Remote patients find refuge at Townsville Karingal accommodation facility

From high-risk births to lifesaving operations, remote patients from across Qld and the NT are finding comfort, care and respite at a NQ accommodation hub quietly changing lives. But pressure is mounting on the service as demand increases.

Cairns mum-to-be Jamie-Marie McPherson was sent to Townsville after doctors found her cervix was shorter than normal – a condition that can increase the chance of early labour. Now, she’s staying at Karingal as she waits for her baby to arrive safely. Picture: Shae Beplate.

When Cairns mum-to-be Jamie-Marie McPherson was told her pregnancy had become high-risk, she barely had time to pack a bag, let alone figure out where she’d stay.

“I went for the ultrasound, and then they’re like, ‘Okay, we might have to keep you here tonight and then send you to Townsville,’” she said.

Doctors had discovered her cervix was shorter than normal, a condition that can trigger early labour.

Ms McPherson was then flown to Townsville, far from home and support, with nowhere to go and not enough cash to cover accommodation.

“We didn’t have no money at the time, so we didn’t know where to go. But then the hospital ended up contacting them (Karingal) last week and sorted it out with them,” she said.

That’s how she ended up at Karingal — a quiet accommodation hub on Riverway Drive that’s been giving remote patients a safe place to stay for over a year, sparing them from living in hospital wards and helping stop the slide into a vicious cycle of homelessness.

But as demand grows, the 24-bed facility could soon be under pressure to stretch its services further.

With Townsville Hospital and Health Service opening the North Queensland Kidney Transplant Service (NQKTS) this year — one of only two such centres in the state — the number of patients needing accommodation in the city is expected to rise.

For Doomadgee man Aaron Farrell, Karingal has meant staying close to his brother, a Northern Territory renal patient who travelled over 1,000km for surgery in Townsville.

“It’s good here, I’ve never been to Townsville before, so I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Mr Farrell said.

“I don’t know how long it’s going to take him to recover, but I just didn’t want my brother out here all alone.”

Doomadgee local Aaron Farrell is staying at Karingal to support his brother through surgery, more than 1,000km from their home and family in the NT. Picture: Shae Beplate.

And for Palm Island mum Jennifer Prior, Karingal has become a second home for her young family while her newborn twin girls, born two months premature, grow stronger day by day in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

“We only came here (Townsville) for New Year’s but ended up in the hospital because she was pushing,” she said.

“I had a scan and when they checked my cervix it was open and she was already down there, so I had to wait around for them to come … They were so tiny back then, but they’re big now.”

Jennifer, her partner, and their other young kids have been able to stay together in one of Karingal’s family rooms, a rare comfort during weeks of stress and uncertainty.

“It’s been good here, but we’re looking forward to finally getting home soon,” she said.

The $5.7m Karingal Patient Transition Accommodation on Riverway Drive has twelve single rooms and four family rooms for accommodation, and private consultant rooms for visiting health specialists and other agencies. Picture: Yumba-Meta

These are just three of the 385 people who’ve passed through Karingal’s doors in just 14 months.

The remote patient facility run by Yumba Meta opened its doors in November 2023, offering remote and Indigenous patients a place to stay while undergoing medical care in the city.

Manager Jody Chetty said the service was crucial to keeping vulnerable people off the streets and in care.

“The whole idea was to stop that gap of falling into homelessness,” she said.

“It’s very intimidating if you’re coming from a community to a city … they’re not used to urban life and are very vulnerable.”

Before Karingal existed, about 70 per cent of people turning up at their local diversionary centre were remote patients stranded in the city after being sent in for treatment.

Ms Chetty said the facility works closely with 15 hospitals, from Tennant Creek to Charters Towers, with a particular focus on high-risk pregnancies and renal patients.

Yumba Meta CEO Dushy Thangiah said she expects demand for their services to only continue to grow.

With the NQKTS opening, she said they’ve already been asked by the hospital to look at reserving space for transplant patients from across Queensland and the Northern Territory.

“We understand another local accommodation facility catering for about 30 people could be closing down soon, so I‘m also worried about how they’re going to address that gap,” she said.

“My biggest fear is that we are going to see more vulnerable people unable to find a place to stay and falling into that cycle of homelessness again.”

When asked if Health Minister Tim Nicholls would look at funding an expansion of Karingal to meet the need, his office declined to comment, referring instead to Townsville Hospital and Health Service.

CEO Kieran Keyes confirmed they were in talks with community accommodation providers, including Yumba Meta.

“The NQKTS is expected to perform approximately 30 transplants per year,” he said.

“The service model has been designed to limit the number of patients staying in Townsville at any one time.”

Originally published as Remote patients find refuge at Townsville Karingal accommodation facility