he RBWH Foundation is gearing up for their 40 years strong celebrations.
It’s official: the RBWH Foundation has launched its year-long celebrations for its 40th anniversary and now it is time for RBWH and STARS staff to join the party!
40 Years Strong Hospital Staff Celebration
The 40 Years Strong celebration is being hosted by the RBWH Foundation on Sunday 2 March, specifically for former and current RBWH, STARS, Redcliffe Hospital and Herston Health Precinct staff. Join us for an afternoon of laughs and stories, and help the RBWH Foundation celebrate the power of connection, compassion and community.
Date: Sunday 2 March, 2025
Time: 2pm – 5pm
Venue: Ballroom, Victoria Park, 309 Herston Road, Herston 4006
Price: $55 per person
Dress: Smart casual
Ticket price includes a welcome drink, sweet and savoury afternoon tea, plus unlimited tea and coffee. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here: https://events.humanitix.com/rbwhf_reunion
40 Strong Stories with best-selling Brisbane author Nick Earls
Curious to see RBWH, STARS and Redcliffe Hospital through the eyes of an acclaimed author?
The RBWH Foundation has appointed best-selling Brisbane author Nick Earls as our inaugural Artist in Residence to chronical 40 Strong Stories about the passionate and dedicated humans at the heart of healthcare who have impacted its 40-year history.
Once a doctor at Royal Brisbane Hospital, Nick chose words over wards and his new offering ‘Lady Lamington’s Trowel & other short stories’ is a timeless tribute to the resilience, generosity and ingenuity that lay at the heart of the RBWH Foundation’s 40-year history.
The first chapter has been released online on Tuesday 11 February, recounting the gripping story of RBWH patient Glen Bennett’s recovery from an horrific semitrailer explosion. New chapters will be added most weeks, so read or listen as Nick narrates each story at RBWH Foundation’s 40-year stories page.
40 Moments of Joy: the RBWH Foundation’s 40 Years Strong gift to you
Australian Paralympic four-time gold medallist and former RBWH patient Curtis McGrath
A delicious delivery of OMG! Decadent Donuts by Dolphins NRL and Queensland Reds superstars has marked the sweet start of 40 Moments of Joy across RBWH, STARS and Redcliffe Hospitals. These special surprises will be staged by the RBWH Foundation throughout the year and will endeavour to ensure no-one misses out. Commemorative 40 Years Strong lanyards are available from the RBWH Foundation office.
Australian Paralympic four-time gold medallist and former RBWH patient Curtis McGrath made a hero’s return to RBWH to join the launch and pay tribute to the hospital which helped save his life.
Curtis was a combat engineer serving with the Australian Army in Afghanistan in 2012, when he lost both legs after stepping on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED). Fulfilling a battlefield promise to his Army squadron, Curtis has since won 12 World Championship gold in kayak and four Paralympic gold medals collected in Paris, Tokyo and Rio.
Curtis was joined at the 40 Years Strong launch by Her Excellency Dr Jeannette Young AC PSM, Governor of Queensland; Metro North Board Chair Bernard Curran; as well as RBWH, STARS and Herston research institutes and centres Executive and staff.
The occasion provided an opportunity for Curtis to be reunited with members of his 2012 medical team. RBWH Trauma Surgeon Dr Michael Rudd, who was a Royal Australian Air Force Reservist, operated on Curtis in Afghanistan. At RBWH, his medical team led by Surgeon Dr Daryl Wall treated him for the potentially fatal fungal infection, mucormycosis, which at the time was killing 30 per cent of US soldiers with similar wounds. RBWH Plastic Surgeon Dr Shireen Senewiratne operated on Curtis’s legs.