Stories from Mackay Aged Care Nursing Homes
Joan from Resthaven on Quarry
Evelyn from Resthaven on Quarry
Gladys from Good Shepherd Lodge
Phyl from Good Shepherd Lodge
Hazel from Francis of Assisi
Mimi from Homefield
Gladys Brown at Good Shepherd Lodge
The number 17 plays quite a role in the life of Good Shepherd Lodge resident, Gladys Brown.
Her birthday is 17 June, 1915 and she has now been a resident at the home for 17 years.
Gladys came to Good Shepherd, with her husband, Victor, on 5 September 1991 from their home in Clements Street. Prior to that they had farmed at Owens Creek.
Gladys had a busy life helping out on the farm, raising five children, and cooking, not only for her large family, but also for the men who worked the crush.
For someone who spent so many years cooking, Gladys says it is a pleasure that these days she is the one being cooked for.
‘We have several choices each meal time and we have all the facilities here including access to a hairdresser and to a podiatrist,’ she said.
‘Coming here has made life so much easier, I no longer have to worry about shopping or cooking or cleaning or washing up.’
Prior to moving to Good Shepherd Lodge both Gladys and Victor were very ill and in order to remain in their homes they needed home help and also mowing assistance.
Busy Lives
From the time the couple arrived at Good Shepherd they never stopped but led busy lives taking part in the many activities and trips on offer.
‘Victor was interested in the basket making classes and ended up teaching it,’ said Gladys.
‘I’ve enjoyed all sorts of craft work in the past.’
Seventeen years ago, when Gladys and Victor arrived at Good Shepherd, there were many other couples, now only five of the original couples are left.
Gladys, who has been a widow for eight years, said that when she married Victor, she’d never thought she would have 63 happy years with him.
As well as her five children, who live in Townsville, Walkerston, Freshwater, and Carlyle Gardens, Gladys also has 10 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.
Gladys, who is now 93, has had to give up many of her craft pleasures as she has macular degeneration which means she is no longer able to read or write. She is still very active however and walks around the internal courtyard gazebo every day.
Her friend, Phyllis Howarth, has looked after the nearby courtyard garden for the past six or seven years.
Gladys, who is 93, said she had no regrets as she had enjoyed a long and happy life with her wonderful husband and they were very proud of their children.
Time goes on, once Gladys used to help others, now she is the one being helped with one aide reading the paper to her every day and another providing further assistance.
Gladys enjoys being a resident at Good Shepherd and paid an special compliment to staff who had always been so kind to both herself and to her husband.
Hazel Kay at Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi is a familiar stamping ground for the Kay family.
When 87 year old Hazel Kay moved there 18 months ago she was already familiar with the home as her brother, Stuart, had lived there for 23 years. Now another brother, Colin is also a resident.
Hazel, who is the oldest of a family of seven, didn’t marry until she was 35 and her parents knew her husband-to-be, Alf, before she did.
‘We married in 1955, and Alf, who was a year older than me, was worthing waiting for, our marriage was meant to be,’ said Hazel.
Alf, who had been in the army and who had served in the Middle East, worked at Racecourse Mill for 25 years.
Hazel’s first job was at a shop in Nebo Road which her father opened when she was 19.
‘At that time the Strand picture theatre was where Kentucky Fried Chicken is now and films were run on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights so we stayed open until after the inverval and my father sold pies out the front,’ said Hazel.
Hazel then spent two years in Brisbane where she worked for TC Beirne PL, a drapery store and a further ten years with the same company which operated at the Forgan Smith Bridge end of Sydney Street.
‘I sold hosiery and in those days the stockings didn’t come in packages and we had to test every one on a glass leg to make sure there were no faults, and then we had to fold them up,’ said Hazel.
Worked to Serve Customers
‘We were always on our best behaviour, we worked to serve our customers.’
When her husband retired at 60 they lived at Grasstree Beach and took numerous trips around Australia and to New Zealand.
‘Alf loved fishing and we had a shack at Grasstree and later we built a better house but when he became sick we moved into town as that was more secure for me,’ said Hazel.
When her husband died 14 months later, they had been married for 36 years.
Gradually life became more difficult and Hazel moved to Village Life which she enjoyed for 20 months before she moved to Francis of Assisi.
She enjoys crochet and knitting and takes part in numerous activities at Francis of Assisi including chair exercises, bingo, and shopping every second week with transport provided by the residential bus.
Mimi Lean at Homefield
Mimi Lean won’t forget the date she arrived at Homefield as it was her birthday.
Mimi, who is 87, made the decision to move after she had a series of falls including one where she hurt her back and ended up in hospital.
She realised it was no longer safe for her to live alone but, as she says ‘There comes a time when you can’t be on your own, you have to move, but your memories aren’t left behind, you bring them with you.’
She married in 1941 when Jack Lean was on leave from the army. Soon after he went overseas and she discovered he had become a prisoner of war in Changi where he remained for three and a half years.
When he was finally allowed to return to Australia he was to go home on a plane but was taken off it and the plane went down and all on board were killed.
Boat to Sydney
‘Then he was put on a boat to Sydney and he said when they sailed past Mackay he just wanted to jump off and swim home,’ said Mimi.
Mimi and Jack began their belated married life together on a dairy farm at Blue Mountains where they lived for 12 years. Twice they went through droughts and during those times Jack and his brother made a living by cutting iron bark trees for fence posts.
‘Our children, a girl and a boy, loved it on the farm but as they grew older we needed to live in town,’ said Mimi.
As luck would have it the person who bought their property had a house in Mackenzie Street, West Mackay and the family moved there.
Mimi, who has been a widow for 25 years, lived in the house for 54 years.
When they first came to town one of the things they most enjoyed, after getting up for years at 4 am to milk cows, was to open their front door and to be faced by bottles of milk on their top step.
These days Homefield provides all meals for Mimi, who no longer has to worry about shopping, cooking or washing up.
She enjoys numerous bus trips and takes part in a wide variety of activities.
Hard work and study pays off for Rachel
Rachel Wooley (standing) with Chris Lawrence
Years of juggling family commitments, work, and university studies have paid off for Rachel Woolsey of North Mackay who recently graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing degree.
Rachel, who previously worked as a cook and a housemaid, moved from Rockhampton to Mackay thirteen years ago with her husband and two children.
Unable to help out with an elderly family member who lived far away, Rachel decided if she couldn’t be there for her family, she would be there for other elderly people.
She applied to Good Shepherd Lodge and was employed as an Assistant in Nursing (AIN) where, although she had finished her year 12 studies a decade before, she was encouraged to consider university studies.
Her return to study was assisted by a STEPS course which involved three months full-time study through CQU.
‘I’d floated through high school and initially I found study very stressful but completing the STEPS course gave me confidence,’ said Rachel.
She had done basic maths at high school and had to take on advanced mathematics plus English, computing, and study skills with the STEPS course.
Bachelor of Health
Initially she studied for a Bachelor of Health with a nursing major and, after taking three years off study to work fulltime when her husband sustained a serious work injury, she returned to study with CQU and moved to the Bachelor of Nursing degree.
By combining flex subjects with on-campus study, it took Rachel six years to complete her degree with three years off in the middle.
She took a full load of subjects and initially found the work difficult as she did not have a computer.
‘For the first term I used the computers on campus but then we bought one which made life easier,’ she said.
As an AIN at Good Shepherd Lodge Rachel was working shifts but she cut these back in order to concentrate on her university studies which also involved placements at the Mater and Base hospitals, and with a local doctor.
Good Shepherd Lodge clinical services manager, Chris Lawrence, said it had been a big leap for Rachel to move from working as an AIN to being a Registered Nurse and in charge of other workers.
‘Having worked as an AIN really helped me to understand when I began my work as an RN,’ said Rachel.
She has now taken on a new challenge with post graduate studies in a wide range of health core delivery settings at both the Good Shepherd Lodge and the Mater Hospital.
And although her studies meant she had to give up a certain amount of family time, Rachel feels they gave her a sense of direction and something to aim for.