Hundreds of Albury Wodonga residents have rallied on Sunday demanding a new single-site hospital to deliver better health care to the community.
Healthcare workers were moved to tears as they shared and listened to stories about the difficult conditions they work under at the region's two hospitals.
"I have been a doctor for 40 years and I have never seen anything like what we have got at the moment," Border Medical Association chairwoman and anaesthetist Barbara Roberston said.
Hopes for a new hospital along the New South Wales - Victoria border were dashed after the project missed out on funding in the Victorian state budget this month.
Staff 'struggle' in the conditions
Critical care nurse Kim Cole loves her job but struggles to work at a hospital that faces constant renovations, limited space, and juggles staff between Albury and Wodonga sites.
"I love caring for people and I love delivering a level of health care that I am proud of, and every day, we struggle to deliver that level of healthcare," Ms Cole said.
"And it's not because of nurses or access to resources like doctors, it's because we struggle in the sites that we are working in.
Nurse Geoff Hudson shared her frustrations.
"We need a new hospital because we shouldn't have to take off our COVID contaminated PPE (personal protection equipment) outside in the rain," he said.
"We need a new hospital because our isolation rooms leak air through vents in the door.
"We need a new hospital because if you are mentally unwell you should be cared for right here, not left in ED or sent to another town."
Separate sites compromising care
Wodonga GP Lachlan McKeeman, who has helped hundreds of women deliver babies in Wodonga's maternity unit, said having cross-border hospital facilities sometimes created difficulties.
"I don't want to have to resuscitate another baby because the paediatric registrar is caught at Albury ED with terrible phone reception and we can't get on to them," he said.
"That shouldn't happen.
"We don't want to have to wait 28 minutes for them to get in the car, come across and help us.
Staff 'absolutely flat out'
Brad George returned to Wodonga Gateway Lakes, the place he suffered a mild heart attack in March, to join the rally.
Mr George, who was attending a concert at the time, had to rely on his 75-year-old mother to take him to Albury's hospital after failing to get an ambulance.
When he arrived at the hospital, he was forced to wait on a metal bench outside due to a lack of resources.
He was only discharged on Wednesday but was determined to share his story in a push for a better hospital.
"So, you struggle to get a car park, then you are met by an emergency style, I call it the MASH emergency medical tent because it feels like you are in the Vietnam War with the marquee out the front.
Young patients are also reportedly experiencing compromised care.
Kristy McMahon told the rally how her daughter, Ella, often found herself in inappropriate areas of the hospital while she battling cancer.
On one occasion, she witnessed a woman die in the resuscitation bay next to her bed.
"My eight-year-old child was there watching the whole thing because they just couldn't get her through quickly enough," she said.
"There's just not the staff and the resources and the beds to get these kids admitted.
"I think she deserves better. I think all of our kids deserve better than that."
Campaign organisers have launched petitions to the federal, NSW and Victorian governments.
Victoria's Department of Health and Human Services has been contacted for comment.
