It has been seven months since the passing of Blair Vining, a Southlander who took his last few months while dying of bowel cancer to shine a light on the state of New Zealand’s health system.
Today, on what would have been Vining’s 40th birthday, his wife Melissa and daughter Della-May have unveiled the first look at the Southland Charity hospital Blair had campaigned for.
Speaking to TVNZ1's Breakfast the pair shared that the Southland Charity Hospital plans had come in “leaps and bounds”.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to have the building donated to us. Now people have been working hard through the lockdown to turn the building in to those concept drawings,” shared Ms Vining.
Blair’s vision to improve the treatment of cancer patients in Southland was given a green light back in February after being gifted a building in Invercargill from a licensing trust.
“To know that we’ll be helping people who were in our situation to make an actual difference, that’s fantastic and it’s certainly not with the intention not to let the government off the hook.”
The late cancer campaigner had a mission in his last months to improve the chances of other Southland cancer patients. (Source: Other)
The Southland Charity Hospital is currently half way to their goal of $1 million needed to help convert the former pub into a functioning hospital.
“It’s definitely what Blair was fighting for, it’s how he spent his last eleven months, trying to make people aware of just how seriously underfunded the health system was and the inconsistencies across the country.”
Watch the full interview above.
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