreed to allow for the practice to continue their bulk billing service, securing affordable healthcare for local residents.
“The Mirboo North Medical Centre has exceeded all our expectations in providing a purpose-built facility to provide affordable and accessible medical and allied health services to all in our community.”
Serving the broader community
“The facility provides the basis for medical service provision over the next 30 years or more and will provide a platform for the attraction of high-quality medical practitioners on an ongoing basis, making the service sustainable.”
The new state-of-the-art facility is an impact investment by the Community Foundation, meaning that it sits on the Community Foundation’s balance sheet, giving a financial return which is lower than that of the broader investment portfolio, as well as a significant social return in the form of the improved health outcomes for the community.
There is a wonderful circularity to this story, as the Community Foundation’s origins were in community healthcare. The Mirboo North Bush Nursing Hospital, which was built in 1932, became Mirboo North Aged Care in 1994 and was sold in 2008 for $5 million.
The Community Foundation was created in 2010 to hold the proceeds from the sale and to invest it for the future of the communities that had previously used the hospital.
By 2020 the $5 million had grown to $8 million with more than $1.5 million distributed in grants and sponsorship across the community, when the Community Foundation decided to build the medical centre.
The Medical Centre is the Community Foundation’s most significant undertaking to date and one that will serve those who live in and around Mirboo North for generations.
Related Posts
- Impact, Mental Health
Gardiner Grant supports Teen Mental Health First Aid across South Gippsland
- Elana
- Impact
Timber Reclamation Project: Free Firewood for eligible local households
- Elana
- Impact, Older adults /seniors
Understanding Aged Care Services: Live Well at Home
- Elana