About Us

Barwon Health Foundation

By supporting the Barwon Health Foundation, you are helping to enhance the health of Geelong. Your generosity provides compassionate care, for the people of our region, through all stages of life and circumstance.

The Barwon Health Foundation aims to create happier, healthier lives by investing in the life-saving and life-changing work of Barwon Health. Our Foundation has a unique partnership with you, our community.

We unite to fund and enhance Barwon Health’s exceptional standards of care. We allow Geelong and the surrounding region to help themselves – and most importantly – to help others. Whether it’s to ‘return the favour’ of quality health care, to leave a lasting legacy, or to simply do good, funding a future of remarkable health services starts with us – the Greater Geelong community.

Here for you, when you need us most.

Our History

The history of the "Geelong Hospital" began in 1849 when a committee formed to establish a public hospital in Geelong.

After fundraising for several years, it was opened in 1853 as the Geelong Infirmary and Benevolent Asylum. This facility was renamed the Geelong and District Hospital (Kitchener Memorial) in 1924, and became officially known as the Geelong Hospital in 1966. This name was held until 2014 when the University Hospital Geelong title was adopted to signify Barwon Health’s position as a leading teaching and training provider.

Barwon Health

Barwon Health was formed on 1 April 1998 as the result of a voluntary amalgamation between:

  • Geelong Hospital (now University Hospital Geelong)
  • Grace McKellar Centre (now named McKellar Centre)
  • Surf Coast Community Health Centre (Torquay and Anglesea)
  • Geelong Community Health Centre
  • Corio Community Health Centre

With more than 7000 staff, Barwon Health is one of Australia's largest regional employers and a major education provider through our relationships with Deakin University, Melbourne University, Monash University, the Gordon and a number of other educational centres and universities.

Barwon Health is also one of the largest and most comprehensive regional health services in Australia, providing care at all stages of life and circumstance. Health services available through Barwon Health cover the full spectrum from primary care, community services, aged care, rehabilitation, mental health, emergency and acute care. With the exception of neurosurgery and transplantation, virtually all other specialties are available through University Hospital Geelong.

Care is provided to the community through:

  • Community Health services at key locations throughout the region.
  • Aged care through the McKellar Centre and its sites in North Geelong and Charlemont.
  • Rehabilitation services both as an inpatient at the McKellar Centre and outpatient services at North Geelong and Belmont.
  • A major teaching hospital and its associated services.

Through fundraising and philanthropy, the Barwon Health Foundation serves to exclusively support the services and care provided by Barwon Health to achieve world-class care for our community.

Our Ethics

The Barwon Health Foundation is an independent charity, governed by a passionate and dedicated Board of Directors who are fiercely committed to supporting the health of Geelong and to uphold the wishes of our supporters. The Barwon Health Foundation commits to ethical fundraising and investment, ensuring that our supporters receive the highest level of care. We take our role as the custodians of our supporter donations very seriously.

Our Funding Considerations

Each year the Barwon Health Board provide the Barwon Health Foundation with an agreed list of priorities, ensuring that donations are invested in the areas of greatest need. We work closely with Barwon Health’s Executive and clinicians to understand the need for investment across the entire health service. Our number one priority is always to adhere to the wishes of our supporters. Our supporters are our single most important asset.

Our overarching objectives are:

  • To raise funds for the purchase of equipment and medical facilities
  • To help enhance patient comfort and care
  • To fund medical research and scholarships undertaken by Barwon Health
  • To raise funds for vital capital campaigns
  • To support the wellbeing of our health care workers