Building courage and compassion, one brick at a time : meet Darryl Cook

For some, courage might look like an eight-year-old auditioning to sing on a Pink Floyd’s album – “Unfortunately, I didn’t quite have the cockney accent they needed for the ‘Another Brick in the Wall’ chorus” – but for Darryl, Service Manager for Aged Care Services at Maddington, it is something his staff embody daily.

“It takes courage to do what we do, and I see this every day. The Maddington team make a very challenging job look easy and this for me is courage,” Darryl said.

With elderly and frail parents, and as an appointed administrator for an uncle living in residential care, Darryl also understands the importance of compassionate care from both sides.

“I have a firsthand appreciation for the emotional journey experienced by family members during the aging process of loved ones,” he said.

Darryl joined MercyCare after a diverse and rewarding career, including more than 30 years in the health care, mining, and emergency services sectors, throughout Australia as well as overseas.

“My interest in the booming aged care sector, combined with my personal experience, attracted me to this role,” he said.

Over the past eight months, Darryl has made progress towards many of his ambitious goals for the Maddington facility, including guiding the team in the transition from a 50-bed to the new 108-bed home, opening this year.

“I want the Maddington home to be the one everyone talks about and where everyone wants to be – the flagship aged care centre of MercyCare,” he said, “I’m proud of how my staff have willingly embraced the changes needed to reach this goal, including cultural change and training towards high performance mindsets and operational excellence.”

Darryl considers himself very much a family man. While acknowledging his personal life provides an important perspective to his work to strengthen and improve MercyCare client services, they also help ground him in what is most important.

“First and foremost, I’m a son, husband, brother, and a very proud dad of an awesome 17-year-old, who is taller than me and with (obviously) more hair.”