Aged care and nude calendar. It is the most unexpected alliance, but it is how a country town managed to save its local aged care facility. And it is their revolutionary funding model that is grabbing the most attention.
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00:00When Karen Brownlee in Bombala, NSW, was trying to figure out how to save her town's aged
00:07care centre, she would never have thought she'd end up getting her kid off for the
00:11cause.
00:12I don't think it was shock, I think it was like, really?
00:18You're going to do that?
00:20Your game.
00:21The local community bared all to raise funds for its beloved assisted living centre, Karawana,
00:27which has just reopened its doors after two years out in the cold.
00:31This was their home, and this was our little home together where we cared so deeply for
00:36them that they'd become like family.
00:38Rosie Gillespie-Jones was a nurse at Karawana before its closure in April 2022 due to staffing
00:44shortages.
00:45The two dozen residents were moved away from Bombala to find care.
00:49Some had to go five hours away to Sydney.
00:52I think we were heartbroken.
00:53I don't think anybody saw it coming.
00:58To have them moved two, three hundred kilometres away is absolutely gut-wrenching for many
01:05of the families.
01:06That's Keith Campbell, a local farmer who was instrumental in saving Karawana.
01:12With a PhD in agricultural economics, he found out he could use his knowledge in an unlikely
01:17way to help the aged care facility reopen as a residential boarding facility.
01:23It removes some of the very onerous regulation that's required for a full-blown high-care
01:29residential aged care facility.
01:31Keith came to the meeting with a document, he'd done a budget, and said, look, if we
01:36open it up as assisted living, we need a million dollars.
01:40And we all sort of took a big deep, oh my God, you know.
01:45But for Karen, who used to run Karawana, it was worth fighting for.
01:49And she could hardly believe her eyes when the donations surpassed their goal of $100,000.
01:55When I was doing my shopping or going to collect the mail, and open, oh Karen, quick, I haven't
02:01seen you.
02:02Here, they'd open their purse and give me $50 or $20.
02:07I think we're amazing.
02:09And I get very emotional.
02:14The nude calendar was just a fraction of the $340,000 raised by the community, but
02:19it's what grabbed the most attention.
02:22And it's not just bodies on display, it's the brains too.
02:26Karawana's full business model is on show, and it's inspired others to take a leaf out
02:30of their books.
02:31There are a lot of people watching this space and watching us, and it's a real credit to
02:36the community and to the committee that we've got it going.