About

Purpose:

To support local individuals and families and help them remain connected to their community.

Vision:

Every local individual and family deserves to remain connected, engaged and valued in the community they know and love.

Philosophy:

Samarinda’s Care Philosophy is based on the principles of Consumer Directed Care (CDC). CDC is both a philosophy and an orientation to service delivery where consumers can choose and control the services they get, to the extent that they are capable and wish to do so. Person-centred practice is a key component of CDC. It emphasises the wellbeing and quality of life of the individual person, as defined by the person.

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 infomally 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 has 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 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 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. As such, the new organisation now provides services under the name of Samarinda Ashburton Aged Services Incorporated (SAAS).

This merger has added strength to our organisation in that it now provides a sound platform to meet the needs of the ever-changing aged care environment. This means that Samarinda now has a greater ability and capacity to provide support to the local ageing and disability community across the continuum of in-home and residential supports. Furthermore, it allows Samarinda to tailor these with the consumer to meet their individual requirements.

Management and staff:

Click here for information on members of the Board

Click here for information on members of the Executive Team

Click here for an Organisation Chart