A health infrastructure executive once remarked to Kerry Hort that constructing a new hospital was like building a small town.
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"This was a good analogy. But it really didn't prepare me for what a complex, multifaceted, frustrating, infuriating process it would be or how inspiring, challenging and absorbing it would also be," Ms Hort told Thursday's 70-strong gathering.
The Goulburn Base Hospital redevelopment project manager was speaking at a Thursday, June 20 event marking completion of the five-year upgrade.
As she explained, patients and community were key drivers of the $165 million project. Ms Hort, the Southern NSW Local Health District and Health Infrastructure NSW thanked the many people involved in the facility's largest upgrade in its history.
They included staff, planners, architects, builders and contractors and the many community members who volunteered and gave input. Their names have been enshrined on a large 'thank you board' in the hospital's entry.
The redevelopment includes a new clinical services building comprising main entry and hospital reception; emergency department; medical imaging department; intensive care unit; operating theatres, day surgery and recovery areas; medical, surgical, paediatric, rehabilitation inpatient units with four palliative care beds; a five-bed maternal and newborn unit, birthing suite and special care nursery, as well as paediatric and antenatal outpatient units.
Ms Hort said the project's inclusivity was a feature.
"One of the best parts was all the engagement with groups, listening to them and finding out what they were looking for," she told The Post.
"I found it very enjoyable and wanted people to feel like they were heard."
Their feedback and contributions are reflected in the many artworks, Springfield Place - a heritage walkway linking the old and new - courtyards, palliative care rooms, waiting areas, grassed courtyards with tank art and much more.
![Southern NSW Local Health District chief executive, Margaret Bennett, Goulburn Base Hospital redevelopment project officer, Kerry Hort, Health District board chair, Beth Hoskins and Health infrastructure NSW senior project director, Matt Malone. Picture by Louise Thrower. Southern NSW Local Health District chief executive, Margaret Bennett, Goulburn Base Hospital redevelopment project officer, Kerry Hort, Health District board chair, Beth Hoskins and Health infrastructure NSW senior project director, Matt Malone. Picture by Louise Thrower.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/FkT3ZusFw5YrTvZCipmLUF/dbffa0f0-f3b0-4dca-a209-be9834d9dd19.JPG/r0_114_4288_2801_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Ms Hort, the former Goulburn's health services general manager, said she discovered during early consultation that the Aboriginal community was "very unhappy with the hospital."
"I'd been in charge of the hospital for 10 years and I'd never realised that...I wanted to make sure they felt welcome and comfortable," she said.
Jennie Gordon's input into Aboriginal languages and culture, her work with elders, and artworks by local Aboriginal artists and school children have helped bridge this gap.
The arts and heritage working party, led my nurse unit manager, John Gale, blended the old and new in interesting displays. Heritage volunteers spent years cataloguing items from the hospital and Bourke Street Health Service.
"Remembering the past as we move to the future and valuing the people who came before us was something we really held onto," Ms Hort.
Health District CEO, Margaret Bennett, said the fact the old hospital's facade and foundation stone sat "so comfortably beside the new told a big story" about 130 years of health care.
"It's so important we take time to reflect on the journey," she said of the upgrade.
"There are so many people who brought this vision to life. It truly is the most magnificent hospital and it's already realising the investment in terms of patients being treated and the additional care we provide. It's a glorious celebration."
Ms Bennett especially praised Ms Hort whom she described as a "conscientious, experienced and steady project manager, deeply committed to the community."
Ms Hort started her long health career as a midwife in Crookwell and Goulburn and progressed to management.
As Goulburn Health Services manager, she'd watched lift breakdowns in the hospital, "clinical care spaces that were too small" and power outages that required a large generator to be trucked in to power the facility. Inpatient wards of four beds "impacted privacy, dignity and treatment space."
![Riki Mills, Roshiya John, Kerry Hort, Naomi Ruzsicska and Stefan Hese celebrate the hospital redevelopment's completion. Picture by Louise Thrower. Riki Mills, Roshiya John, Kerry Hort, Naomi Ruzsicska and Stefan Hese celebrate the hospital redevelopment's completion. Picture by Louise Thrower.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/FkT3ZusFw5YrTvZCipmLUF/dab39543-db02-4146-a065-b2f277d86888.JPG/r0_0_4288_2754_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Several improvements to the emergency department, an operating theatre and a new rehabilitation unit were completed but Ms Hort said by 2015, it was clear the hospital was "at the end of its life."
Former chief executive, Max Alexander, Ms Hort, former Goulburn Mulwaree mayor, Geoff Kettle, and the then Goulburn MP, Pru Goward, started the push for a new facility in 2014/15.
The state government granted $120m in 2017 for the hospital, a figure that grew to $150m in 2019 and $165m in 2021.
The project management role was an opportunity to channel her experience and tap into staff relations.
"We took a collaborative approach to this project and were very heartened by the level of interest and engagement by managers, staff, patients and the community," she said.
"...We were all on a journey together. We didn't get everything we wanted, nor could we afford everything we wanted. We had to become adept at the art of compromise."
She cited the many challenges, such as construction during COVID, and thanked staff for their adaptability during the build.
The clinical services building opened in 2021 and other parts of the upgrade have continued since. A new cancer care centre opened on June 6. The state government has allocated $5.1m in 2024/25 to complete the project.
![Nurse unit manager, John Gale, Aboriginal Network manager, Marion Knight, Monica Bridge, who completed the Aboriginal Art work in the hospital's foyer (behind), Southern Tablelands Arts executive director, Rose Marin and Kerry Hort. Picture by Louise Thrower. Nurse unit manager, John Gale, Aboriginal Network manager, Marion Knight, Monica Bridge, who completed the Aboriginal Art work in the hospital's foyer (behind), Southern Tablelands Arts executive director, Rose Marin and Kerry Hort. Picture by Louise Thrower.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/FkT3ZusFw5YrTvZCipmLUF/f2943ab7-34ee-4094-9cc3-3c2e9deef608.JPG/r86_219_4288_2830_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Remaining services at Bourke Street Health Service are relocating to the hospital.
Ms Hort believed community and staff input reflected positively on the result. She said the modernised hospital would serve the region well into the future but believed population would have to grow by 20,000 before the facility rose from level four to five status.
She told The Post the project was the highlight of her career. Ms Hort will retire after finishing touches are complete.
"I've enjoyed everything I've done...but this is the pick. What an opportunity to work on something like this - a lovely new hospital for Goulburn," she said.