RAAFA Recognises Role of Women with New Aged Care Centre Name

The Royal Australian Air Force Association of WA’s state-of-the-art new aged care centre in Bull Creek will recognise the important role of Australian servicewomen, with the organisation announcing the centre will be named in honour of celebrated World War I nurse, Alice Ross-King.

The $30 million new care centre, which is due to be completed in early 2016, will be known as the Alice Ross-King Care Centre.

RAAFA Chief Executive Officer John Murray said the new name had been chosen after careful consideration, to reflect the important role of women in Australia’s military services and to celebrate nurses’ contributions to military and civil society.

“We are delighted to announce the name of the Alice Ross-King Care Centre, in recognition of the extraordinary Alice Ross-King, whose legacy truly embodies the role of nurses supporting the community in times of need,” he said.

Pictured above: Alice Ross-King (courtesy of her granddaughter Maggie Johnson). 

“Throughout Australia’s history of military service, women have put their lives on the line alongside armed forces from the trenches of WWI to more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“In naming the centre after Australia’s most decorated nurses, we hope to reflect the same principles of care and support which have guided nurses through military and civil society, who push themselves beyond the call of duty in their mission to care for others.”

Mr Murray said the new care centre which is conveniently located next to the Bull Creek train station will generate more than 80 jobs for the local community, with RAAFA due to begin recruiting for staff including nurses, carers, allied health professionals, administration and hospitality staff, early next year.

Alice Ross-King’s granddaughter Maggie Johnson, who will travel to WA for the official opening of the care centre, said her family were honoured by the decision to name the care centre after her grandmother.

"My family thinks this is a very fitting honour and acknowledgement of our grandmother's work given her military and nursing background and RAAFA's history of supporting and respecting the role of ex-servicemen and women in their service to our country,” Maggie said.

The care centre will also recognise two other significant figures of the RAAFA community with the Vic Murray Room set to recognise Vic Murray, who was the RAAFA State President from 1983 to 1984 and Café Dean recognising Tom Dean, also a former RAAFA State President from 1987 to 1990. 

The Alice Ross-King Care Centre will offer 102 beds, including 24 beds within a dementia-specific care wing, and responds to the needs of the existing RAAFA members and the broader community.

The care centre will feature single rooms, all of which have private ensuites. The care centre is located on the banks of picturesque Lake Howard within the Air Force Memorial Estate at Bull Creek, and is designed to capitalise on natural light within bright open spaces, with easy access to the beautiful environment outside.

Designed by Perth-based architects Silver Thomas Hanley and constructed by BGC, the 18-month-long construction project is expected to be completed ahead of schedule by April 2016. 

Click here to find out more about RAAFA's residential aged care.