Anglicare Southern Queensland has celebrated two significant birthdays at its aged care homes – but not for the residents.
The Not For Profit aged care provider has marked 40 years of service for its St Martin’s home at Taigum, while St John’s Home for Men at Toowong has reached a staggering 90 years.
Originally established at Brookfield in 1932, St John’s was at first home to 32 men. The home – set on 25 acres – was intended to be self-supporting, with the men paying for living expenses out of their pensions and cultivating the land themselves; in 1960, the home was rebuilt in Toowong to house 60 men.
St Martin’s, meanwhile, was originally opened in 1982 following the closure of the St Martin’s Hospital 11 years earlier, and has cared for an incredible 1,876 residents over the past four decades.
Sue Cooke, Anglicare Southern Queensland’s Executive Director, attended both celebrations, and praised the love, care, hope and humility that the two homes’ staff have shared with residents.
“Thank you to our staff for their care and for their compassion every day, to the leadership that are here on-site, and a very big thank you of course to the elders that we do care for here.
“Because without them, we wouldn’t be enjoying the lifestyle that we enjoy today, for the struggles they have been through over the decades,” she said.
Here’s to many more years for these two venerable institutions.
