When Pyramid Hill’s only nursing home shut down in 2019, John and Jeanette Carroll and their elderly neighbours grew anxious about where they would end up.

Mr Carroll said the idea of having to pack up and start anew was particularly daunting after 70 years calling the town, with a population of 600, home. 

“It would take a bit to fit in [somewhere else] the likes of Bendigo or something,” Mr Carroll said.

With a granite rock towering above the township providing views across the northern Victorian plains, Pyramid Hill has one of the state’s oldest populations.

So when its aged care provider shut up shop and left town for good, the community got to work to find a better way.

an abandoned courtyard in an aged care facility, weeds growing out of gaps in pavement.

Respect Aged Care says the facility had $1.1 million in losses over five years.  (ABC News: Emile Pavlich)

Looking after their own

The Carroll’s roots run deep in Pyramid Hill.

Their five sons were valued players for the town’s seniors football club.

An elderly couple, the woman sitting in a chair, the man standing, looking towards the camera inside their home

John Carroll has lived in Pyramid Hill all his life and is passionate about the town.  (Supplied: Rosi Bear)

Mr Carroll spent his career working at the butter factory in nearby Cohuna and spent many hours in maintaining the main Pyramid Hill brigade’s fire equipment.

Over decades, the Carrolls amassed a mighty network of people who, years later, regularly checked in on them at home to offer help.

“It’s just so friendly here, you wouldn’t get that attention in a big place, I don’t believe,” Mrs Carroll said.

But the Carrolls, like many country folk, are practical people.

They know that the visits, along with the outreach nursing, gardening and in-home care, will not be enough to enable them to stay in the family home.

“We want to stay in our home, but know if we become non-ambulant we will have to move away from Pyramid Hill,” Mrs Carroll said. 

‘An absolute blow’ for the town

About 30 people lost their jobs and elderly residents had to be relocated when Respect Aged Care closed its nursing home in Pyramid Hill in 2019.

A man with black shirt leaning on a pillar of a white store/facade

Drew Chislett is the president of the Pyramid Hill Progress Association. (ABC News: Emile Pavlich)

“Losing our aged-care facility was an absolute blow,” Pyramid Hill Progress Association president Drew Chislett said.

With the vacant building staring back at them for several years, locals became lobbyists and eventually convinced the operators to hand over the keys to the site, free of charge. 

“The Pyramid Hill Progress Association was excellent to deal with, and it was a pleasure to hand the facility back to such an embedded and focused community organisation,” Respect Aged Care chief operating officer Jason Binder said.

The association has its work cut out, having to find a way to operate the facility to strict accreditation standards.

“If we can keep our people in our community as an independent living space, then they’ve got their own space, but they’ve got the support of the community around them,” Mr Chislett said.

An empty hall with tables stacked on top of each other

Much of the old aged care facility appears fit for purpose (ABC News: Emile Pavlich)

Loddon Shire Mayor Dan Straub said the small town’s “let’s get it done” attitude set the Pyramid Hill community apart.

“They do get in and drive the projects that are important to them,” he said.

a man is wearing a large hat in a suit staring at the camera

Dan Straub says the community will roll up its sleeves to find a solution to the aged care issue.   (ABC News: Eden Hynninen)

“It’s a community that rolls their sleeves up.”One of Victoria’s oldest communities

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 29.1 per cent of Loddon Shire residents are aged 65 and over, placing it among the oldest local government areas in Victoria.

The shire’s median age is 52 — significantly higher than the Victorian median, which sits in the high 30s.

A sprawling number of dead bees on a carpet inside an old building

There are the remains of an infestation of bees at the old aged care facility. (ABC News: Emile Pavlich)

Northern District Community Health, which provides community nursing and allied health services in the region, said demand for aged-care support was increasing as the population aged.

Chief operating officer Mansoor Hussain said the absence of residential options in smaller towns compounded the challenge.

“More and more people are falling into that age group, especially in rural areas,” he said.

“We strongly believe that health outcomes shouldn’t be determined by your postcode.

“That is especially the case where the services that you receive are unfortunately determined by how far you live from the metros, which is why we are embedded in the community to assist people close to their homes.”

A tanned man with a beard wearing a light yellow shirt standing in front of a Pyramid Hill Lions Club sign

Mansoor Hussain says there is increasing demand for aged care support. (ABC News: Emile Pavlich)

Mr Binder welcomed the idea of the facility opening its doors to the community once more.

“As a not-for-profit organisation that exists solely to provide excellent care to older people in regional and rural areas, we would be very excited to see an aged care service operating in Pyramid Hill again,” he said.

“It would be wonderful for local older people and their families.”pyramid hill

Pyramid Hill, is a three-hour drive north of Melbourne. (Supplied: Loddon Shire Council)

He said doing so, however, would require strong local backing.

“It is important that the local community supports the initiative through both volunteering and donations because it is very challenging to operate a viable aged care service in a small regional town,” Mr Binder said.

“I’d be very pleased to see the Pyramid Hill community make it work.”