After 43 years, Bombala's community can no longer rely on access to a nursing home locally, as its only aged care facility — Currawarna — has officially closed.
The small rural town nestled in the Snowy Mountains has a population of 1,500 residents, with 31 per cent of those aged over 60 years old.
Despite the town's older population, their only nursing home has now closed, leaving Bombala residents like Catriona Garnock devastated.
"It certainly feels like the end of an era for the time being."
Community fight still continues
While Ms Garnock has had to relocate her 94-year-old mother-in-law, Shirley, to the far south coast town of Pambula, she hoped Bombala's aged care home would not be lost forever.
"But it will, unfortunately, take a lot of time and a lot more negotiations.
"We are working on a proposal with the NSW government where they are looking into extending the hospital and hopefully including Currawarna in that extension."
Ms Garnock said, without a local nursing home, many families would now have to travel more than 100 kilometres to see loved ones.
"It will be a lot more difficult for a lot of other people whose families have moved even further away," she said.
"One lady went up to Goulburn, others to Canberra and Cooma and down the coast."
The facility's owner, Southern Cross Care, announced in February it would be closing the facility due to difficulties in recruiting enough nursing staff.
This prompted a backlash from the local community and families, who fought against the decision.
Twenty residents were living at the facility when they announced it would close.
A spokesperson for Southern Cross Care said all residents had now been relocated.
"With the assistance of their families and the Southern Cross Care staff, all Currawarna residents have now relocated to suitable alternative accommodation," the spokesperson said.
"[That's] either within the Snowy Monaro region or other locations closer to family, including other Southern Cross Care homes."
Eden-Monaro Labor MP Kristy McBain said it was vital that all levels of government continued to work together to find solutions to the aged care crisis.
"We know that it's not sustainable in a number of areas at the moment," she said.
"We need to be working together with the state and local governments to make sure that aged care remains a part of our regional communities."
While Ms McBain had not made any financial commitments to address the situation in Bombala during her re-election campaign, she said Labor was committed to fixing the aged care crisis.
"I think you'll be seeing a lot more work being put into the aged care sector by the Labor Party," she said.
"It was a centrepiece in our budget-in-reply speech and there'll be more to say during the campaign."
A spokesperson for the Liberal Party candidate for Eden-Monaro, Jerry Nockles, said the federal government was committed to improving aged care, including in Bombala.
"We are continuing to work closely with the NSW government and the community in regards to the long-term provision of aged care in Bombala," the spokesperson said.
"Jerry [is] planning to travel to Bombala in the coming days to discuss the issue."
