General News
27 June, 2026
Lifesaving $1.1m raised
MORE than $1.1 million has been raised in one night to fund an ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) service at Cairns Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
The money was raised by 128 guests at the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation’s annual donor dinner at the Cairns Showgrounds last Saturday night.
An ECMO is one of the most advanced forms of life support, used when a patient’s heart and lungs can no longer function on their own, providing critical time for recovery in some of the most serious medical emergencies.
The goal of $800,000 was exceeded, meaning with donor approval, additional funds will be put towards an orthopaedic surgery imaging system.
Foundation CEO Gina Hogan said the result demonstrated the extraordinary impact a community could have when it comes together behind a shared vision for healthcare.
“We were overwhelmed by the generosity shown on the night. It is a privilege for the foundation to bring together our philanthropic community, who all share the same goal of improving healthcare for people across Far North Queensland,” Mrs Hogan said. “The impact of one is meaningful. The impact of many is transformational. Because of this support, we can now establish an ECMO stabilisation service in Cairns, helping critically unwell patients access life-saving treatment sooner.”
Significant donations were made by KenFrost Homes, the Chapman Foundation, Bresnahan Family, Ellis and Denise Richardson, Mills Family Foundation, Fowler’s Group and EMS Exports.
Currently, patients who require ECMO rely on a specialist retrieval team which must travel from Brisbane to initiate treatment, a process that can take up to 12 hours.
With this equipment and training available locally, patients will be able to be placed on ECMO within hours.
“In a critical situation, minutes and hours can make all the difference. That is why this support from our community is so important and why the impact of this generosity will be felt by patients and families across our region for many years to come,” Mrs Hogan said.
The foundation sourced a demo model of the ECMO equipment so attendees could visualise how the equipment might be used in real life.
“We were lucky that we work closely with the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service on a list of equipment that we can fundraise towards. The fact we were able to finalise the ECMO fundraising so quickly meant we could start fundraising for the next equipment – a CT device that can be used initially on spinal patients while they are undergoing surgery,” Mrs Hogan said.
