Women’s Health Week
By Zoe Waters, Executive Director, Barwon Health Foundation
Last week marked Women’s Health Week, a national reminder for women to prioritise their health, ask questions and seek the care and support they need.
But the importance of women’s health doesn’t end when the week does.
Here in Geelong, we are witnessing one of the most significant investments ever made in the health of women, children and families.
Barwon Women’s and Children’s is the largest health infrastructure investment in Geelong’s history, with more than $500 million committed by the Victorian Government, including $50 million from the Federal Government, to transform the way women’s and children’s healthcare is delivered.
The project will deliver a new children’s inpatient unit, neonatal and parent care unit, additional space for specialist clinics, more operating theatre capacity and expanded women’s health services at University Hospital Geelong.
After years of planning, it is exciting to see that future taking shape.
The new specialist clinics building and eight-storey tower are structurally complete, their external façades are finished and the tower cranes that became such a familiar part of Geelong’s skyline have been removed.
Construction has now moved to internal works and fit-out ahead of completion in 2028, with direct access to the Birthing Suites and Maternity Assessment Unit via Myers Street re-established.
Barwon Health nurses, midwives, doctors and support staff have been using cutting-edge virtual reality technology to model how the new spaces will work in practice, including an operating theatre, neonatal cot bay, procedure rooms and birthing room.
There has also been enormous thought given to how these spaces will feel, with designs drawing inspiration from the Barwon River, You Yangs and Bellarine Peninsula and creating connections to nature, place and Country.
For the Barwon Health Foundation, our role in this once-in-a-generation project is a very different one.
We are an independent charitable organisation working alongside our community to raise $12 million through the Barwon Women’s and Children’s Appeal.
These funds will complement the Government’s investment, supporting enhanced spaces and additional specialised medical equipment to further advance comfort and care for local women, babies, children and families.
Our community has already pledged more than $10 million, leaving just under $2 million to raise by June 2027.
But investing in women’s and children’s health isn’t only about the future.
To mark Women’s Health Week, the Barwon Health Foundation is proud to announce a further $40,000 investment, made possible thanks to our partners at Ceres Life, to purchase a dedicated ultrasound machine for breast imaging.
It is another tangible example of what philanthropy can make possible for local healthcare, by funding additional equipment..
Women’s Health Week may be over for another year, but the health of local women and families should remain something we talk about, invest in and champion every week of the year.
