A Forty-year Family Connection

Community service is in the Leonard family DNA. Like their connection to aged care provider Southern Cross Care (Vic), it has been a warm, positive thread throughout their lives for more than 40 years.

This family’s connection with Southern Cross Care (Vic) started with John Leonard, a pioneer of the organisation. His widow Dorothy and son Gavan, remember a modest, hardworking man who was on its Committee of Management from 1971 to 1984, with several years spent as secretary.

John and his colleagues were pioneers in a new sector, committed to producing quality aged care homes for older Victorians.

“I was so privileged to meet some wonderful men at Southern Cross Care,” Dorothy recalled. “They had the right attitude to what they were doing and why they were doing it, always.”

Gavan’s first memory of the organisation was the unveiling of the plaque at one of its aged care homes. Later, as an adult, he naturally looked to Southern Cross Care (Vic) for his next career move.

“Thirteen years ago, I was looking for a job in an organisation that had similar values to mine, and Southern Cross Care has the values of dignity and integrity that were important to me.”

“Dad died in 1995, but when I joined I had a huge sense of following in my father’s footsteps. We opened our new Community Services office in Preston a couple of months ago and unveiled our own plaque. Mum was there that day. She often comes to our events - it really was the circle completing.”

As Operations Manager of Community Services for the northern/western region, Gavan helps provide a wide range of support services and programs, which Dorothy has accessed herself, including classes at the Wellness Centre located on the same floor as Gavan’s office.

“I’m not an exercise person at all,” laughed Dorothy. “But the therapists were lovely, very attuned to the person they were dealing with. It limbers you up a bit, and you extend yourself each time.”

Service is a key theme in the Leonards’ lives. Dorothy - mother of four, grandmother of nine and great-grandmother of six - is Darebin’s Citizen of the Year 2016 for her decades of volunteer work. And Gavan is the White Ribbon Ambassador at Southern Cross Care (Vic).

“John and I were brought up to ‘See, Judge and Act’. See a situation. Judge what can be done. And then, greatest of all is the action.”

Click here to find out more about Southern Cross Care (Vic)'s aged care services.

Pictured: Dorothy Leonard and her son Gavan are proud of the family’s 40-year connection with Southern Cross Care (Vic).