Under Construction- Issue 1

South East Melbourne Hospitals

Redevelopment and construction news

July 2021

@st john of god langmore centre

Mental health services coming to Berwick in 2022 St John of God Heath Care is proud to announce its plans to offer much needed mental health services in Berwick for the south east growth corridor of Melbourne.

Construction will commence in July 2021 to redevelop the St John of God Langmore Centre (the former St John of God Berwick Hospital) located at Gibb Street, Berwick, into a community mental health service with both inpatient and outpatient services.

Linda Allen, CEO SJG Pinelodge Clinic & Langmore Centre said, “After community consultation in late 2019 and an analysis of healthcare provision and demographics across our rapidly growing population, it was clear that there was a need for mental health services, locally.

Research tells us that clients have better healthcare outcomes and more sustained recovery when they have access to early intervention of mental health services close to home.

The redeveloped Langmore Centre will open in mid 2022 and provide inpatient, day and community services and offer the latest evidence-based therapies to assist people living with a range of mild to moderate mental health conditions, addiction dependency and a specialised perinatal mental health unit to support new and expecting parents.

The facilities will include all private room accommodation for inpatients, a neuro stimulation suite for ECT and TMS treatments, in house dining facilitates, therapy rooms including specialised Art Rooms and Gym. There will also be Specialist Consulting Suites on site. Many people will Project commences.

Builders onsite.

July 2021

Jul-Aug 2021 Site establishment. Fencing, temporary services, site offices, crane onsite.

remember the wide corridors, the lovely light and internal courtyards of the building and these aspects are important elements that will assist in creating a peaceful and positive environment.

Linda says, “One in five Australians live with a mental health condition. Most common is anxiety and depression which affects people of all ages and can be very debilitating mentally, physically and socially. Some people are impacted by addiction to medication and alcohol.”

Linda adds, “With the significant statistic of 1 in 5 people being impacted by mental health it is quite possible someone in our family, a neighbour or someone we know at a local sports club, the local school or working with us is affected. Sometimes we will know of their struggles and other times they deal with these in isolation. We are all touched by Mental Health and it is important that people are able to access and be provided with the right support close to home to focus on improving their quality of life.”

The addition of the Langmore Centre will enhance St John of God Health Care’s scope of services in Melbourne’s South East growth corridor. Services already include acute medical, surgical and maternity services located at the Berwick hospital, rehabilitation services at the Frankston

Commence fitout

Nov 2021

Late July 2022 Practical completion, followed by commissioning

Expected opening

Aug 2022

hospital and currently mental health service at Pinelodge Clinic in Dandenong.

Lisa Norman, CEO SJG South East Melbourne Hospitals, sets the healthcare vision, “As an organisation we’ve always involved ourselves in the community and responded to community need. This is reflected in the types of services we offer and the social outreach partnerships we form at locally. The Langmore Centre will complement our broad suite of services, across our various sites in South East Melbourne, allowing us to provide whole-person care for our community from birth through to senior years.”

The treasured Gibb Street facility has been part of the Berwick community for over 100 years, first opening its doors in 1910 as the Shepton Private Hospital. Throughout

Artists impressions Top: Perinatal mental health unit

Below left: A patient room

the years, community need has dictated the direction of clinical services and has demanded the hospital grow to meet the rapidly expanding community in south east Melbourne. When the Berwick Hospital relocated to its new and larger purpose-built hospital at Kangan Drive in 2018, the Gibb Street facility remained vacant and ready for re-purposing. In late 2020, the site was temporarily re-opened for aged care residents as part of SJGHC’s community response to the pandemic.

More than ever, following the impact the Covid-19 pandemic and the emerging impact it is having on our health, mental health services will be need in the community for some time. SJGHC is proud to be answering this call from the community.

Below right: The exterior of the Perinatal mental health unit at the rear of the hospital

Meet Linda Allen: the lady leading the way While Linda has led some of Melbourne’s leading healthcare services, she started out close to home in Berwick.

What goes around comes around, so they say. And for Linda Allen who is leading the strategic direction of Berwick’s Langmore Centre redevelopment - that saying certainly rings true. Having grown up in Beaconsfield and attended St Margaret’s School as a teenager, Linda’s first job as a nurse was at the very hospital she has now been entrusted with to repurpose.

Joining St John of God Health Care in 2019, Linda jumped at the opportunity to become CEO of Pinelodge Clinic in mid-2020. A role which would also oversee the revitalisation of the former St John of God Berwick Hospital and before that known as Berwick Bush Nursing Hospital and Linda’s first place of professional employment. “I’ve never moved a hospital before,” Linda claims. “I’ve been involved in extensions of health care sites but I’ve never had the opportunity to bring a much loved community asset back to life.”

For Linda, this “once in a lifetime chance” is not only a humbling experience, but a satisfying one too. “The repurposing of Gibb Street will allow us to bring a new service to Berwick – one that is vitally needed in this area. And to be able to take a building which is very important to the local community and give it a legacy

into the future is something I feel very proud to be a part of.”

“This facility holds a lot of emotional attachment to the people of Berwick. When speaking about the old hospital, families have told me about the babies being born there or about the loved ones whom have passed away and the stories of caregivers working at the site – it’s a very meaningful place to many in our community.”

The Langmore Centre is set to welcome patients from in mid-2022 and there’s much to do between now and then in order to get the facility operational again. Construction is one aspect of the project, but there are many operational processes to be developed and refined.

“Personally it is an exciting challenge. There’s a lot of planning that will go into ensuring we have a clinically safe environment in which to provide excellent and safe care to our patients” explains Linda. “From recruitment and orientation of caregivers, processes for the delivery of linen, the visiting hours, to therapy programs, the menus just to name a few – there is lots to do. I’m really looking forward to seeing these plans come to life in a facility that has been serving the health care needs of this community for more than 100 years.”

All about St John of God Langmore Centre Location: Gibb Street, Berwick Beds: 60 CEO: Linda Allen Director of Clinical Services:

Treatments:

Dr Usman Riaz

-rTMS -ECT -Inpatient services -Outpatient services -Consulting -Day programs -Community outreach

Specialties:

Patient Cohort:

-Mental health -Addiction- Alcohol and other drugs -Trauma -PTSD -Mental health services for expecting and new parents

Patients who are privately insured and consenting to admission and treatment.

Workcover, TAC or self funded patients are also welcome.

Shelley Cooper

Director of Medical Services:

Langmore: the man behind the name Wondering about the name? The Langmore Centre is named after a very special man who started it all back in 1910.

The Gibb Street hospital has had many identities over the years- Shepton Private Hospital, Berwick Bush Nursing Hospital, Berwick Inc and St John of God Berwick Hospital. Its latest moniker, the St John of God Langmore Centre, pays tribute to a family who drove the foundations of health care in Berwick and the outer south eastern suburbs.

He arrived in Berwick in 1907 and opened Berwick’s first hospital, Shepton Private Hospital, only three years later with Nurse Grace Dunphy.

Having arrived in Berwick as a bachelor in 1909 he married nurse Florence Ellson. Sadly, Florence died in November 1912 when their son Leonard was only 11 months old.

In 1920, Dr Langmore re-married. Catherine McCallum was a friend of his first wife. Catherine took over caring for young Leonard (who later also became a very influential Berwick doctor).

Though Dr Langmore was such a fine man, and a doctor, he wasn’t immune from tragedy. Catherine developed cancer and died in 1928. Much later, at the age of 72, he married Maybelle Haines, who shared his love of gardening. While Dr Langmore was said to have a full and valuable life, it was also filled with sadness and loneliness.

Dr Langmore embarked on a personal program to plant trees in Berwick streets in his later years. His tree

Dr Percy Langmore holding baby Leonard

planting program took place over a period of fifty years which is still evident in the streets of the Berwick township. Dr Langmore’s name is often recalled because in his life, he became a legend. It was said that nothing would stop him from going to a sick person and being paid financially was his last thought.

Dr Langmore was instrumental in laying the foundations for healthcare in Berwick. He serviced a wide area, including Emerald, Gembrook and out into the Koo Wee Rup swamp, first in his horse and buggy over the rough ungravelled tracks that serviced as district roads.

He later bought a motorbike, then a motorised buggy and later a motor car to do his rounds. Nevertheless, he still maintained the horse and buggy for places that were difficult to traverse.

When the new Berwick Hospital wing was opened in 1953 it was named to honor Dr Percy Langmore. Due to retire at the onset of WW2, Dr Langmore decided he would be needed and kept on his service until the war ended, despite suffering greatly from arthritis. He retired at 72.

He was an example and inspiration to many. Deep Christian faith motivated his life and work. Peers said he was a very fine doctor.

Dr Langmore’s legacy lives on as we acknowledge his dedication and work by naming this new facility in his honour.

Dr Leonard Langmore

For more information on the Lanngmore Centre redevelopment: info.langmore@sjog.org.au