RE: Blue Care?

[Bruce Mullan]

Greetings,   Yes, Blue Care is a part of the UnitingCare umbrella here in Queensland.  Its history goes way, way back and it does one heck of a lot of good in the community in the name of Christ.  Blue Care began life as the Blue Nursing Service, an outreach initiative of the Methodist Mission at West End in inner Brisbane.     If you have looked a little further into the site Greg you would have discovered the Mission Statement: “To promote and deliver quality caring services based on the compassion of Christ”, followed by the first of the Vision Statements: “To remain a vital part of the Uniting Church's faith in action.”  Check out the organizational structure at http://www.bluecare.org.au/aboutbluecare/overview/structure.cfm and you’ll see just how it fits right under the UCA here in Queensland.   Yes, for a number of reasons the links between Blue Care and Uniting Church congregations is not as strong as it has been at times in the past but there are many of people on both sides (Synod and congregations and Blue Care management and staff) who are working hard to build stronger bridges – and it’s happening.    In 1999 the organisation adopted the name Blue Care to better reflect the breadth of its work.  This covers: home and community nursing, Community Aged Care Packages (CACP), disability services, palliative care and respite services.  Blue Care also auspices a number of Uniting Church outreaches including Centres for Retirement Living, the community health and aged care services offered through Wesley Mission Brisbane and Wesley Mission Ipswich, and disability services.  Blue Care works right across Queensland and employs almost 9000 staff.  It’s huge with over 5000 hostel and nursing home beds alone, and heaps of other stuff.     So, Greg, don’t bin Blue Care too quickly.  The UCA people in this state are proud of Blue Care and the other UnitingCare agencies that do fantastic work throughout our community.  It’s not about wearing the badge; it’s about doing the work…   Regards,   Bruce     Bruce Mullan Uniting Church in Australia Queensland Synod GPO Box 674 Brisbane    QLD      4001   61 7 3377 9801 0407 702 344   [EMAIL PROTECTED]   -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Greg Crawford Sent: Tuesday, 29 June 2004 11:52 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Blue Care?   One of the occupational hazards of my work is that all kinds of reading material finds its way into my pigeon hole. These things usually pile up on my disk until I have a clean up.   Tonight I discovered I had a glossy news letter from an organisation called "Blue Care". I don't know where or who it came from. At first I thought it must have been some of my wife's material which had been caught up by mistake. What is "Blue Care"? I asked myself. Then I discovered it's an agency of the Queensland Synod. How did I find that out? Well, right down at the bottom of the page, well away from the news letter's logo, is a tiny "Uniting Care-Queensland" logo. But just to throw you off the track, the Uniting Church logo is in the wrong colours!   So I went to Blue Care's website here: http://www.bluecare.org.au/ Same sort of thing. You have to dig until you find out it's a Uniting Church agency.   I couldn't help compare this effort to that of Hunter Retirement Living in NSW. See here: http://www.hunterretirement.com.au/   Anglicans in Queensland don't seem to have a problem with their identity. See here: http://www.anglicare.asn.au/services/agedcare/Qld.shtml   So why is "Blue Care" trying to hide its Uniting Church identity? Blue Care? Who cares? Into the bin with that one!   - Greg