Nurse Keith Donnelly opens communal wardrobe for hospital mental health patients
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Keith Donnelly has worked as a mental health nurse since emigrating from Ireland to Sydney in 2016. Image source: ABC Illawarra/Brooke Chandler.
When Troy Cavanaugh was admitted to hospital a few years ago, all he had was the clothes on his back and a small bag of essentials.
The Maroubra local, who lives with bipolar disorder, was seeking treatment for his mental health and found himself with a limited rotation of clothing.
That was until his nurse, Keith Donnelly, showed him through a boutique walk-in wardrobe in a section of the Prince of Wales Hospital with clothing for him to not only peruse but to call his own.
"The selection was good and basically you could browse, pick what you liked and what fitted," Mr Cavanaugh said.
Troy Cavanaugh is among 6,000 mental health patients to benefit from Keith's Closet. Image source: ABC News / Gregory James Heap.
Mr Cavanaugh said that without "Keith's Closet", he would have been stuck with the limited clothes he came in with.
"If I didn't have visitors or other means of getting clothes … I'd be wearing soiled clothes around," he said.
"The feeling when you pick something you like and can wear can make you feel better.
"That's why the closet is so brilliant."
Founder raids own wardrobe for patients
Mr Donnelly said he repeatedly saw mental health patients lack basic necessities while working at hospitals in both Ireland and Australia.So in 2019, after emigrating to Sydney, he set out to renovate an unused area of the Prince of Wales Hospital into Keith's Closet.
The idea was to provide patients, at any point during their stay, with new and high-end second-hand clothing, toiletries and accessories free of charge in the hope it would make them look and feel good.
"The hardest part really was trying to locate a space, which was a seclusion room," Mr Donnelly said.
"But it was nice to transform that space into something really positive."
The 51-year-old said at first he would source clothing from either his or his wife's wardrobes, but now the public had jumped on board.
"[We get] donations from either Joe or Mary off the street, from sports shops. Clothing companies have also dropped off end-of-season stock," Mr Donnelly said.
Volunteers sort donations at a warehouse in Alexandria before items are neatly stocked inside each closet. Image source: ABC News / Gregory James Heap.
Program expands
This week, inside Shellharbour Hospital on the New South Wales south coast, Mr Donnelly and Health Minister Ryan Park shared a warm embrace as they unveiled the latest instalment of Keith's Closet.What was once an office space at the entrance to the hospital's mental health ward now features rows of stocked shelves, mirrors, and hand-painted affirmations.
Mr Donnelly said that, since 2019, the program had expanded, with closets at two Sydney hospitals as well as a mobile van service.
He said all donations were sorted by volunteers at a facility in Alexandria.
Shellharbour MP Anna Watson and Health Minister Ryan Park at the opening of Keith's Closet Shellharbour. Image source: ABC Illawarra / Brooke Chandler.
Mr Park announced $185,000 in funding for the not-for-profit closet last year to help expand its operations after learning of Mr Donnelly's work at a community cabinet meeting.
"This, for me, is probably some of the best $185,000 we'll ever spend as a government," he said.
"What Keith Donnelly has done here is added another layer of support for those people."
"It will be a service that I know I'll be donating to, so if anyone wants an old suit from a politician, I'm sure it'll be the last thing that gets borrowed or picked up."
A ribbon-cutting and plaque-unveiling ceremony was held at Shellharbour Hospital's mental health ward. Image source: ABC Illawarra / Brooke Chandler.
Mr Donnelly said he planned to unveil facilities at the Malabar Forensic Hospital and Lismore Base Hospital in the coming weeks.
Written by Brooke Chandler, ABC News.
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