Mercy Community goes west! Recently two members of the NDIS and Community Support Services team, Toni Moore and Helen Jones, headed out to the wild west—to the townships of Richmond and Hughenden—to visit our participants for two days and to do a Mercy Community support road trip.
Accessing NDIS in regional areas
“First, we went to Richmond (Helen’s old stomping ground) where we visited the school, after school care, the daycare/kindergarten, the GP Dr Malick and our two participants,” said Toni.
“It was great to meet the children and to see the families face-to-face, and make connections personally. Richmond and Hughenden are two towns in need of assistance with accessing NDIS. They all refer to the area as the ‘black hole’ as the world seems to forget about them. The people in Richmond were so happy to have a visit and to be able to talk about the children and adults who need support.”
Toni and Helen drove onto Hughenden where they had a meeting with the Flinders Shire Council—the only service providers for Mercy Community’s NDIS participants out there.
“We were lucky enough to meet the first baby who has Gould syndrome,” said Toni. “He is just 6 months old, and his mum is an amazing lady, managing to also care for two big brothers who keep things active.”
Toni and Helen were able to touch base with schools along the way, and Prairie and Torres Creek were planning to write a few lines about the support that is available, in their newsletters.
Going the distance
A visit to our Torrens Creek and Pentland participants was on the agenda, but by the time Toni and Helen arrived, they’d run out of daylight and the rain was bucketing down. The Publican of the Torrens Creek Pub offered Toni and Helen the use of the dining room so that they could meet with the Torrens Creek participant, but the rain was just too heavy and the participant made the wise choice not to travel in the risky conditions. (Toni and Helen can confirm that the Torrens Creek Pub has great coffee, if you’re ever out that way.)
Since making the journey out west, Mercy Community has been able to connect with two more people looking for NDIS support, which is really positive for the people themselves and those regional communities. It was a whirlwind trip, but an incredible effort by Toni and Helen… with more to come. Next stop, with a little luck, Winton!
Watch this space for more on how Mercy Community helping people with disability in remote communities connect with the support they need.
