Keola Health and Well-being offers alternative for NDIS clients and support workers

Tired of seeing the “lack of care” for NDIS clients and their support systems, two North Queenslanders have stepped up to offer Townsville an alternative.

RN Abigail Weedbrook and Keola Health director Ashlee Huginger. Picture: Evan Morgan

Seeing a “lack of care within the community” for National Disability Insurance Scheme clients who weren’t getting the results they wanted from their providers, Abigail Weedbrook and Ashlee Hubinger have stepped up with an alternative.

Co-founding NDIS Service Provider Keola Health and Well-being on Ms Weedbrook’s lounge room floor in January, the women began harnessing their experience and knowledge to chase their dream of lifting the standard of local community services.

Born and raised in Ingham, Ms Weedbrook completed her Bachelor of Nursing Science at James Cook University in 2019, going on to work as a Registered Nurse in multiple areas including community care, general medicine, and pediatric intensive care.

A Townsville local, M Hubinger has pursued a career in disability support as a community support professional and a client services co-ordinator.

Searching for a unique business name, they settled on “Keola” after reading it in a baby book – meaning health and well being in Hawaiian.

“We provide support workers for the community, whether they’re disabled, or aged care (and) we are branching into the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, so helping our veterans as well.

“With the supports, we do in home support personal care, community access, so taking them out within the community.

“We do also have community nursing, so enabling people to come home and be healthy within their homes and gain support by the nurses, instead of being in a hospital environment.”

They were also driven to establish Keola after becoming “fed up with the amount of disrespect that we were given working for (other companies)”.

Ms Hubinger said one of their staff members had been “bounced around between providers”, wasn’t being trained, and their concerns and goals weren’t being met.

Keola Health and Well-being recently opened at 6/41 Denham Street, Townsville City. Picture: Supplied.

“We treat our staff with respect, and we give them what they need to do the job, and they’re very honest people with us and we’re honest with them, so we have that close working relationship with all of our clients and staff members,” she said.

“We listen to our clients and we provide them with what they need based on that feedback.”

As NDIS funding continued to grow to support the ageing population and increasing number of disability clients, Ms Hubinger said they would recruit in the new year to build on their 12 staff.

“We’re taking on entry level roles in the support work community, and we train staff up within their role and ensure that they’re fully trained before letting them fly free,” she said.

“It’s definitely a very rewarding career. You get to spend time with the elderly, and you get to know their stories, and you work with people in the community.”

Reagan Stokley from Colliers Townsville with RN Abigail Weedbrook and Keola Health director Ashlee Hubinger. Picture: Evan Morgan

Ms Hubinger reached out to Colliers commercial leasing executive Reagan Stokley, who showed her through several listings before signing a five year lease at 6/41 Denham Street, in the Townsville CBD.

Judging by the level of inquiries and deals they were doing, Mr Stokley said the Townsville CBD’s office and retail markets were going strongly.

He was Keola’s new office was affordable and the perfect size to grow into the future.

“Being positioned in the CBD has its benefits with other services and neighbouring businesses. (They’re) bringing some activation into the CBD which is quite beneficial,” he said.

For more information, visit: www.keolahealthandwellbeing.com/

Originally published as Keola Health and Well-being offers alternative for NDIS clients and support workers