Staff’s Help Invaluable To Me - A Story from Mooroopna

This has been taken from SN Weekly, thanks to Kate Andrews for allowing us to share it.

"The first year after my son was born was an extremely stressful time for my family. He was unsettled and cried a lot, both day and night. He didn’t fit in with other children without constant supervision, so taking him to playgroup or mother’s group was worse than staying home with him. We don’t have extended family in the area, so it was almost impossible to have time without my son – not just to relax, but to do things like go to an appointment, access early intervention for my son, volunteer in the community or contribute to the family business.

Our Maternal Health sister recognised how difficult things were for us. When my son turned one, she suggested that I go and see the staff at Morrell Street Occasional Care. “You need a break for your own mental health,” she said, “and there are things you just can’t get done if you don’t have someone to look after him. They are just wonderful there.”

We have never looked back. With their expert and loving care, my son has developed and thrived. They have identified his special needs and helped him learn how to socialise appropriately. They have given him the confidence needed to transition into the more structured kinder environment. I have been granted a time each week when I know I can make that important phone call, make a doctors appointment, or work on the accounts for our family business. I know that if something comes up, such as a funeral, I am able to book my children into care and participate in important family and community events.

The importance of the Take-A-Break Occasional Childcare program must not be underestimated. It is a program that empowers women to further their own prospects as well as those of their family and their community. For my own family and the thousands of others who have their own story to tell, it must be saved. "

“Bev and Karen’s” was closing down - Morrell Street Occasional Care Centre

Hi

This is taken from a story written about Morrell Street Occasional Care Centre, also known to those that have been there as “Bev and Karen’s”

I think there are "Bev and Karen" stories all over the Victoria and I am so glad I got to read theirs.

"I heard from a patient that "Bev and Karen’s" was closing down. You might ask: Whose place? Bev and Karen are the child care workers at Morrell Street Occasional Care Centre. They are also assisted by two beautiful volunteers, Melissa and Linda. This centre operates on Monday to Friday mornings from nine until twelve throughout school terms. Bev, Karen, Melissa, and Linda who deliver the care are exceptional. They have entered the lives of many of us in Mooroopna. They have not only extended love and care to our children but they have also nurtured mothers in the care and support they have given them over many, many years. 

 I would never have survived, if it wasn’t for Bev and Karen" stories. These stories are not the great ones in history but genuine stories of everyday life; and these are our local stories. These stories are told by women who mother in rural communities, and they are not the glitzy, glamourised versions of motherhood that make us all feel incompetent and ugly. These stories, sometimes punctuated by a gulp, or a tear show the messy side of mothering, the lack of sleep, money, and rain, and yet they reveal our beauty, and our honesty, and our struggle: mothering is hard and exacting work and sometimes we just need support to be the best mothers we can be. Bev and Karen have given this support, and many more of us have more stories to tell. The telling is important because these stories unite women, they make us stronger, and these stories build our community.

I remember moving from inner city Melbourne just after the birth of our first child, knowing no-one except for Bill’s family. This was a struggle for me and quite isolating. I was basically lonely and needed some other involvement in the world. It was then that I started volunteering for the Mooroopna Community Centre rather than staying at home twenty-four hours a day with a baby. Cara was in a capsule at the time and I would put her beside me as I answered phones and helped out in the office. It was here that I heard about Occasional Care. After a year of this, I returned to casual employment and commenced work as a nurse at Goulburn Valley Health. Even-though it was only once or twice a week, the social and intellectual stimulation was what I needed. It also kept me sane and the salary contributed to our farm income in this drought stricken period. At the time there was much mirth in the family because I was ready for my shift two hours before I was meant to start; I was so excited by the prospect of nursing again and meeting people. We were on a farm, so Bill would drop Cara at nine at Bev and Karen’s and then his mother (and I was fortunate to have her loving input) would pick Cara up at twelve. In those days I would often work a short shift and finish at 1.30. I felt that the care of our young daughter was shared and I was comforted by the knowledge that she was being lovingly attended to. Then there was the period after my father was diagnosed with cancer, I now had two beautiful babes but a sick, father undergoing treatment in Geelong. I would not have been able to do the seven hour return trip to attend his appointments and chemotherapy if it was not for Bev and Karen. Then, three years ago life repeated, and I revisited those appointments but this time with my mother as she was treated for breast cancer. Once again Bev and Karen were there to help with the care of my youngest. All of my four children attended Morrell Street Occasional Care.

I was nurtured in my mothering because of the support of these wonderful women. Sometimes, you just need the time out, you need to be able to pause, think thoughts through: reflect. I especially remember the time after Dad died, I left the girls with Bev and Karen and took myself off down to the river, just to sit in the quiet and be still. It was soul time, time afforded to me; to help me heal and to be able to meet the demands of a young family when my own heart was heavy with grief. At other times over the years, Bev and Karen time was taken up with house chores, studying, helping with the cattle, shopping and of course nursing and lately; teaching.

As more people in our community are becoming aware that Bev and Karen’s is closing down because of a cut in funding by this State government, more stories are emerging. "

To all the "Bev's and Karen's" out there a heartfelt thanks and to all the people who have the power to do something about this do the right thing.