Margaret Roles may be new to the role of Mayor of Hilltops Council in NSW, but she is a familiar face to patients and staff at Mercy Care Centre Young (MCCY).
In early 2018, Margaret joined the Mercy Health Community Advisory Group (CAG). CAGs provide local advice from a consumer, carer and community perspective, to help our health services better understand and respond to the needs of the communities we serve.
“I was well aware of the work of Mercy Health in our region,” Margaret recalls. “My five sisters-in-law all trained at the Mercy Hospital in Young and one worked for the latter part of her career as a Registered Nurse there.”
Margaret says joining the CAG was one way she could get involved with the Mercy Health ethos. “The word Mercy, I find, is always spoken with an inflection of affection — a bond that has been built over time with our Hilltops community.”
At about the same time, Margaret began volunteering as part of MCCY’s China Tea activity, where volunteers bake delicious sweet treats and take them around to patients and staff along with freshly brewed tea in delicate china tea sets. On pause since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, patients and staff have been clamouring for the return of China Tea.
The hospitality conveyed by a hot cup of tea stems back to the Sisters of Mercy Founder Catherine McAuley, who on her deathbed asked a friend to take care of the Sisters: “Be sure you have a comfortable cup of tea for them when I am gone.”
Mercy Care Centre Young (MCCY) volunteer Margaret Roles.
Want to get involved?
If you are interested in joining a CAG to make a difference to your local health service, or if you would like more information, please contact our Consumer Participation and Experience team via getinvolved@mercy.com.au or 03 8416 7859.
Last reviewed May 21, 2022.