The meeting at the Harden Mechanics’ Institute on Tuesday evening.
A crowd of over 230 local residents attended a meeting at the Harden Mechanics’ Institute on Tuesday evening, to have the “where to from here” discussed regarding the closure of the town’s St Lawrence Retirement Village.
The audience consisted of ex-staff, families with affected residents and concerned locals who may have the need of such a facility in the future.
Mayor Brian Ingram said that although Hilltops Council had been accused of being quiet on the issue, things were happening in the background.
He introduced the Member for Cootamundra, Steph Cooke, who acknowledged the hurt and pain experienced by St Lawrence residents and their families.
She said that she has been in touch with Richard Colby, the Federal Aged Care Minister, to stress that the community needs the 45 aged care beds in question.
Deputy PM Michael McCormack, via video link, said that local residents needed to stay local and not be located 30 minutes from Harden. He said that the St Lawrence beds were owned by Southern Cross.
Other providers would look at the books, acquire beds and continue the service. He said that Harden deserves no less. All beds were out of the Harden facility.
Mr McCormack said that the matter should never have come to where it now is and that he can’t fathom how demand for beds in Harden has fallen. Young and Cootamundra facilities were working well and, with a little upgrading, Harden’s St Lawrence facility could be back in use.
Many questions were passed from the audience to the podium including, “If Southern Cross takes [Harden] beds can new beds be issued?” Mr McCormack said that he didn’t want the beds transferred and that if they were he would see that Harden received replacement beds.
Another question was, “Have you investigated legal avenues and is there any precedent for this [the closure] happening elsewhere?” Mr McCormack stated that, “Beds are a bit like poker machines [in terms of allocation], but this is a humanitarian matter and what the community has invested in the facility.
The question, “Have they [Southern Cross] given a reason why [regarding closure]?” was asked. This brought much laughter from the audience. The answer was that demand for places at Harden’s Southern Cross facility had fallen and that there were staff shortages due to Covid.
Southern Cross Care St Lawrence in Harden.
One local aged resident said that he’d visited his wife 844 times in the Harden Retirement Village – now that she had been moved to the facility in Young, he’d managed to visit her only around 8 times. This is indeed a sad indictment on the predicament of Harden’s aged citizens.
Another Harden resident said that he was appalled at how the closure of the St Lawrence facility was announced. He went on to say that there had been up to 4 new St Lawrence managers since his father had entered the Village.
A new resident in the Twin Towns asked why couldn’t the local Health District take over the St Lawrence facility. Mr McCormack reassured the audience that all was not lost and that other services are interested in operating in the Harden community.
Work is happening in the background.
There were no answers available regarding the fate of the Village’s stand-alone units at this stage.
Hilltops Councillor Tony Flanery spoke at length and with passion regarding the early days of the St Lawrence facility in Galong – the income from a small farm was dedicated to its support. He spoke of disappointment after handing over a Board-run organisation to Southern Cross to transfer to Harden.
Mr Flanery described it as a kick in the guts, the way the matter has been handled of late and said he was disgusted by the lack of consultation concerning the closure of the Harden facility.
Councillor Flanery said he thought that they (the Board) were giving Southern Cross a hand-up, but in fact it was a hand-out along with the donation of Masonic land towards Harden’s Village.
He went on to say that the Harden community needs to fight for the St Lawrence building and for its beds. Mr Flanery stated that Harden’s Kruger Trust knows that it could fund a community-based facility.
None of the three Trust members were present on the night.
The Chairman of the HRDC said that a subcommittee had been formed (concerning the closure of St Lawrence) consisting of Scott Collins, Mark Douglass, Rita O’Connor, Tony and Sam Flanery, Rhys Gray and Ken McKay.
Discussions had been held with Temora and Cowra organisations. The Chairman said, “We can’t do much until we know if we keep the beds and, if not, push the Deputy PM for more.”
A former board member of Galong’s St Lawrence facility Jim Wright said that it did not make a fortune but managed to stay afloat.
Shelley Gledhill, a past St Lawrence Manager, took the opportunity to thank all of the staff and volunteers for their dedicated care of the residents.
Other questions from the audience consisted of, “Would it be a better idea to start again?” “Is there a time frame if the St Lawrence facility isn’t sold, regarding the beds?”
It is thought that Southern Cross will sell the facility, but they can transfer the beds elsewhere.
Robyn Atherton asked if the community could buy the building so it stays part of Harden? The answer provided was that it would be ideal if another provider comes in and takes over management.
It appears that there are plenty of local staff who have worked at Southern Cross and who are more than happy to work there again, but not with that organisation.
The Harden community needs to keep fighting for a retirement village. We need it, we want it and it is our right to have it
Sadly, we have lost two former residents in recent weeks. We offer our condolences to the families involved.
