20/06/2023
This week we were saddened to hear of the death of Janette Kennedy on 26th May.
Jan, with other volunteers, founded the Waverley Social Health Centre in 1975 to provide counselling services from a little house in Glen Waverley.
Waverley Community Health Centre grew and became MonashLink in 1996, and then Link Health and Community in 2015.
Jan stayed involved and on the board of management for the entire time - more than 45 years. This is an extraordinary contribution.
Throughout the years there were ups and downs for community health, but she remained a resolute advocate for her community.
Jan was a fierce social justice advocate from the early 1970s, especially for women’s rights. Her advocacy was compounded through her work as a Maternal And Child Health Nurse, working with young families across the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
But more important than what Jan achieved was the way she achieved it. Her friend, and former MonashLink Community Health Service Board Chair, Sally McManamny, says “Whatever she did, wherever she went, she attracted people to her. She was wonderful company; vibrant, trustworthy, and loyal. Whatever she did, she saw things through to the end. Jan made friends for life.”
Testimony to this was the real life impact on the thousands of new mothers Jan supported. It was a regular occurrence for her to be stopped in the supermarket or local café by the women she supported, and be reconnected with the children and grandchildren she cared for.
Jan was a central figure in community health in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Her lifetime of service for her community cannot be overstated.
We extend our condolonces to Jan's husband, Cyril, her children Bruce, Helen and Nicholas, and her extended family and friends.
Vale Jan Kennedy.
