Over a century ago, Dr Percy Langmore and Nurse Grace Dunphy established a small private hospital, then known as Shepton Private Hospital, operating from a tiny weatherboard house on Station Street, Berwick.
This marked the beginning of the beacon of compassionate, local care that is now known as St John of God Berwick Hospital.
By 1948 it became apparent that the hospital would need to expand and public fundraising allowed the redevelopment of the existing hospital and more land was purchased in 1953.
Further development in the 1970’s introduced occupational therapy, a nursing home, casualty and outpatient services and in 1987 the hospital changed its name to Berwick Hospital Inc.
St John of God Health Care continued the legacy of the early pioneers when it purchased the hospital in 2003, and commenced an era of expansion and modernisation that would help meet the health care demands of the growing population.
In 2013 the hospital was proud to open the Day Oncology Unit at Gibb St, a much needed service for the community. The demand quickly grew and the facility was soon outgrown.
The St John of God Berwick Specialist Centre opened at Kangan Drive in 2014, which became home to a custom built and larger Day Oncology Centre, along with a community wig service.
In January 2016 construction commenced on the new hospital at 75 Kangan Drive. The hospital took two years to build and opened on 18 January 2018, with all patients seamlessly and safely transferred from the former Gibb Street Hospital.
Through generous fundraising and philanthropy, the Berwick community got behind the redevelopment, contributing an incredible $2.8 million towards Comprehensive Cardiac and Cancer Care services at the new state-of-the-art hospital.
These services support advanced care and increased capacity, technology and facilities, offering the community the very best treatment options which can increase the life expectancy and quality of life for patients and their families.
In 2020, in response to the escalating COVID-19 situation in Victoria, the original Berwick hospital facility was quickly reopened to offer additional beds to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), aiding in the protection of the aged care sector, which was severely affected by the pandemic.
In 2022 the original Berwick hospital site was reopened as the St John of God Langmore Centre, following a 2019 community engagement campaign.
The new centre, named in honour of Dr Percy Langmore and his son Dr Leonard Langmore, provides specialist community mental health facilities with both inpatient and outpatient services for the fast-growing South East corridor of Melbourne.
Offering a range of therapies for mild to moderate mental health conditions, addiction dependency and specialised perinatal mental health support for new and expecting parents, the centre provides the South East Melbourne community with care closer to home when it is needed most.
Community support continues to play an important role at St John of God Langmore Centre, with generous local donors helping to fund therapeutic sensory gardens for patients and their families, caregiver education scholarships and other areas of unmet need.
Support from people like you has helped to ensure advanced treatments and personalised, compassionate care will be available to the people of South East Melbourne now and into the future. Thank you for everything you do to make care closer to home a reality for our community.