Two years on from the sad and sudden passing of Barossa and Districts Health Advisory Council Presiding Member, Elizabeth Haebich, husband David has added his voice to the urgent call for funding for a new Barossa Hospital.
A former Barossa Councillor and retired police and parole board officer, David's extensive experience in emergency and civic services, as well as his support of Elizabeth's work to improve the region's health outcomes, has led him to speak publicly in favour of The Leader's petition for new regional hospital.
"I suppose we could ask ourselves, is there a need for a new hospital? The answer to that is yes," David said.
"The reason being is the two hospitals we've got are far beyond their use-by date... If you look at them, and you look at any buildings today, and they're built of the old cream brick, and you know that's going back some years ago, and that's the aging process."
David explained he recently had need for local inpatient care, and while he praised the staff looking after him, his personal experience of the hospital itself only strengthened his views.
"It was only last year I spent a night in the Tanunda Hospital on observation, and I must say, that was enough for me, because the next morning all I could think about was the nursing staff, how I could hear them going up and down the long passage," he said.
"The passage is very long where they have to work, it's just old. It's just the way they used to design places years ago...
"There's a lack of modern equipment, and I'd say that if a patient went to the hospital, it doesn't give a presence to the sick people to feel better, because of the surroundings.
"Going on with that, if any place where people work, if you've got modern facilities, it makes work more congenial, and people feel happier in what they're doing.
"Take for example the doctors, the nurses and the other staff that are involved, if they had better working conditions, they'll feel better about going to work and supporting other people and so forth."
Originally from Gumeracha, David met Elizabeth when she was a young nurse at the hospital there, and after they were married in 1967, the couple spent many years moving around the state during David's 43-year career as a police officer.
"When I've moved around in my work in previous years, all the places I've worked, I've never come across a place such as this, the Barossa area, where the hospitals are so dilapidated," David said.
"...People are saying, we've been waiting years and years for a hospital, and I think we've waited long enough.
"I also think that it's not a political reason why the hospital hasn't been built. My views are there is a need for a hospital, it should be built. It doesn't matter who the government of the day is."
During her years as the Presiding Member for Barossa HAC, Elizabeth worked hard to improve local health services, including overseeing refurbishment to Angaston and Tanunda hospitals' palliative care rooms among many other meaningful projects.
According to David, advocating for a new Barossa Hospital was always on his wife's agenda.
"She had two or three terms as the Presiding Member, and it was always there, she was always on to it," he said.
"She had a good rapport with the committee or the people set up to do the report. I didn't always know what it was about half the time, but she was always on the phone to someone, pushing it along.
"...It would have been at the AGM before she finished... she invited that whole team to come to the AGM and they spoke. That was very good actually. I reckon that was the best number of people we ever saw, because people were interested. That was amazing."
However, in the two years since Elizabeth's death, there has yet to be any further announcements made by the State Government about a Barossa Hospital, despite its reports of billions of dollars being spent on health in South Australia.
"I know there is a report gone into the government, and I don't know why they take so long, but even when Elizabeth was involved with it, that was all going on then, and she's been gone two years, and still nothing's come out," said David.
"They haven't even told us if they've bought any land anywhere. So it's very frustrating. I've said it at a couple of meetings, even if they came out and said, 'yes, it's a go, we've purchased some land,' I think people might be more happy. That would be progress. As yet we haven't seen any progress."
David has sought to make a difference in the many communities he's been a part of over the years, and hopes adding his voice to the Barossa Hospital campaign is a way to help continue the push for local service improvement.
"I've always been a bit of a pusher when it comes to various things that are in my mind. I can remember when we first came here, the thing that was a downer for me was the hospitals," he said.
"...You never know there might be an announcement before the next election... Let's hope we do (have one).
"Because I honestly think that if it doesn't get up now, it never will. I think the time is right, and I wouldn't be sticking my neck out if I didn't believe that there should be a hospital here.
"They can spend money on health and hospitals all over the place, but no one's convinced me why the Barossa has missed out."