Carinity Brookfield Green aged care is marking its 50th anniversary, having been officially opened as ‘Resthaven’ in May 1972.

Carinity CEO, Jon Campbell, paid tribute to the thousands of staff who have helped to care for seniors at Brookfield over the past five decades.

“Every day for 50 years, our dedicated nurses and support staff have displayed a determination to care for our most vulnerable. I praise them for the legacy of professional care they continue today,” Jon said.

“The perseverance of our people at Brookfield has been inspiring, from rebounding from a severe storm which demolished buildings in 1973, to being cut off by floodwaters on numerous occasions, and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Gwen Billing started working with Carinity one year after Brookfield Green opened as Resthaven, and supported seniors during 45 years of dedicated service as an Enrolled Nurse.

“I enjoyed my work in aged care and I just love to care for the elderly. I didn’t ever ask for any praise, it was my job, my duty. I’m sure I have made a contribution to aged care, and I feel proud about it,” Gwen said.

The Resthaven ‘home for the aged’ was built on land acquired by noted Baptist contributor Samuel Dart in 1869. He and his wife Eliza helped start the first church in Laidley with subsequent generations of their family involved in Baptist endeavours. Their great great-grandson Steve Dart, pictured, currently works for Carinity.

The late Dr John Leslie Dart gifted 34 acres of land to the Baptist Union of Queensland in 1964, on which Carinity Brookfield Green is set. Self-contained retirement units were built adjacent to the initial aged care home in the late-1970s, with the on-site Resthaven Chapel opening in 1981.

The original Resthaven nursing home dwellings were replaced by the $30-million state-of-the-art The Residences at  Brookfield Green building, which opened in 2018.