At Mount Beauty in Victoria's high country, the hospital has a "glamour room".
Large mirrors line the walls, there's a basin for washing hair and a pedestal dryer.
The glamour room gives aged-care residents the chance to experience salon pampering, without leaving the building.
It was one of the first projects funded by the local Hospital Op Shop, which has been raising money for the health service since 2014.
It's now eyeing the milestone of $500,000 raised and hopes to hit the target this financial year.
With about $440,000 raised to date, it's a story that reflects the hard work of community op shops across the country.
But it's a big achievement for an area of 2,000 residents — and it wouldn't have been reached so quickly without the pandemic, or without a determined volunteer known as Granny Barb.
Granny Barb, the driving force
Barb Talbot is a force to be reckoned with.
Her brown ute "goddess" — named Uteress — is often seen about town carting donations for the op shop.
She delivers meals on wheels on Fridays and drives the community car for residents receiving aged-care support.
She also drove the establishment of the hospital op shop, after she moved into a rental property and found she needed to travel to buy furniture.
"A lot of people don't have a car and can't drive to Albury [an hour away] or they're too mature to go, so we filled a need here by offering them bits and pieces — new glasses, crockery, cutlery, bowls, teapots — things they need and lots of things they don't need," she said.
"Plus, it's social for some people. Some people have been coming in for eight years and haven't bought a thing yet, but that's not the point."
"We are a community service as well, and we put the kettle on, have a chat, and it's a nice interaction for them as well as us."
As if to demonstrate the point, a customer enters the op shop.
"Back again?" Ms Talbot greets them.
"I love this op shop!" they reply.
The hospital op shop avoids competing with the church op shop in town by stocking furniture and homewares rather than clothing. Local social services source free goods for those in need, and children can pick one free book each day.
Deceased estates, accommodation renovations at the nearby ski village Falls Creek, and home refits are all major avenues for donations.
There are now 25 active volunteers. All are women over 60, and many of them (though not Ms Talbot) are former nurses.
"Everyone loves the hospital. We'll all need it one day or another," Ms Talbot says.
Once she'd found a space to rent for the op shop, Ms Talbot was "astounded" at how quickly the sales came in.
"The community really embraced it. Because it was for the hospital, but [also] because people had a lot in their shed," she says.
"People were happy to share."
COVID the 'money spinner'
Lynn Blandford, who took over as president of the op shop last year, says the pandemic led to a "huge spike" in sales.
The 2020/21 financial year saw over $100,000 in sales, up from about $60,000 the previous year.
"I don't know that it's solely to do with COVID, but my gut feeling is it was because people couldn't travel to shop, and there was a lot of cleaning out done in the COVID time," she explains.
"Everyone would clean out their house or pantry or kitchen or whatnot, so for us COVID was a good money spinner."
The pandemic also saw more people moving out of the city and into the area — which meant they were looking for furniture.
It all translated to more equipment for the Mount Beauty hospital, run by Alpine Health, and its aged care residence Kiewa Valley House.
Leanne Kilpatrick, health services manager at the Mount Beauty hospital, says the op shop has provided funding when government grants have been denied.
"Up until recently we haven't really been hugely successful in [getting grants for] particularly the smaller equipment items, so things like observation machines or new beds or pressure mattresses," she says.
"Then as [the op shop] funds kept growing, they kept saying, 'What else do you need?’"
"It actually has a significant impact on providing services to our local community but also keeping services local."
The op shop has funded an accessible refurbishment of the aged-care kitchen, an X-ray digitiser, a slit lamp for eye examinations, and an ultrasound machine.
Barb Talbot has also organised activities like "pamper days" and high teas for the aged-care residents.
"She makes a difference, and that's really special," Ms Kilpatrick says.
Ms Blandford says the op shop is now aiming high for a new X-ray machine, which will cost the equivalent of 3-4 years in sales. But when it comes to celebrating the $500,000 milestone, nothing has been planned.
"We haven’t really given it a thought — we might have a cup of tea," she laughed.
"Maybe a glass of wine or something, but it won't go past without some sort of recognition."
