Home Care customer Carole Whitaker has called Kununurra home for 25 years, and is a true social butterfly, never missing the Friday morning breakfasts at the Juniper Kununurra Community Centre, where she catches up with friends and the wider community that knows and loves her well.
After a stroke left her with no feeling in her left side, which resulted in her being flown to Perth for hospital treatment, Carole now relies on the support she receives in Kununurra through Juniper Home and Community Care. That care has helped her navigate the challenges of living in a remote Western Australian community, far from the specialists and services.
Carole moved to Kununurra with her husband Gordon 25 years ago after her children moved north.
“I asked Gordon, how about we go and live in Kununurra? He didn’t say very much, but he came home the next day and said, I think we should.” Twenty-five years on, Carole says she couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. “I couldn’t go back and live in a city environment again.” Carole also spoke with pride of her family, mentioning that she is the mother of a Ngarrindjeri man.
Carole was already a Juniper Home Care customer receiving domestic assistance when she had a stroke and since has increased the support she gets from Juniper Home Care.
Living so remotely, Carole faces challenges accessing medial specialists. “I live 3,500 kilometres away, so it’s very difficult for those of us who have to do medical treatment, it’s a long flight.”
Specialists only travel up from Perth periodically, and Carole says that scarcity makes it hard to get seen when you need to. It’s this that makes the consistency of Carole’s Juniper care team in Kununurra mean so much, support that’s reliably there, when she needs it.
While Carole remained in hospital in Perth after her stroke, Gordon flew home to Kununurra ahead of her, Juniper’s support reached beyond Carole herself, checking in on Gordon and making sure he was okay while his wife was unwell.
“The staff at Juniper were wonderful to him, they took him shopping once. It was one of the staff, who drive the buses and bring people down for breakfast.”
Carole’s Home Care support has filled a real gap where specialist services are few and far between. Her Juniper physiotherapist is one of the people she leans on most. “She comes and checks on me, and through her we get what we need to get. She lets them know what needs to be ordered for me.”
The Juniper podiatry service Carole now receives has been just as significant. “The hospital podiatrist is just flat chat, she has to look after Wyndham and all of the extra areas, so it’s very difficult to see her. Now we have our Juniper podiatrist coming up and it’s just wonderful.”
So much of what Carole loves about being with Juniper comes down to her relationship with Kirsti Brandis, Operations Team Leader in the Kimberley. “We absolutely adore Kirsti. She’s just such a lovely lady.”
“She came down to the hospital just as they were loading us onto the aircraft, so I got to see her, and she came down with a little bag of goodies for me to take to the hospital. It’s lovely to be cared for like that, to know you personally, not just your problems, but actually you as a person.”
Since her stroke, Carole’s mobility scooter, organised by a Juniper occupational therapist during a Perth trip, has kept her close to the community she loves.
“I’m still a learner, but I’m getting better each time I take it out.”
Carole takes her scooter to the local op shop at Neighbourhood House, a place close to her heart. “I used to run the op shop, which I love to still go to. It’s a very busy shop, in a very beautiful premises.”
These days she is easy to spot around the community centre, thanks to her bright violet hair. “I dye my hair purple, violet, really. It’s always a big thing, everyone notices. When I didn’t turn up one time, people really noticed I wasn’t there.”
“On Wednesdays we have seniors’ morning tea, and I’ve been on the committee there for many years. Every Friday morning, we go to the community centre for breakfast and it’s great.”
Between the op shop, the seniors’ morning tea, and the Friday breakfasts at Juniper Kununurra Community Centre, Carole’s week stays full of the connection that having the right care in place has let her hold onto, protecting both her independence and her strong ties to the Kununurra community.
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