MACN Co-op’s Karen Hodgson interviewed on ABC Riverina Radio

In the media 21 August 2025

This morning, Karen Hodgson, committee member of the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Network Co-operative, a Care Together Program project, spoke with ABC Riverina’s Sally Bryant about the Lodge’s strong occupancy, new staff recruitment and the launch of the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Network Co-operative, a community-driven initiative to strengthen small rural providers and share expertise across Australia.

Listen online on ABC Riverina Breakfast (3:16.50 – 3:24.00)

Read more about Murrumbidgee Aged Care Network Co-operative.

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Transcript

Sally Bryant (SB): Now joining me here in Coleambally this morning, I’ve got Karen Hodges [Hodgson], who is the manager of Cypress View Lodge. Good morning.

Karen Hodgson (KH): Morning. How’re you going?

SB: How long ago was it that you and I were standing here on the street of Coleambally, having well, pretty much the same conversation?

KH:  I was trying to remember, but I think it possibly two or three years. .

SB: Yeah.

KH: Yeah, yeah.

SB: Time’s gone past on skates hasn’t it?

KH: It goes so quickly, it’s scary.

SB: It’s frightening.

KH: Yeah.

SB: So how are things going?

KH: Yeah. We’re going pretty well at the Lodge.

SB: Yes.

KH: We are fighting for ourselves.

SB: Good.

KH: That’s what small rural remote providers have to do. So since I’ve been speaking to you, we’ve made some… a lot of progress in some areas. And we are faced with excellent occupancy at the Lodge.

SB: Brilliant.

KH: We’re over 96%. We are getting hounded for beds constantly.

SB: Yeah.

KH: And yeah, we’re doing quite well. We’re still battling behind the scenes against reforms and changes, and Aged Care’s about to have a new raft of changes come through. But I must say I’ve had a massive win with the local department and representatives, and they’ve actually stepped up to help us a great deal.

SB: Wow.

KH: Yeah.

SB: That is brilliant.

KH: Yeah. So we’ve actually formed a co-op

SB: Wow.

KH: with six other providers in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District. And we are now officially the part of the Murrumbidgee Aged Care Network Co-operative,

SB: That’s very smart.

KH: which we drove from Cypress View. I’m the, one of the initial board members. And so that’s been happening in the background. It’s a process that’s been supported by the Department of Health and Ageing through the BCCM, which is the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals, under their social project, which is called Care Together. So we’ve

SB: Karen, that’s inspired, because I have watched that co-operative model happen in a number of spheres. Community co-ops to run really loved and, and valued local pubs or local businesses. And running something for the benefit of the community it’s the perfect model, isn’t it?

KH: It is. It’s in exactly what we were trying to achieve. So when I went to the Department

SB: Yeah.

KH: and we gathered together as a group of providers, I talked about working co-operatively, because there’s so many things that we have to meet that are exactly the same in different sites. And we’re fighting, as a small provider, to do that. Whereas bigger providers have a head office doing all that background work. So if we can have a someone doing the background work for us, we still maintain our individual identity, and we get to do what we do best, which is provide excellent quality aged care.

SB: And you don’t turn into, and I don’t want to, you know, point the finger at anyone, but you don’t turn into that sort of for-profit model

KH: No.

SB: which is so at risk of becoming just a money-making machine.

KH: That’s exactly right, and that’s what we’re focused on. So to be part… Yeah, we, we will accept new members.

SB: Yep.

KH: To be part of this co-operative, you have to be a standalone not-for-profit

SB: Yep.

KH: in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District. So we will welcome new members. And our one of our long-term goals is to actually sell our services across Australia, because aged care is nationwide. So we may actually [be] able to benefit the each of the seven providers by bringing in some income, because we’ll be selling, because we’ll be experts, and we’ll be able to sell our services across Australia. Because it doesn’t matter what aged care site you’re in across Australia.

SB: Yeah.

KH: You have to meet the same standards, whether it’s someone like us who’s only 19 beds or someone with 300 beds. We’re meeting exactly the same standards. So if we’re experts, why can’t we sell it to others?

SB: It’s a brilliant idea.

KH: Yeah.

SB: I could almost see this being a template for others to follow, because it’s smart.

KH: And, and… Yeah. And that’s exactly why the Department has backed us so well. Because they want this to work.

SB: Yeah.

KH: I do firmly believe they are supporting small providers in this sense.

SB: Yeah.

KH: And they want this to work so that it can be used in other areas. And rural areas know co-ops. We know what they are.

SB: Exactly.

KH: They’re all through rural areas. And it’s exactly what it is, co-operative working. And that’s what it’s going to be, hopefully. So we’re actually formed… Our first role is to employ a manager, and then we’ll be up and rolling.

SB: That’s exciting. That is very exciting. So, in terms of news, that’s gotta be your top line. What else is happening? It sounds like you’re on a real high.

KH: Yeah. I am in that sense. It’s taking a lot of work,

SB: Yeah.

KH: in terms of the lodge itself and here in Coleambally, I think we’re doing amazingly well. We’re really well-staffed at the moment, which is great for a small provider. We’ve recruited a a new RN. So although we’re still not 24-hour RN, and we have an exemption for that

SB: Yeah.

KH: we’re doing really well for our RN minutes. The new RN is brilliant to town. He’s a new person we’ve recruited from overseas. He’s about to bring his family here as well, so that’s great for the Coleambally community. Brings two little kids to town.

SB: Yeah.

KH: They’ll attend our local schools. She’ll work as well. All of that’s working. We’ve got some others from overseas that we’ve recruited. We’re actually doing really well. And as I said, the occupancy is amazing. Unfortunately at the moment, there are so many people in hospitals waiting for aged care beds. We’d love to help, but we just, we don’t have the spare beds.

SB: No. No.

KH: Which is a great thing for us, not great for them.

SB: No. Exactly. And do you know, we have spoken before about the importance of ageing in place. But let’s talk about that again, because I’ve just been through this with my dad.

KH: Yep.

SH: I was very lucky that there was a community-run, a co-operative-run aged care facility near where he was living. And it just, to be able to walk in and see the level of care, and for him to know that he is still in his own community, even though he needs a lot more care than he was getting, it, it, it just makes all the difference, doesn’t it?

KH: Yeah, it does. And that’s one of the big things. We still need to get that message out there. Cypress View was built by this community for that reason.

SB: Yes.

KH: Now, back in the day you couldn’t stay here. You had to move somewhere else, but that’s not the case anymore.

SB: Yeah.

KH: We have the highest level care here. We provide it right through to end stage and palliative. We pride ourself on that. And we want the Coleambally community particularly to understand that, that they don’t have to wait. They don’t have to go somewhere else.

SB: No.

KH: They can come to us, and we will look after them till the end. And that’s what our staff really pride themselves on doing.

SB: And Karen, how often do you hear that people who are ticking along, you know, they’re aging, and things are changing, but they’re ticking along okay. Then they have to move somewhere else, that disruption, and it’s like someone switches a switch, and it’s…

KH: They go.

SB: … their decline is done.

KH: Yeah. Exactly. And we want people to come to us before then. Absolutely. because we’ve got a great activities program. We’ve got… We want them to live still, be

SB: Yes.

KH: in the community, come down the street, do all the things they want to do, ’cause we’re not locked at, at Cypress View.

SB: No.

KH: So they can come down the street, have a coffee, come back when they need us. And that’s what we want people to actually come when they can enjoy it.

SB: Well, thank you for coming down and talking to me this morning.

KH: No worries. Thanks for your time.

SB: A pleasure to hear that things are going so well. Yeah. And lovely to catch up and hear your news.

KH: No worries. Thank you very much for

SB: You take care.

KH: Thanks.

SB: Hey, how cool is that? And what a brilliant idea, a co-operative model. That is Karen Hodges, who is the manager of Cypress View Lodge.