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Noosa remembers Noosa residents and visitors will honour the service and sacrifice of Australian and New Zealand troops at ANZAC Day ceremonies on April 25. At Tewantin the main service will be held at the Tewantin Cenotaph, with the march assembling on Sidoni Street at 9.15am before stepping off for a 9.30am start. Hosted by the Tewantin-Noosa RSL Sub Branch, the service will follow the time-honoured traditions of ANZAC Day, including the laying of wreaths, the playing of the Last Post and a minute’s silence. A Tewantin Cemetery service will be held prior to this at 6.30am at the Noosa RSL Sub Branch section of the cemetery. Cooroy services, hosted by the CooroyPomona RSL Sub Branch will begin at 4.45am with a Dawn Service at Cooroy Memorial Park on Diamond Street. There will be a gunfire breakfast to follow the service from 5.45-7am at Cooroy RSL. Walk-ins only, $5 per person. The ANZAC Day street march will assemble from 10am at the Cooroy Library carpark and begin at 10.30am, followed by the service at 11am at the Cooroy Memorial Hall. There will be 2up in the hall from 1pm. Continued page 4
ANZAC Day service Cooroy in 2025. (Rob Maccoll)
Service shuttered By Steve Linnell A vital Sunshine Coast palliative care service will not reopen for the foreseeable future, leaving its entire nursing workforce out of jobs and creating a major gap in end-of-life care across the region. Katie Rose Cottage Hospice has confirmed it will remain closed indefinitely following a prolonged funding crisis that had already forced a pause on patient admissions. Director, CFO and Chairman Les Godwin told nurses in an email seen by Noosa Today the decision had come after all possible options to keep
the service operating were exhausted. “It is with deep sadness and great regret that we write to advise that, further to previous communications, and as soon as we were informed ourselves, Katie Rose Cottage Palliative Care Hospice will not be reopening for the foreseeable future,” Mr Godwin said in the email. “We know this news will be incredibly difficult to receive. Please be assured that every possible effort has been made, and all avenues have been explored, in an attempt to keep Katie Rose operating. Unfortunately, in the current climate, this has not been possible.”
The closure has directly impacted the hospice’s highly regarded nursing team, who had been providing in-house and in-home palliative care services across the Sunshine Coast. Mr Godwin confirmed all nurses would receive their outstanding entitlements, however sources have told Noosa Today that only their annual leave has been paid out and not other entitlements. “All nurses will be paid any outstanding entitlements, including accrued annual leave. These payments are currently being processed and, due to the Easter break, we anticipate they will be dis-
tributed on or around Friday 10 April,” he said. “If we encounter any issues with calculations, processing, or distribution to individual accounts, we will notify you as soon as possible.” The hospice operated under a mixed funding model, with Queensland Government contributions covering only about one third of nursing costs. The remainder relied heavily on donations, fundraising and revenue from its op shops and warehouse operations. Continued page 4
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