AS A community we need to rally behind Northern Tasmania's only public rehabilitation facility - the John L. Grove Centre.
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The 20-bed facility's future is in doubt, as federal funding will cease on June 30 and the state government is yet to confirm whether it will continue funding the vital service.
It's not entirely the Hodgman government's fault.
The former Labor government didn't allocate ongoing funding for the service, but the Liberals should be able to make that happen.
In February 2010 - before Labor refurbished the centre - now Health Minister Michael Ferguson wrote on his website that a Hodgman government would provide a smarter health care package for the North.
He said "a Hodgman Liberal Government will refurbish the John L. Grove Centre - situated close to the LGH - to create a new 28-bed transitional care facility".
"While the LGH's Rehabilitation Ward has now increased to 26 beds, this is still a long way short of the rehabilitation beds and additional step-down or sub-acute beds needed by the Northern Tasmanian community into the future," he wrote.
"The new 28 bed transitional unit will facilitate more timely discharge of rehabilitation, stroke and acute patients from the LGH, address increasing demand for rehabilitation services, and improve access to services in the north."
Why then wasn't funding committed in the last budget?
It's not good enough that a decision is yet to be made and it's horrid to think that the facility could be closed when $4.7 million was spent refurbishing it in 2013.
I was lucky enough to meet Kellie Shepherd last year.
The Launceston woman was paralysed down the left side of her body, after she was kicked in the head by her horse in 2013.
She had to learn to walk and talk again, with most of her rehab undertaken at John L. Grove.
Ms Shepherd told me last March that the difference since she moved to the centre, after spending 10 months at the Royal Hobart Hospital, was "amazing".
"I was still paralysed in my left leg in November, but they've been working on getting me up."
Mr Ferguson said this week the government would continue to work with THO North and talk to its Commonwealth counterparts to secure the future of the unit.
