VIP Visits to Vasey RSL Care

* July 2024 *

Developing strong relationships with government, service organisations and the Defence Force is an important aspect of our advocacy for veterans and their families. We were pleased to welcome a number of visitors to our services over the past few months.

We were honoured to host Commanding Officer Captain Ben Favelle CSC, Commander Zanker and Leading Seaman Felicity Reed from HMAS Cerberus for a visit with our staff and veteran community.

Beginning at ‘Ward 17’ (the psychological trauma recovery ward) at the Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital, the group witnessed the support provided to veterans and their families.

The tour then headed just round the corner to The V Centre Veteran Empowerment Program to meet participants.

This was followed by a visit to the Ivanhoe Ex-Service Accommodation at Samma Place, including the shared terrace on level 10 and lunch at Box Hill RSL.

We appreciate Captain Favelle and his team taking the time to visit and find out more about our support services for the veteran community.

 

We welcomed a group from the National Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) to The V Centre.

Secretary, Alison Frame (centre), Deputy Commissioner, Michael Harper and Repatriation Commissioner, Kahlil Fegan, were welcomed by Chair, Mike O’Meara OAM (a past long-serving DVA Deputy Commissioner), CEO, Janna, Senior Executive Officer, Tamara Paton and General Manager Veteran Services, Chris Gray.

Our visitors were impressed by the facility and inspired by the participants. The V Centre is filling a vital gap in services and providing much-needed support and connections that make a lasting difference.

 

 

 

We were very pleased to welcome State Member for Frankston and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, Paul Edbrooke MP back to our Frankston South location.

Residential Manager, Brian, CEO, Janna and Lifestyle Coordinator, Ruwan, took Mr Edbrooke on a guided tour of the aged care home. This was followed by a visit to the Ex-Service Accommodation, finishing up with a cup of tea with some of the ESA residents.

One of Paul’s areas of public policy interest is social housing:

“As a growing provider of veteran-specific social housing through our ESA program, keeping veteran organisations and members of parliament up to date on our service and plans for the future is essential,” said CEO, Janna Voloshin.

“We appreciate the interest shown by all our visitors: we look forward to continuing to build these important relationships so together, we can support and empower veterans and their families.”