Caption: ‘Wally’ the wallaby visits the Hamilton Hospital Emergency Department
18/2/2021
The visit of a furry marsupial to the Hamilton Base Hospital Emergency Department (ED) created quite a stir on Australia Day.
‘Wally’ the wallaby hopped into ED for a casual ‘tour’ of the facilities on January 26, a quirky coincidence for nurses who happened to be working a shift on Australia’s National Day.
Hamilton Hospital Director of Nursing, Lorraine Hedley said what was really special about the wallaby’s visit, was that it checked in on Australia Day.
“The staff were stunned to see him enter the ED and hop around. It was a very unique ‘only in Australia’ experience.
We often see wallabies on our roadsides, but very rarely do they venture close – and I have never seen one indoors,” Mrs Hedley said.
Western District Health Service (WDHS) Chief Executive, Rohan Fitzgerald says it’s wonderful to have such a close encounter with what is generally a very shy creature and it’s not the first time a furry native has presented to the Hamilton ED.
“A koala we nicknamed ‘Blinky Bill’ became a global sensation following a visit to our ED in 2015.
We couldn’t have anticipated the response we had from the koala video. Within the first few hours of posting it on Facebook, it went viral and we were inundated with requests for the footage from across the globe,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
‘Wally’ eventually made his way out of the hospital ED and safely ventured back into the wild.