General News
27 October, 2022
Cooinda recognises dedicated decades
MORE than 185 years of collective dedication was recognised at the recent Cooinda annual general meeting.
MORE than 185 years of collective dedication was recognised at the recent Cooinda annual general meeting.
Damian Lenehan, Donna Bailey and Daryl Wallace were all recognised for 30 years of service to Cooinda.
Mr Lenehan has taken a large role in Cooinda’s waste collection and green waste program, which has grown to be one of the service’s most visible programs.
Ms Bailey has previously been described as the “unsung hero of Cooinda,” who as a cleaner took a proactive role in ensuring cleanliness and sanitation during the COVID-19 pandemic to keep all safe.
Mr Wallace has taken on a wide variety of roles in his three decades of care, bringing a smile to the faces of all he works with.
Cooinda chief executive officer Janice Harris thanked those who have dedicated such a significant period of time to caring for others.
“They all still enjoy their roles here so it’s really beneficial for Cooinda to have some of those people here,” she said.
“They are role models for our staff because we are growing all the time, we’re adding so many new employees that people think we have a high turnover, and our long-term employees provide wonderful leadership.”
Other Cooinda employees to reach significant milestones include:
• 10 years – Nola Hutchins, Bernie Harris and Cathy Elliot;
• 15 years – Geoff Coverdale and Gary Marr; and
• 20 years – Liza Flynn.
The 2022 Darkie Lee Disability Support Worker Award went to Sheryl Hyland for her dedicated approach to care over her 17 years of service.
The Darkie Lee Disability Support Worker Award is in its fourth year, recognising the achievements and value of support workers in the disability field at Cooinda.
The award was named afterbeloved Cooinda support worker Darren “Darkie” Lee, who “epitomised the value of a support worker” prior to his death in 2019, according toMs Harris.
Ms Hyland was nominated due to her continued encouragement of others, her strong rapport with participants and her active role in leadership.
“She’s just one of those welcoming people,” Ms Harris said.
“She doesn’t like to have recognition and even on the night she was awarded was just thanking other people.
“Some of the families in attendance who know Sheryl were in tears because of how well deserved it was for her to be recognised because she’s so great with the participants, so active in our lives and supportive of the community.”
The 2022 Cooinda annual general meeting showed the organisation remains in a strong financial position.
Cooinda increased total income to $12.38 million for a net result of $530,000 – boosting total equity to almost $10 million.
The service also increased expenditure, notably an almost $1.6 million addition in employee benefits as the workforce increased.
Ms Harris said Cooinda had a number of projects on the horizon which would position the service to continue to provide a high level of support for participants.
“Through the pandemic we were fortunate; we closed our day programs a number of times but still operated to support people in our accommodation settings and support people one-to-one,” she said.
“We supported people with limited staff but we were able to disperse staff to other sites, so most were able to continue to work which was good.
“We’ve still got lots of things happening in the future which keep us moving including a new residential building to support four participants plus a two-bedroom unit for another participant.
“Over the next few years we’re also looking at replacing some of our current accommodation or building new accommodation, and redeveloping our farm and recycle programs, which will include more animal husbandry programs.”