Dunedin Hospital campaign Wellington bound

The Save Our Southern Hospital campaign left Dunedin for Wellington this morning, with much ado about Cliff the Ambulance.

After Dunedin City Council this week approved a $146,000 boost to its campaign fighting to stop any scaling back of plans for a Southern Region tertiary hospital in the city, the campaign’s vehicle (Cliff the Ambulance) was given a send off by volunteers at the Dunedin Octagon as the campaign takes the message to the capital.

DCC had already committed to the campaign with an approved budget of $130,400 ($1/person in Dunedin) it has now approved a higher level of funding worth $146,099 (which is $1.10 per resident).

The funding is expected to cover administrative support ( $31,000), marketing costs ($37,000) as well as covering the costs of last month’s protest march ($37,000). Although Cliff the Ambulance is on loan,  DCC will cover $17,184 of costs related to fuel, branding and food and accommodation costs for the volunteer drivers as well as ferry tickets to get the campaign vehicle to Wellington.

The campaign expects to bring in $10,221 in revenue from merchandise.

Main image: Cliff the Ambulance leaving the Octagon for Wellington.