Meet Linda Allen: the lady leading the way

20 Aug 2021

What goes around comes around, so they say. And for Linda Allen who is leading the strategic direction of Berwick's Langmore Centre redevelopment - that saying certainly rings true. Having grown up in Beaconsfield and attended St Margaret's School as a teenager, Linda's first job as a nurse was at the very hospital she has now been entrusted with to repurpose.

Joining St John of God Health Care in 2019, Linda jumped at the opportunity to become CEO of Pinelodge Clinic in mid-2020. A role which would also oversee the revitalisation of the former St John of God Berwick Hospital and before that known as Berwick Bush Nursing Hospital and Linda's first place of professional employment. "I've never moved a hospital before," Linda claims. "I've been involved in extensions of health care sites but I've never had the opportunity to bring a much loved community asset back to life."

For Linda, this "once in a lifetime chance" is not only a humbling experience, but a satisfying one too. "The repurposing of Gibb Street will allow us to bring a new service to Berwick – one that is vitally needed in this area. And to be able to take a building which is very important to the local community and give it a legacy into the future is something I feel very proud to be a part of."

"This facility holds a lot of emotional attachment to the people of Berwick. When speaking about the old hospital, families have told me about the babies being born there or about the loved ones whom have passed away and the stories of caregivers working at the site – it's a very meaningful place to many in our community."

The Langmore Centre is set to welcome patients from in mid-2022 and there's much to do between now and then in order to get the facility operational again. Construction is one aspect of the project, but there are many operational processes to be developed and refined.

"Personally it is an exciting challenge. There's a lot of planning that will go into ensuring we have a clinically safe environment in which to provide excellent and safe care to our patients" explains Linda. "From recruitment and orientation of caregivers, processes for the delivery of linen, the visiting hours, to therapy programs, the menus just to name a few – there is lots to do. I'm really looking forward to seeing these plans come to life in a facility that has been serving the health care needs of this community for more than 100 years."