"I was lucky to be hurt in Euroa."
Shane Jacobson's face is well known to many in Australia, particularly for his portrayal of the lovable portable toilet plumber, Kenny.
So, the staff at Euroa's bush nursing hospital were fairly surprised when he showed up there.
The actor found himself near the town "needing help with scrapes and cuts", and wasn't sure where to go.
"My mind [was] racing, will they even be able to help here, or am I going to be sent to Bendigo or Shepparton – or even Melbourne," Mr Jacobson said in a post about the ordeal on Facebook.
But someone at the local servo pointed him to the hospital, where he was promptly seen and taken care of.
"We had parked at the door with a truck, and there wasn't any need to battle peak hour traffic or for a parking space. [I was] placed on a bed straight away and there was no four or five hour-long wait in triage," he wrote.
Lending his support
There's another reason Mr Jacobson decided to take to social media to talk about his experience.
While he was at the hospital, he found out that facilities like those at Euroa are rare.
"I took the opportunity to have a chat with him about the situation," Euroa Health CEO Cherree Hunter said.
"Historically there were a large number of bush nursing hospitals. Unfortunately there are now only five remaining in Victoria.
"That's because we are considered a private hospital, and in turn have to completely self-fund our service."
The hospital has 24 beds for acute and sub-acute care, as well as two urgent care beds. It also provides cardiac services, rehabilitation, palliative care and takes patients awaiting placement in their residential aged care facility.
But while regional hospitals around them are funded by the state government, this community-owned, not-for-profit hospital must fundraise to keep its doors open.
When Mr Jacobson heard all about it, he was determined to do what he could to support them.
"I want to shout from the rooftops how wonderful this facility is," he wrote.
Ms Hunter said it "never hurts" to get a boost in publicity for what they do, as they are suffering the same pressures as most health services around the state.
The facility had to shut down over Christmas because of COVID-19 infections and although they have since reopened, things are still difficult.
"We are a really small workforce so when you have 10 per cent off with COVID or the flu or gastro or whatever it is, it really does present risks," Ms Hunter said.
"[But] probably the biggest struggle for us over the last two years has been having to self-fund all of our PPE. That placed additional strains on the service."
Ms Hunter said Mr Jacobson was a "delightful character", and perhaps a few more nurses than normal chose to pop in to the urgent care centre that day.
But she wanted to point out that the star treatment was always offered, no matter who the patient was.
"This is not something special or done just for him because of who he is. The service provided to Shane is available to everyone that walks through the door of Euroa Health."
