Our Partners

St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne (SVHM)

The Religious Sisters of Charity, a Catholic order of nuns founded by Mary Aikenhead in Cork, Ireland, arrived in Sydney in 1838. They established St Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst, NSW, in 1857. Then, in 1893, the Sisters opened the doors of SVHM in Fitzroy. SVHM has been the clinical school of the University of Melbourne since 1910.

In 1938, a century after the Religious Sisters of Charity arrived in Australia, they opened Caritas Christi, Victoria’s first inpatient palliative care facility, in Kew.

SVHM strives to anticipate and meet the needs of the Victorian community through its range of services including acute, sub-acute, home based and community care, residential aged care, palliative care, mental health, addiction medicine, and correctional health.  Along with clinical excellence, SVHM is internationally recognised for cutting edge research and innovation.

Today, SVHM is part of St Vincent’s Health Australia the national health and aged care arm of the Sisters’ current entity, Mary Aikenhead Ministries. Driven by its Mission in service of the poorest and most vulnerable in society and its values of compassion, justice, integrity and excellence fits us well in our commitment to, and involvement in, Eastern Palliative Care. 

Outer East Palliative Care Service Inc

Outer East Palliative Care Service Inc. was incorporated in July 1991. The service originated from a strong community need for palliative care services, to provide people with a terminal illness in the outer east with a choice between hospitalisation or home based palliative support. Outer East Palliative Care developed strong community links to service clubs, local government, General Practitioner’s, local hospitals, nursing homes, hostels and supported accommodation services.

The local General Practitioners helped Outer East Palliative Care develop team models for delivery of home based services. Home based palliative care services commenced in 1994 across the areas of Ringwood, Croydon, Knox, Sherbrooke, Lilydale, Healesville and Upper Yarra. Outer East Palliative Care continues to advocate strongly for local services in the outer east region.

This strong link to the community remains today and as one of the 3 partner bodies provides Eastern Palliative Care with general community input and an ability to keep connected with our community and the growing expectation of specialist palliative care.

The Order of Malta

The Order of Malta was founded in Jerusalem in 1098 just before the First Crusade. Since 1113, it has been a lay religious Order of the Catholic Church. It is also an international hospitaller and relief organisation, and a sovereign entity under international law. Its full title is the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta.

It came to Australia in the early 1970’s where its focus became the care of the terminally ill, the frail elderly and their families. It is based at Caritas Christi, Kew where it has an office and a Board Room.

In 1992 Caritas Christi and the Order of Malta Hospice Home Care Services Incorporated was formed as a partnership of the Sisters of Charity and the Order of Malta. This homed based service was staffed by nurses, pastoral care and social workers and a core of trained volunteers. In 1997 the two partners became two of three founding partners in Eastern Palliative Care Association Inc.

The Order of Malta in Australia has some 300 members and some 90 members in Victoria where it enjoys considerable volunteer support and is able to carry out a variety of programs. The Order is directly involved in the work of EPC as well as assisting others within its founding ethos: “Our Lords the Poor and the Sick”.