Beaucare has been offering services on Tamborine Mountain for some time, with Claire Ward and other team members attending disaster recovery hubs following local disasters.
Support
Community Support Manager, Ainsley Hinkins, said their experience on the mountain following the Christmas storms in 2023 and the tornado in 2024, made them acutely aware of the support services needed on the mountain.
“We have received state funding to support he community with disaster recovery and resilience,” Ainsley said.
“When Beaucare was supporting in the disaster recovery hubs following the 2023/24 storms and a year later following cyclone Alfred, we noticed older people with increased vulnerabilities because they do not have any aged care supports in place.
“We are here to provide advice, information, referral and advocacy for the local community.”
To support people and to facilitate linking people to services, Beaucare will be operating from Tamborine Mountain Library every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9am to 3pm until March 2027.
Team members such as Claire Ward, will provide information, advice and contacts for a range of issues including legal services, financial counselling, aged care, disability supports, mavigating insurance issues and mental health and family support.
She can also help people to access government portals online.
Claire will be familiar to many people as she was one of the Beaucare team who worked on the mountain following recent disasters.
Claire has been working in aged care for over 30 years and her calm, empathetic nature combined with her professional experience make her an ideal person for clients to connect with.
Memory circle
Claire has also been running a memory circle group in Beaudesert for some time and through her work on the mountain she has realised the need for a similar group.
“Memory loss can be a distressing life event to go through, but there are good resources and support available,” Claire said.
“Because we had started the memory circle and had such success in Beaudesert, we thought we’ll come up to the mountain, set up here, and do our usual intake and assessment work, but put a particular focus around older people and then giving them a smooth transition into a group like the memory circle,” said Ainsley.
“We know there are a lot of older people living at home with memory loss,” said Ainsley.
“They become more and more socially isolated.”
Seniors expo
Beaucare are planning an expo for older people at the Vonda Youngman Centre on October 1.
Contact
For more information about Beaucare’s services, including the memory circle, call 5541 4216.
Alternatively, you can drop into the Tamborine Mountain Library on a Monday, Wednesday or Thursday between 9am and 3pm to see Claire or one of the Beaucare team members for assistance.
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