Support and services for diverse needs
The Aboriginal Health Team is a community-based health service located in Healesville that is accessible by Aboriginal people and their families living anywhere in the Eastern Health catchment.
Language Services provides interpreting and translation services to all sites.
Disability Liaison Team assist people with disabilities access hospital services
LGBTQIA+ Liaison Team assist people who identify as LGBTQIA+ access hospital services
Commitment to Equity & Inclusion
Eastern Health is committed to identifying and meeting the needs of all consumers, carers, families, staff, students, and volunteers in a respectful and appropriate manner. In partnership with our communities, we strive to create a culturally safe and inclusive environment that recognises, responds to, and supports the diverse backgrounds, experiences, and needs of both our consumers and workforce.
Our commitment
To achieve our promise of “Healthier Together”, Eastern Health will deliver a culturally safe, equitable and inclusive health care environment that reflects the diversity of our community and fosters trust, collaboration, and growth for all.
Eastern Health’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion framework and related plans outlined below, articulate how we, as an organisation, will achieve this commitment.
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- Disability Action Plan 2025 – 2026 (PDF 669KB)
- Disability Action Plan 2025 – 2026 – Easy read version (PDF 3 MB)
- LGBTQIA+ Equity Action Plan 2025 -2026 (PDF 690KB)
- LGBTQIA+ Equity Action Plan 2025 – 2026 – Easy read version (PDF 3MB)
- Gender Equality Action Plan 2021 – 2025
- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Framework and Plan 2025-28 (PDF 7MB)
Snapshot of Diversity Within Eastern Health Communities
- 32% of our community were born overseas
- 29% speak a language other than English
- 19% are over 65 years of age
- 0.5% are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander
- Our services are provided in 77 different languages
- 104 nationalities make up the Eastern Health workforce
Source: Eastern Health Annual Report 2023-2024 and Our community as we know it today is changing
Interesting facts about communities from our catchment
Country of Origin
The country of birth across the Eastern Health primary catchment population was most commonly identified as Australia (2021 Census) with an average of 65%.
The next most common country of birth was China, where 7% of the population was born.
Primary Language
The primary population of our catchment speaks a wide variety of languages other than English at home, though almost 70% only speak English.
The most commonly spoken other languages include Mandarin, Cantonese, Greek and Italian.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Overall, the Eastern Health catchment population has a lower than average percentage of individuals who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander compared to Greater Melbourne and Victoria.
Religion
The largest cohort of the Eastern Health catchment population identifies as having no religious affiliation. Christianity is the second largest.
Celebrating diverse communities at Eastern Health
We recognise and celebrate days of significance that matter to our communities to honour the cultures, identities, and experiences that enrich our organisation by hearing their stories and experiences to continually improve our services better support the communities we serve.