Category: Community

FOR members of the Emu Point community, Motor Neurone Disease is close to home.

They recently lost a good friend to the degenerative disease, and another has been diagnosed less than a year ago.

The need to rally together has been the catalyst for the Emu Point Sporting Club’s fundraiser on September 16, which will feature the hallmark ice-bucket challenge.

Funds raised will go towards Motor Neurone Disease Association of Western Australia (MNDAWA) who provide vital support for sufferers, their families and carers.

Vanessa Brooks’ father Ian was diagnosed with the disease in November and said the support of the community had been overwhelming.

“It’s been very touching with how much the Emu Point community has been supporting dad and the family,” Ms Brooks said.

“It’s been so hard dealing with Dad having MND, and to have such a show of support means so much to us.”

Ms Brooks was with her dad when he was diagnosed with MND and said the day would be something she would never forget.

“I’d never seen him cry before and it broke my heart.

“It’s such a terrible diagnosis and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.

“MNDAWA has been an amazing support for my family.

“I’ve been going to their You, Me and MND carer’s course and it’s been brilliant to have been given an in-depth knowledge of the disease.

“I’ve learnt how to care for my dad and how to care for my family.”

After Mr Brooks was diagnosed with the terrible disease, Gus Woithe decided to do something about it.

“Everyone in the community wanted to help the families,” he said.

“So we decided the best way to help the Brooks and Swarbricks was to raise money for MNDAWA.”

Mr Woithe said the highlight for the day will be the ice bucket challenge, with 11 people pledging to dump ice over their heads along side him.

He has raised more than $3000 for the challenge on his own so far.

Mr Woithe encourages people to wear blue and white on the day in support of MNDAWA and the Brooks and Swarbrick families.

“We’d like everyone to get in the spirit and wear the MNDAWA colours,” he said.

For more information on joining the ‘Get to the Point’ fundraiser, you can contact Gus Woithe on 0427 241 232.

SECONDARY students with a disability and at-risk students participated in an interactive conference in Albany on Tuesday, to learn more about their future living and education possibilities.

Year 10, 11 and 12 students from Albany schools who either suffer from a physical, sensory, intellectual or psychiatric disability, or are at risk of not making a successful transition from school to future endeavours, attended the event at the Albany Entertainment Centre.

Local Menang elder Carol Petterson kicked off proceedings with the Welcome to Country, and encouraged students to do their best to reach their goals.

“Learn to be led by your dreams,” Ms Petterson said.

“Don’t let rejection be your master.

“Focus on what you can do today, to make a better tomorrow.”

Students then heard from Darrian Graham and Jess Hughes, two successful Great Southern Personnel pupils who worked hard to earn their current jobs, with work experience and assistance from GSP.

“I may have taken a longer road, but work experience and GSP gave me the confidence I didn’t think I could achieve,” Ms Hughes said.

A range of workshops, displays and presentations followed about independent living, mental health, achieving educational goals, personal safety, employment preparation and self-advocacy.

“The main objective of this conference was to get students meeting the people who will be supporting them in their lives,” event organiser and Albany Secondary Education Support Centre teacher Deb Guest said.

“We have brought together the resources we feel can help students with their journey.

“There’s a fantastic network of people ready to help; students just need to ask.”

I MET a bloke who said his father had been dead for 20 years and he still wasn’t over it.

My father had died the year before and I could still hear him telling me how to remove the ceiling fan in the bathroom.

I’d done it a couple of times and I was over 50 years old, but that didn’t make any difference.

As far as he was concerned I was still “bloody hopeless”.

His funeral was a classic country town affair.

The police stopped the traffic, locals lined the main street, and the hearse stalled.

When it stopped, about half-way through town, one of my brothers poked my ribs and said: “Look out, he’s got one more thing to tell you.”

When Stanley Roy Doust was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma in September 2001, I was shocked and wept for days.

I had to get it over before I saw him.

He wouldn’t want any son of his blubbering in his face.

From September to December my brothers and our wives were with Dad and Mum every week, driving him to chemotherapy, shopping, cooking, cleaning, and caring for Mum.

Dad had been Mum’s full-time carer ever since she broke both hips.

She broke one at home, in Bridgetown and my brother Jamie said she did it as she turned to return to the kitchen for more food.

The hip collapsed and she fell to the floor.

He ran to her and she said: “I’m ok, dear, you finish your meal.”

Mum broke the other hip in a Bunbury hospital.

She tried to leave the bathroom without assistance, turned, and the other hip collapsed: “The staff are very busy in here and I didn’t want to bother them.”

That was how they were.

They kept saying: “We’ll go into a nursing home. We’ll get full-time care. You can’t keep doing this for us.”

He never complained.

And he never gave up.

One day we had a working bee at his house.

It was after a particularly heavy bout of chemo and he wasn’t feeling too posh.

There were about 10 of us, weeding, mowing the lawn, collecting garden refuse.

We were only five minutes into the job when the back door opened and there was dad in his work clobber, mouth open and issuing instructions:

“You can’t get a good cut like that. That hose should run straight. The rubbish goes on that side of the compost heap.”

We knew Christmas would be Dad’s last and we wanted to do something special.

The oldest brother came up with a winner: a fishing trip by houseboat, just Dad and his sons.

We did it.

Sadly, Dad had a stroke the night before and by the time we got him on the boat he was a bit ragged.

We did it again the following year, Stan’s four boys and his grandsons.

We talked a lot about Dad.

He was a leader and a legend in the South West, a stirrer with a great sense of humour, a kind and forgiving man, and no father could have been more generous.

There was only one thing missing.

All our lives Dad had never said he loved us, that he was proud of us, or that he respected us.

Never.

We knew he did, but he never said it.

Then a family friend called a day before the funeral and said, “I have a note for you. From your father.”

It’s a beautiful note. He tells us why he never said those things, that it was hard for men of his generation, and then he says them.

Who would want to get over a man like that?

He’s an inspiration.

In his darkest hours, he not only found the courage to break through a lifelong pattern of behaviour, but he left his sons with a wonderful gift: his love, his pride, and his respect.

THE Albany Airport has had another year of surprise visitors, with three chicks found hiding away in a tree by the runway last week.

Born Free Wildlife Carers bird rehabilitator Annette Grant is now the primary carer of the three young banded lapwings, who were removed from the airport runway for their safety.

“It’s considered very dangerous for them at the airport, because the nest was so close to the runway that when they leave the nest, there’s a risk of them being hit by a plane,” Mrs Grant said.

Albany Regional Airport has become a favourite nesting ground for the little creatures.

“The airport staff look out for them every year, as they keep choosing the same spot,” Mrs Grant said.

“About three years ago, five eggs were found in that spot.

“That was a very happy outcome, as they had a very healthy release.”

Mrs Grant began caring for the precocial chicks at the end of their first 24 hours of life, and will be looking after them for at least two months.

“I am feeding them close to every hour at the moment,” she said.

“I weigh them every day and they are putting weight on, which is really very good.”

Mrs Grant has been a bird rehabilitator for seven years and began her love for birds through the Albany Summer School’s bird watching program.

Her knowledge and skills from the program have been of great help to her, as she can identify the different bird species and their natural foods and behaviours.

“They will stay under the heat lamp for a couple of months until hey get their feathers to keep them warm.

“Then they will go up to my aviary for a while and scratch away to their hearts’ delight at all the worms and dirt.”

The three chicks are the first group of baby banded lapwings for the year.

MY ELDERLY mother was a sociable soul and loved nothing better than a good chat.

She lived independently until she was 94, and bustled round the village keeping active and ensuring her neighbours were also alive and well.

This could require a peek to check if the front curtains were open or a knock on the door for a cuppa.

Often a quick phone call would suffice.

Some days the social round didn’t happen.

Mum might decide to stay indoors and “scratch around” restlessly for something to do, or gaze out of the window, hoping that someone would pop by or give her a call.

The day would drag, her spirits would sag and her world would shrink.

By 6pm she would reach out and dial my number.

“I just wanted to hear a human voice,” she would say querulously.

We’d have a little chat and usually end up having a laugh.

I confess I was not always as sympathetic as I should have been – I had been listening to human voices all day at work, and craved exactly what my mother couldn’t deal with – silence and solitude.

I have since had a taste of how she felt.

And it isn’t nice.

And it is not just the elderly and vulnerable who experience this sense of isolation at times; sadly, it is becoming an increasingly widespread social problem.

But why is it so important to interact with our fellow human beings?

Many of us lead busy lives, but that should never be an excuse not to connect with another human being, regardless of age.

It also basically comes back to what makes us tick, and understanding the basic desires that help us thrive within our community.

We all have a basic need to connect with another person, whether as a giver or recipient of some attention, a smile, a hug or a kind word.

We all desire to be taken seriously, which means we need to be noticed, accepted, appreciated and valued – perhaps even be remembered.

This is why listeners are so important – when they give you their undivided attention, they reinforce your value as a person.

We need to feel useful, and to have a purpose in life, along with emotional stability and the security of knowing we are accepted and valued in groups we belong to.

We all desire to be loved and to love.

This is something that can bring out the very best in us and foster a generosity of spirit.

We also thrive on unpredictable situations, which can encourage us to perform rewarding acts of kindness and develop our capacity for empathy.

This also gives us added momentum to surprise someone who “just needs to hear a human voice” by giving them a call, dropping by for a chat and listening to what they say.

It’s worth every moment.

I know.

THE man who mentored generations of young country singers such as Troy Cassar-Daley was laid to rest in Denmark last week.

Members of Denmark Country Music Club farewelled Rick Carey and interred his ashes with those of his wife Thel following his death late last month.

Originally from Sydney, Rick and Thel had settled on a property in Denmark in 1988 after 30 years touring remote Aboriginal communities, country rodeos and agricultural halls throughout rural Australia.

After Thel’s death in 1998, Rick said he would hang up his guitar, but soon afterwards Sid Hewitt and Doreen Ostigh asked him to help start a regular musical gathering in Mr Hewitt’s shed.

This became the Denmark Country Music Club.

Club publicity officer Cathy Clark said they then formally asked Rick to become patron of the club in 2001, and he attended Slim Dusty’s funeral as its representative in 2004.

Rick moved to Brisbane in 2005 to live with his daughter Lynne, but remained the club’s patron and returned several times.

“I think Dad would have enjoyed everything we did for his memorial,” Lynne said.

“All of us were able to meet up with family and friends who managed to come to the service, even with such short notice.”

Lynne said the Aboriginal singer-songwriters Kevin Gunn and Francis Cox, who both toured with her parents, made the long journey from the Kimberley for the funeral.

Mal Russel, who also toured with the show, acted as MC.

“Unfortunately the journey was somewhat rushed and we all would have liked to have spent more time there, especially since one of my sons, his partner and their three sons live in Albany,” she said.

“Nonetheless it was wonderful to spend the time we did and it was nice to be able to lay Dad to rest with Mum according to his wishes.”

The Denmark Country Music Club’s recent dance with band Campfire Country was a tribute to Mr Carey and life member Jean Brenton, who passed away a few days earlier in Perth.

ALBANY’S branch of Soroptimist International has been very busy donating to local community groups this year.

The global volunteer organisation helps girls and women access human rights and resources.

The Albany branch has donated $700 to the Albany Public Library to purchase a new nursing chair for the junior library.

Mother of two Caryn McWhirter is one of many parents who have experienced difficulty feeding and changing children in public spaces, and she appreciates the Albany Public Library’s safe space and new resources.

“We are so grateful to Soroptimist for this funding,” Ms McWhirter said.

“It will help make breastfeeding so much easier.”

The new nursing chair will be purchased in time for the completion of the Albany Tourism and Information Hub in early 2018.

Soroptimist International Albany has also contributed to Albany’s Foodbank branch by running a Christmas in July food donation drive, which raised 113kg of food, enough for 226 meals.

“We noticed Foodbank was low for winter, so we decided to have a Christmas in July as well as our annual December collection,” SI Albany member Deb Symes said.

Foodbank Albany branch manager Rod Pfieffer said he appreciated the donations and encouraged the Albany public to continue helping those in need.

“It is a constant struggle to maintain the variety of food and products we need at Foodbank, so the community’s contributions are always a great help,” Mr Pfieffer said.