COVER STORY
THERESA SIMPSON
The nurturing forward-thinker Guiding Mookai Rosie Bi-Bayan towards new growth.
Cultivating Mookai Rosie from humble beginnings to clinical service delivery, Theresa Simpson takes a proactive and hands-on approach in providing the best service possible for community as CEO. Theresa’s passion and drive has given her Board much to admire as she rolls up her sleeves to guide the organisation’s expansion of their Model of Care.
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Sector Leader M AG A Z I N E
With proud family connections to the Kalkadoon and Wakka Wakka people, Theresa was born in Mt Isa and grew up in Cairns with her grandmother, Bonnie Simpson. Bonnie was a strong and compassionate grandmother who immersed Theresa in positive cultural family values that has shaped the nurturing leader she is today. Bonnie and Esme Hudson were the original house mothers who helped establish Mookai Rosie Bi-Bayan nearly four decades ago, alongside founder Aunty Rose Richards—Mookai Rosie Bi-Bayan translates to Aunty Rosie’s Place or Home. Theresa strives to uphold Aunty Rose’s strong vision and commitment to provide our people with a health-focused service which is viewed as a ‘home-awayfrom-home’. For more than 35 years the organisation has provided a
| August/September 2021
healthy and caring environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children attending medical treatment in Cairns. Mookai Rosie provides culturally appropriate care and accommodation services for women while they are bonding with their new baby or recovering from medical treatment. With most of her family already in the health sector, it was natural for Theresa to step into an assistant in nursing role after graduating high school, with Hetti Perkins Nursing Home in the Northern Territory. However, with a desire to expand her skillset and experience, Theresa took a government sector job in Canberra, where she developed her finance and business acumen. Leveraging those skills, Theresa came home to Cairns and took up positions in the private sector before moving to Mookai Rosie Bi-Bayan in 2000.
