Did you know the Women’s Health Centre turns 40 this year? This year marks a remarkable milestone for the Coffs Harbour Women’s Health Centre as we celebrate 40 years of caring, supporting, and advocating for women’s health and wellbeing. What began in 1986 as a small, two-room service on Park Beach Road has grown into a cornerstone of health and community connection on the Mid North Coast.
B
orn from the passion and determination of local women campaigning for better health, safety, and reproductive services, the Centre was founded during a period of powerful grassroots activism. Within hours of opening, appointments were booked out for three months — a clear sign of both community need and community trust. The Centre’s early decades were rich with community programs such as Tai Chi, meditation, relaxation classes and a much-loved carers’ program — all reinforcing its longstanding commitment to nurturing women’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Our feminist philosophy anchored in fairness, social justice and equality, has guided our belief that women deserve access to informed choices, respectful care, and a health service built by women, for women. Four decades later, the Centre operated by regional based,
values led charity Health Voyage continues to uphold its founding values of equity, access, dignity, and compassion, delivering vital services including women’s health GP care, counselling, nursing, sexual and reproductive health, group programs, outreach services and specialist clinics such as the Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Service. We look forward to sharing our 40-year celebration throughout the year with our community and our service partners so keep an eye on our socials for updates and opportunities to get involved. As we celebrate this significant anniversary, we honour the generations of women, who built, who run, and who continue to rely on this vital care. This celebration is not only a tribute to the past, but a commitment to the future: healthier people, stronger communities, and a vision of care for the next 40 years and beyond.
We provide safe, inclusive, high quality health care and strive for health equity in our community. Empowerment is at the heart of what we do. Call to make an appointment 02 6652 8111 | 45–53 Little Street, Coffs Harbour, 2450 Health Voyage – healthvoyage.org.au |
@healthvoyage_au
Coffs Harbour Women’s Health Centre |
@ch_womens_health_centre
84 COFFS COAST focus
healthvoyage_au coffswhc