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Subscriber only The Mackay community is backing plans to better support its veteran community with an RSL social club and wellness retreat at Kinchant Dam.
Hub for our Heroes is raising the profile on the ambitious plans to find a place for returned service men and women to call their own while supporting them in civilian life. The campaign, through the Daily Mercury and Courier-Mail, is asking the Mackay region to get behind two projects, one of which is a social and welfare centre in town on the waterfront. The other is a wellness hub at Kinchant Dam that requires state and federal government support, and a feasibility study into the viability of the proposed model.
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Subscriber only More than half of the patients who visit Mackay GP Kerry Summerscales are veterans or first responders because she knows first-hand the trauma of being on the frontline. Dr Summerscales served in the Australian Defence Force for 30 years including at Bougainville, Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands. She helped save countless lives abroad, and has turned that dedication to ensuring fellow Australian veterans survived civilian life. Dr Summerscales has thrown her support behind the Daily Mercury s Hub for our Heroes campaign to develop a social club in Mackay and a first responders and veterans wellness and treatment centre at Kinchant Dam.
Premium Content One former or currently serving ADF personnel dies by suicide every two and half weeks. The AIHW is the closest any government or support agency has come to identifying the known number of veteran suicides - 419 from 2001 to 2017. The overwhelming majority of them were men.
Hub for our Heroes is asking the community to get behind the two projects dedicated to helping our service men and women, as well as our first responders. Suicide was the leading cause of death for active and ex-service men aged 16-49 and more than one in five men and women who recently transitioned to civilian life were reported to be suicidal.