Jennifer Grieve humbled as Clarence Estate’s new community centre named in her honour opened by Mark McGowan

Jennifer Grieve said the honour of having Clarence’s Estate’s new community centre named after her was unexpected and something she had never contemplated. Ms Grieve, her husband Owen and her family had front-row seats on Friday as the Jennifer Mary Grieve Home and Community Care Centre was officially opened by Premier Mark McGowan. The community centre on Hardie Street is the new neighbour for the Clarence Estate Residential Aged Care facility, which Ms Grieve was instrumental in founding in 2002. She said the new centre was the latest chapter in the estate’s story that started with an “original vision” and has “always had such a special place in my heart”. “It’s a wonderful story because it is health and aged care re-imagined,” she said. “It’s helping provide the transformational changes we need in health and aged care to make it a better world for old people.” The centre was officially declared open with the unveiling of a plaque by Ms Grieve, Hall and Prior Health and Aged Care chief executive Graeme Prior, Mr McGowan, Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson, and Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington. More than 100 people packed a big marquee for the opening with other guests including Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens, former Albany MLA Peter Watson, and Clarence Estate residents and employees. The centre was on the drawing board for 15 years with Hall and Prior keen to provide better support for its clients still living in the community. The project became a reality when $1 million of funding was secured from the State Government in 2019 to supplement Hall and Prior’s own investment. Mr McGowan said the new facility would help provide continued quality aged care services for the Great Southern to help ensure “local people can age close to home”. Ms Grieve said her family still had a strong connection to Albany having lived in the City for 20 years until 2008. “In developing the community and healthy ageing program that we did, it did set a new benchmark and brought about a different way of looking at nursing homes to work and live in,” she said. “The work we did here was able to be documented and contribute to aged care as a case study without us setting out to do that. “It’s always been a privilege and a joy for me to be part of the health and aged care sector, and nothing more so than Clarence Estate.”