Kerr Wing consulting rooms open

Bidwill Trust Hospital will open a new consulting room suite to be known as the Kerr Wing on Friday 20th July. The new 450m2 development will house two surgical practices Aorangi Surgical Group and South Canterbury Surgeons. Nine surgeons will now be based in professional rooms at the rear of Bidwill Hospital creating benefits for patients, surgeons and the hospital alike. The chairman Mark Hervey said “The board is indebted to the E.G. and D.M. Kerr Charitable Trust who made a substantial donation to the hospital in support of the project.” The EG and DM Kerr Charitable Trust is pleased to be associated with the development at Bidwill Hospital, trust chairman Tim Austin said.

Bidwill Trust Hospital will open a new consulting room suite to be known as the Kerr Wing on Friday 20th July.

The new 450m2 development will house two surgical practices Aorangi Surgical Group and South Canterbury Surgeons. Nine surgeons will now be based in professional rooms at the rear of Bidwill Hospital creating benefits for patients, surgeons and the hospital alike.

The chairman Mark Hervey said “The board is indebted to the E.G. and D.M. Kerr Charitable Trust who made a substantial donation to the hospital in support of the project.”

The EG and DM Kerr Charitable Trust is pleased to be associated with the development at Bidwill Hospital, trust chairman Tim Austin said.

The trust was established in 1992 by his grandmother Peggy Kerr, with the invested capital benefiting a wide range of South Canterbury activities.

"In our discussions with the Bidwill Trust Board it was evident that the new consulting rooms would not only benefit the hospital but also South Canterbury health services in general by providing modern consulting facilities for surgeons," Mr Austin said.

That benefit met the aims of the Kerr Trust and also was an appropriate fit given the close association of the Kerr family to Bidwill Hospital.

Mrs Kerr's husband, EG Kerr, was a director of the Bidwill board in the 1960s and 1970s, and her father, Dr WH Unwin, one of Timaru's most respected surgeons, was a foundation shareholder and inaugural director of what became known as Bidwill Hospital.

Mr Austin said the contribution towards the Bidwill development took to more than $350,000 the many grants the Kerr Trust had made to the local community over the last 26 years.

The official opening of the Kerr Wing will be attended by over 70 invited guests and a plaque will be unveiled detailing the Kerr Trust’s history and involvement in the South Canterbury district.

31/07/2018