About Us
OUR BOARD OF MANAGEMENT
West Coast Homecare Board Directors are from our communities who give their time and energy to support West Coast Homecare as a not for profit organisation.
This group of individuals together are ultimately responsible for overseeing the operations and making sure West Coast Homecare is working towards achieving its charitable purpose and meet a set of legal duties and act in the best interest of the organisation.
They also accept responsibility and accountability for the delivery of safe and quality care and services.
The organisation is required to comply with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), Aged Care Quality Standards and NDIS Practice Standards.
Our Board of Management want local people accessing our services to be confident that the organisation is well run and that they can partner in improving the delivery of care and services to consumers are accountable for the delivery of safe and quality care and services.
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Chairperson
Suitability Skills & Experience - Local, rural communities, board director, nursing, primary health care, chronic disease, aged care and disability support, carer support, management, leadership, risk management.
Cathy was born and grew up in Tumby Bay, and after nursing in Adelaide, returned to Eyre Peninsula to help run her husband’s family farm at Yeelanna.
She continued to work as an Enrolled Nurse in acute and aged care both at the Tumby Bay & Cummins Hospitals before taking up a position at the Cummins Medical Practice in Primary Health.
Cathy was nominated for the Australian Primary Healthcare Nurse Association board and served a two year term where she enjoyed the steep learning curve of governance and board responsibilities.
During her career Cathy has cared for people with chronic conditions and developed a strong sense of justice in the delivery of ethical and unbiased care and believes everyone deserves a life of dignity. She has connected many people to services they needed and has been a strong advocate enabling patients in her care to achieve their health goals.
Cathy really missed the board work and is happy to dedicate some of her retirement time to serve on the board of West Coast Homecare that is a local not for profit organisation that delivers care and services to locals, by locals.
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Deputy Chairperson
Suitability Skills & Experience - Local, rural communities, board director, registered nurse, hospital board experience, leadership, management, clinical care and services, chronic disease, clinical governance, continuity of care, home care, aged care and disability support.
Vicky joined the board of West Coast Homecare in 2011 to represent the Tumby Bay District.
At the time Vicky was working as a Registered Clinical Nurse at the Tumby Bay Hospital as well as setting up and attending to The Chronic Disease Care Plans at a local Medical Practice.
Working in a country hospital Vicky was required to attend to all aspects of nursing that brings a depth of clinical care, including working in management roles being the registered nurse in charge of the hospital, patients and staff. This included supporting people as part of the hospital discharge planning process.
Prior to returning to nursing in 1987, Vicky was a Board Director of the Tumby Bay Hospital for 6 years which gave her insight into the role of boards and board members. Prior to this Vicky was a member of various voluntary community committees holding varying office bearer positions and was awarded a couple of life memberships as a result of these services.
Vicky’s experience of 30 years of nursing and preceptoring students as well as policy writing and risk management roles and clinical care contributes to her fulfilling her role on the board of West Coast Homecare and on the Clinical Governance Committee.
Vicky finds it very satisfying working with the CEO and Board members in an effort to provide excellence in services to our communities.
Vicky also values meeting with clients at the open forums that are held several times a year to hear the client’s thoughts on what they would like us to provide in the way of services and care.
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Board Director - Life Member
Suitability Skills & Experience - local, rural communities, board director, finance, aged care and disability support, carer support, home care.
Sandra has been involved with West Coast Homecare since inception, as a member of the steering committee to source funding for the organisation.
As an active Board Member she has been aware of every change in all aspects of aged care and any other home care industry matters over the years.
Sandra has life experiences gained first hand through caring and supporting various family members with dementia, terminal illnesses and caring for her brother in the last six months of his life. Sandra supported and delivered her brother’s palliative care and met his clinical care needs, so she has experienced the value of care and support in a person’s own home.
Sandra believes there will always be care and support services needed, like West Coast Homecare and this drives her commitment to continue as a Board Member.
She respects the services provided and is glad to play a part in this local service provision. Sandra said, it is evident that all WCH staff genuinely care about the clients and the services that they are able to provide to maintain people living in their own homes and communities.
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Board Director
Suitability Skills & Experience - Local, rural communities, carer support, board director, continuity of care, home care, aged care and disability support.
From an early age Kathy’s core character led her to care for family and friends in times of them requiring her caring support. Kathy then continued to provide caring support as a compassionate, reliable and steadfast adult.
This lived caring experience formed the basis for Kathy’s skills to support her throughout her journey as a qualified hairdresser, offering incidental counselling to both clients and work mates over several years. This included hairdressing and volunteering at Matthew Flinders Nursing Home for 12 years, working with residents and day centre attendees.
Kathy became a fulltime carer for her partner 20 years ago who has lived with chronic pain episodes ever since, limiting his ability to perform individual daily tasks.
She then volunteered for Carers SA supporting young carers, who cared for family or friends who had a medical diagnosis or a mental health diagnosis. She became employed by Carers SA as a permanent part-time Carer Support Worker, for seven years. During this time she travelled from Port Lincoln to Ceduna, Streaky Bay, Kimba, Cummins, Arno Bay and Tumby Bay to support carers with education, retreats, activities, support groups, one on one and phone support.
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Board Director
Bachelor of Physiotherapy
Suitability Skills & Experience - Local, rural communities, allied health, board director, chronic disease, aged care and disability support, management, leadership, finance, accounting, economics, business law, technology, marketing, risk management.
Matt was born & raised on the lower Eyre Peninsula, starting in Cummins before finishing school St Joseph's School in Port Lincoln. Having spent several years working around the EP in different industries before studying Physiotherapy at the University of SA where he met his wife Courtney.
Beginning his career in Whyalla after graduating working with Country Health SA gaining experience in several different areas of health, including inpatient, outpatient and community care.
Matt has now been practising Physiotherapy for over 12 years & in 2015 realised his goal of opening his own practice - EP Physio Plus which started out in the spare room of his house. Things steadily progressed and turned into what it is now, a multidisciplinary clinic in a world class facility. Working in the community has led Matt to providing care to the aged in the community and in the local aged care facilities.
Outside of work Matt is involved in several local sporting clubs, enjoys spending time with his family and the wonderful outdoors that the Eyre Peninsula has on offer.
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Board Director
Suitability Skills & Experience - Local, rural communities, social worker, board director, hospital board experience, leadership, management, clinical governance, risk management, continuity of care, home care, aged care and disability support, carer support.
Port Lincoln has been Gerry’s ‘home to come back to’. His mother was born in Port Lincoln and moved to Adelaide in her teen years and this is where Gerry was born. School holidays were mostly spent in Port Lincoln visiting relatives and enjoying fishing and its environment.
Following National Service, winning one of those ‘lotteries’ with a year in Vietnam he returned to High school to complete his Matriculation as one of the first mature aged students to re-enter High school. Having a heart for social justice this led Gerry into Social Work and moving to Port Lincoln in 1974.
Most of Gerry’s working life has been involved with human services, 20 years in social work followed by 18 years as the Executive Officer with West Coast Homecare during its formative years and into a well established organisation. Gerry has also served on the Port Lincoln Hospital Board.
After several years in retirement Gerry felt the need to give back to the community using his experiences gained working in human services in particular not-for-profit organisations. This led to Gerry joining West Coast Home Care as a Board Director.
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Board Director
Bachelor Commerce, ASCPA, AICD
Suitability Skills & Experience - Local, rural communities, board director, management, leadership, finance, accounting, economics, business law, technology, marketing, risk management.
Meagan is passionate about ensuring regional Australia has access to the same level of services and opportunities as our city counterparts. This passion extends to all areas of life, recreation, education and essential services.
Born and raised on the family farm near Paskeville on the Yorke Peninsula, her earliest memories of administration was typing up her Dad's weekly president reports and seeing if she could type as quick as he could dictate. She was a natural mathematician at school and an eager school leader so it was a natural progression to study Commerce at Adelaide University in her Tertiary years.
She was very fortunate to find employment with an outstanding regional business as there accountant, Cowell Electric, in 1999 when she moved to Cowell with her husband, Matthew, when he decided to return to the family farm. During her time at Cowell Electric she completed her Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA) status, held the position of Company Secretary for over 10 years, Chief Financial Officer for 8 years and was fortunate to have completed many professional development courses such as Melbourne Business School Leadership Development course, CPA Advance CFO course, and the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) course.
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Board Director