History:
In 1961 the Ashburton Elderly Citizens Club was formed as an independent community project in response to the needs of the local community, to provide services to elderly citizens in Ashburton. This included the formalised provision of home-delivered meals to people in need, a service which had been informally happening since the 1950s. To fund the services, this led in 1962 to the creation and opening of the ‘Golden Opportunity Shop’ (now The ‘Ashy’ Op Shop) in the former temporary Post Office building on land owned by Victorian Railways.
In 1963, the then Camberwell Council set aside the land on the corner of Welfare Parade and High Street and fundraising began for the building of a Senior Citizens Centre. In 1966 the Ashburton & District Senior Citizens Welfare Association was formed and ultimately this led in 1967 to the opening of the Ashburton Senior Citizens Club building.
From this point in time, the Ashburton & District Senior Citizens Welfare Association (which later became known as Ashburton Support Services) became involved in many projects and services. Ashburton Support Services and its predecessors played a significant role in the building and development of the community fabric within the region and have assisted in providing many services to people who are ageing or who have a disability.
In 1993 Ashburton & District Hostel Inc. launched a fundraising appeal for the development of an aged care hostel on land provided by the Camberwell Council, on which the Ashburton RSL was located. A committee was formed, headed by the late Harold Johnston, and in 1995 Samarinda Lodge Inc. was established and commenced the delivery of high-quality residential aged care support services to the local community.
Over time, Samarinda continued to become more established in the local area and in 2008 it took over the management of the Elsie Salter House program which provides specialised support services to persons living in the community who have varying degrees of dementia. In addition, with a clear eye on continuing to meet the demand for residential aged care services in the local area, Samarinda commenced a building program in 2014 to increase its bed stock from 40 beds to a total of 92 beds, which also includes a 15-bed specialist Memory Support Unit. This building project was completed in 2018.
The merging of Ashburton Support Services and Samarinda Aged Services had been a talking point for many years and finally in 2015 it became a reality when both Committees of Management and their Members agreed to the merger. The new organisation commenced providing services under the name of Samarinda Ashburton Aged Services Incorporated (SAAS).
This merger added strength to the organisation in that it provided a sound platform to meet the needs of the ever-changing aged care environment, giving Samarinda a greater ability and capacity to provide support to the local ageing and disability community across the continuum of in-home and residential supports.
In 2024 Samarinda merged with BASScare creating a merged entity with the financial strength to sustain and grow the provision of care services within Boroondara and surrounds. Click here to learn more about BASScare