The Box Hill Community recently acknowledged the tireless efforts of volunteers who fundraised to establish the aged care residence 20 years ago.
On 28 March – two decades to the day since the residence opened – residents, families and supporters joined City of Whitehorse Mayor Bill Bennett to celebrate a long history of high-quality care.
Uniting AgeWell CFO Graeme Barnes said the local Uniting Church worked hard to raise funds to establish the residence at a time when there was little Government financial support for aged care.
“The people who established this site had a lot of vision.”
“They believed residents wanted to live in a place where they knew the community, they knew their friends and their networks. Looking at our current community, 86 per cent of our residents lived within 3km of this building,” Graeme said.
The land was originally built as a joint venture between the City of Whitehorse and the Uniting Church. Uniting AgeWell Board Chair Raelene Thompson said she hoped the organisation was “honouring those people in the work we’re doing today”.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge that this building came out of a really innovative approach to what a residential aged care home could look like,” she said.
“There was international engagement and the people who were part of the design paid attention to what was innovative and cutting-edge design. It still feels contemporary today.”
Box Hill Community marked the occasion with an afternoon tea, while more celebrations are planned for October, during the Celebration of Ageing Well.
Among those celebrating, were former employees of then-Uniting Aged Care’s Moorfields residence in Hawthorn – Beverley Youren (pictured left) and Amy Trainor (pictured right). When Moorfields closed, excess furniture was sent to Box Hill Community, while Beverley took home several chairs and reupholstered them for use at Box Hill. Beverley and Amy are pictured with Esther Mitchell, a resident at Box Hill Community, who formerly lived in Uniting AgeWell independent retirement living.
