Two friends set up centre to serve outback Queensland’s elderly and people with disabilities

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The outback Queensland town of Cunnamulla hasn't had an aged care home since 2020. But two friends have made it their mission to reopen the centre. It'll also service people with disabilities and means residents who've had to leave town to access support, can now come home.

Transcript

00:00Heath Stewart is back in the bush, reunited with his loved ones in Cunnamulla.

00:08The family had to travel a long way to get there, so they had to come and see me.

00:12So to get back in Cunnamulla was good.

00:15The 66-year-old had a stroke last year and moved 600 kilometres to Toowoomba for medical care.

00:22Every two weeks I think I went down to visit him, so I wasn't letting him go there by himself.

00:28Cunnamulla's only dedicated aged care facility closed in 2020,

00:33until mates Daniel Manley and Brett Sandy decided to revive it,

00:37transforming the Yapunya Lodge into a disability support service.

00:41That's one thing that we've noticed is the community been screaming out for something like this.

00:45Mr Sandy entered the care sector after his own experience raising a child with a disability.

00:51Very, very hard when you go through it and realise how hard, but it is great and it's rewarding.

00:56Since its reopening, Mr Stewart has returned to his hometown as the centre's first resident.

01:02He is a completely different person now that he's in this place, like, he's alive again.

01:08This place saved my dad.

01:10Combining disability and aged care is a common model in country towns,

01:15but experts say even the shared approach can struggle.

01:18Up to half of aged care services in rural areas operate at a deficit year on year.

01:26The Cunnamulla Centre will need significant funding to operate long term.

01:30Out here, it doesn't unless you're fully federal government funded, you have to be to make it work.

01:36For Mr Stewart, keeping the doors open would mean more of the things he loves most.

01:41Footy, fishing and his family.

01:43But now, he's back. We've got our poppy back.

01:46No, he didn't. Oh, I've got a catwalk.

01:49Now I'm gone.

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