healthAbility Celebrates 50 Years of Putting People at the Heart of Care

Different times. Same commitment. For 50 years, people are still at the heart of all we do.

This year, healthAbility proudly celebrates 50 years of caring for communities, supporting wellbeing and helping people live their best lives.

Our story began in 1972 when community advocate Rosemary Aitken and a group of local women recognised a need for more accessible health and welfare services in Eltham. Their vision and determination led to the opening of Eltham Community Health Centre in 1976, laying the foundations for the organisation we know today.

Over the past five decades, we have grown alongside the communities we serve. While our name, services and locations have evolved, our commitment to supporting people to live healthy, connected and fulfilling lives has remained constant.

Many people will know us by different names throughout our history. Our roots began in Eltham with Eltham Community Health Centre, which later became Nillumbik Community Health Service and then healthAbility. Our story is also enriched by the proud legacy of Carrington Health, which began in 1986 as Box Hill Community Health Service before becoming Whitehorse Community Health Service and later Carrington Health. For more than four decades, Carrington Health built a strong reputation for innovation, partnership and community-centred care across Melbourne's east.

In 2018, healthAbility and Carrington Health came together, uniting two organisations with shared values, complementary strengths and a common purpose of improving health and wellbeing outcomes. Together, we built on decades of expertise, trusted relationships and community impact to create an even stronger organisation for the future.

As community needs have changed, so too have we. From helping communities recover following the Black Saturday bushfires to transforming the way services were delivered during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have continued to find new ways to provide care, connection and support when it was needed most.

Today, healthAbility delivers a broad range of health, wellbeing and community services across Melbourne’s north-east and east. Recent achievements include recognition for the Aboriginal-led Balit Booboop Narrkwarren initiative through a Reconciliation Victoria Maggolee Award, a Victorian Public Healthcare Award for Excellence in Mental Health and Wellbeing for the After Hours Mental Health Nursing Service, the launch of Community Cupboard to support people experiencing cost-of-living pressures, and a 2026 Patients Choice Award for our Community Champions Advisory Group. Together, these milestones reflect our continuing commitment to innovation, inclusion and community impact.

Guided by our vision of a world in which everyone is thriving and well and our purpose to make wellbeing easy, we continue to evolve and respond to the changing needs of our communities.

Chief Executive Officer Agata Jarbin said the milestone reflects both healthAbility’s proud history and its ongoing commitment to community wellbeing.

"When a group of local women met in Eltham in 1972, they could not have imagined the impact their vision would have 50 years later. Their belief that people deserve accessible, community-based health and wellbeing support continues to shape every decision we make today.

This anniversary celebrates our clients, communities, staff, volunteers, Board directors, partners and supporters. Together, they have built an organisation that has changed lives, strengthened communities and created lasting impact across generations.

While we are incredibly proud of our history, we are equally excited about our future. Guided by our vision, purpose and values, we will continue to innovate, collaborate and make wellbeing easier for more people."

As a for-purpose organisation, healthAbility reinvests every dollar back into services, programs and initiatives that improve health and wellbeing outcomes for the communities we serve.

As we celebrate this golden anniversary, we honour the pioneers who started the journey, recognise the thousands of people who have shaped our story and look forward with optimism to the future.

Different times. Same commitment.

For 50 years, people have been at the heart of all we do. And they always will be.