The Weekly Advertiser – Wednesday, February 16, 2022

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Vol. No. Vol. 2418No. 3127

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Wednesday,February January 16, 13, 2022 2016 Wednesday,

FUN AND GAMES: Tayte Wardle and Makaidee Knoop try to push teacher Josh Lloyd into the pool at Horsham Holy Trinity Lutheran College secondary swimming sports. For the first time since 2018, Wimmera House won the carnival shield. The college’s junior campus will continue house rivalry on February 23. Horsham College will contest its swimming trials tomorrow and Horsham’s St Brigid’s College will run its swimming sports on Tuesday. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER

Karkana hub push A

BY DEAN LAWSON

dvocates strongly pushing for a Wimmera mental-health centre have identified Horsham’s dormant Karkana on the outskirts of the rural city as a potential project site.

They have ‘quietly’ worked on the concept for six months after raising the idea for a dedicated centre more than two years ago. Advocate members Graham Gerlach and Gavin Morrow, after initial assessments, are confident the Grahams Bridge Road site at Haven, which includes buildings and land, would be ideal as a new mental-health centre. “We’ve had a good look through it

and although it might need a significant tidy-up and an injection of some serious funding, we believe it would be absolutely perfect,” Mr Morrow said. “At the moment we have people needing help going voluntarily or being taken involuntarily to hospital for treatment, who are then later being told they need to travel to Ballarat. “To me that’s akin to promoting drink-driving.” The group’s push, based on identifying a pressing need to ‘significantly’ strengthen mental-health services in the Wimmera, emerged from community organisation Healthy Minds Horsham. Rotary clubs across the region have

also indicated support for a dedicated centre, as well as general improvements to regional mental-health services. “We’ve been wanting to get this idea moving for six months and working behind the scenes assessing what’s out there and what would need to be done to provide facilities for patients, staff and specialists,” Mr Morrow said. “What we’re after is something that can provide immediate walk-in as well as short and long-term care. “We have been looking over drawings and plan to discuss it further with Uniting Wimmera. “We want to go forward with the current custodians.” Mr Gerlach, a Rotary member, said

authorities had ignored WimmeraMallee communities over a crucial health issue. “We are sick of hearing what can’t be done and ‘we need another study’ and so on. I believe if the government won’t immediately get on with a crisis centre and mental-health facility then the community might have to show them how,” he said. “There will be no one in our large Wimmera catchment who will not support such a facility. “We have seen the tremendous community development of many significant projects in the past. “The Karkana venue is right here, put there by the community and it could ultimately evolve into a very

large mental-health facility, similar to those in Geelong. “Horsham is the largest city between Ballarat and Adelaide, Portland and Mildura, and there is nothing here. “It’s time for our community to take control of what is needed so watch this space.” Mr Morrow said it would be paramount the Horsham and broader Wimmera community supported the project. “Karkana has a long history of support and engagement from everyday people. It’s a site that many hold close because it has been such a community project.” Continued page 3

accommodation plan • Quantong stand strong • Football-netball IN THIS ISSUE ISSUE •• Crisis Heartache in elective-surgery delays •residents Hornets premiers • Your football-netballaction club Phone: 03 5382 1351 Read it online: www.theweeklyadvertiser.com.au

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