With its wide streets, coffee shop, a quintessential pub and affordable property, Bell on Queensland's Western Downs is the kind of country town older residents never want to leave.
But for Joan Hunter, a fall at home nearly took that decision out of her hands.
"As I was trying to get through the screen door, I tumbled over, the basket went everywhere, and I went down on my side," she said.
"I must have damaged my hip because I couldn't really walk after that. So, then I knew I was in big trouble."
Joan's injuries left her unable to cook, clean, garden, shop, or drive herself to doctor's appointments.
She was facing having to abandon her life in Bell and move to a nursing home near her children, not far from the coast, to receive full-time care.
"I have a big group of friends I've met since I've lived here, and I'd lose all that," she said.
But Joan was thrown a lifeline when Bell local Sarah Heathwood became her carer through an organisation called Bell Cares.
Ms Heathwood visits several times a week, which allows Joan to stay in her home and in the town she loves.
Seeing the need
Bell Cares is a community-managed aged care service that helps the town's elderly residents access government-funded home care services, which locals then provide.
The powerhouse behind the concept is Lesley Bryce, a Bell newcomer who moved with her husband to the town from the Sunshine Coast back in 2012.
Ms Bryce said the idea for the tree change began when she and her husband came across the town's old bakery building on the internet.
"I came out and saw it and fell in love with it," she said.
"So, we bought it, thinking it would be a weekend getaway. But the more we came, the less we wanted to go back to the Sunshine Coast."
But during the pandemic, Ms Bryce became aware that Bell's elderly were not tapping into the government-funded support services they were entitled to.
The nearest centre was 45km away, which placed Bell's elderly at a disadvantage when dealing with the major service providers.
"People [needing care] would say things like, 'They don't turn up, or they turn up on a different day. I don't like them. They send a different person every time.'
"There was no continuity of service. But I knew that could be different under a home care package," Ms Bryce said.
Ms Bryce's research introduced her to the concept of self-managed home-care packages, which she realised would be the perfect fit for a small, tight-knit community like Bell.
This model allows clients to tailor packages to their individual needs and have people they know from their town as support workers.
As Bell Cares began to take shape, it linked with the online platform Mable to match elderly people with their carers.
Jobs for locals
Mable's Qld community engagement manager Brad Grieve said the Bell Cares model was proof an ageing population was actually a powerful economic driver for any town.
"Because what it does is gives people who are ageing an opportunity to access government funding to keep them living in their home as intended," he said.
The opportunity to gain work in their own backyard is being embraced by local workers as well.
Since her youngest child started in prep, Sarah Heathwood had been looking for some extra work to add to the hours she was already doing at the local dairy, so becoming a part-time carer was exactly the sort of work she had been chasing.
It also allowed her to gain new skills.
"She's tried to teach me to iron," Ms Heathwood said
"I still don't think I'm there. I really like to just pull it out of the cupboard and wear it. But there's been good learning on both sides, I think."
'New disruptive concept'
Bell Cares has partnered with Brisbane-based Home Care package provider Trilogy Care and serves as the intermediary between Trilogy and its Bell clients.
Trilogy Care's managing director James Whitelaw believed community-managed home-care packages for the aged-care industry were what ride-share service Uber was to the taxi industry — a new disruptive concept.
"We're talking to towns in Western Australia, South Australia, and we've just spoken to 22 councils in Queensland. We want to see an expansion of this concept."
Is there enough work?
Aged & Community Services Australia chief executive officer Paul Sadler agreed the model offered an ideal solution for small communities but questioned whether there would be enough work for locals to make it worth their while.
"The staff are not employed. They're subcontractors, and that means they may not have the continuity of income to support their own families at times," he said.
Bell Cares is still finding its financial feet and relies on private donations to get it through to the end of the year.
But forward projections based on the number of people whose packages are going to be awarded and activated, Bell Cares will be breaking even paying wages and rent.
"Then if we have 50 packages running, which I suspect by the end of next year we will, that will bring in excess of a million dollars into this community," Ms Bryce said.
