Jim Madden
Jim Madden is currently the Consumer Representative who chairs the Darling Downs Health Region’s Consumer Consultative Committee. He is 83 years old and describes his involvement with the hospitals and health services of the Downs as his third career.
As a young man he worked as a Catholic priest in a number of locations and undertook hospital chaplaincies during those appointments. Hospital work was a highlight of his ministry where he often undertook the roles of friend, support and advocate for patients and their families.
Later he trained as a teacher and gained wide experience, not just in classrooms, but also in the areas of course development, community education and distance education. He has assisted prisoners with studies and taught literacy and numeracy skills to unemployed adults. Jim also worked as tutor at the University of Southern Queensland where he gained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy for his oral history based thesis.
Jim has represented consumers on several committees of the Toowoomba Base Hospital, is the consumer representative on the Queensland Health Rural and Remote Advisory Committee. During 2020, he acted as a commission for Health Consumers of Australia when they conducted an investigation into the rapid changes in the provision of health care throughout Australia.
Jim lives with his wife, Doreen, a retired instrumental music teacher, in Toowoomba. They both look on each day as an opportunity for a new adventure.