About ECHO | ECHO Community Services

Meet ECHO

ECHO is a registered charity helping older people live in their own home with dignity and maintain their independence. We see our purpose as enriching the lives of these people through connection to community and services.

From our base in Bayswater, we provide in-home services 7 days a week for Home Care Package clients and 5 days a week for people using the Commonwealth Home Support Program.

Our efficient, caring team saw us named the ‘Best Organisation’ at the 2020 WA Excellence in Aged Care awards. It confirmed that we really are living our values: excellence, compassion, honesty and opportunity.

ECHO assigns a case manager (Client Advisor) to every client to make sure they’re getting all the services they need delivered to a high standard. We approach our service as though our client is part of our own family.

Our History

ECHO started in 1982 when a group of volunteers recognised that some older people were struggling to stay in their homes because their gardens were too much for them to manage.

With the support of what is now the City of Bayswater, they set about providing gardening and minor home maintenance services to these people. In many ways this was the precursor to contemporary home support programs – they were ahead of their time.

ECHO has grown to provide a range of services through the Commonwealth Home Support Program and through Home Care Packages, helping more than 1,000 people from our base in Bayswater.

We remain a community-based organisation, and we are still supported by volunteers who are as committed to our clients as those pioneers were over 40 years ago.

What people say about ECHO

‘Thank you so very much for your help and above all support. If I had not been put in touch with you I do not know what would have happened.’

Kathleen

Our Board

As volunteers, the members of our Board bring to ECHO skills, knowledge and experience of enormous benefit to the organisation, especially at a time of significant change in aged care.

Some members of the Board also volunteer in other capacities, such as driving a bus or helping with outings or social activities. Because of these activities and their combination of talents, the Board remains very much in touch with the needs of our clients.

Our Board members

Mr Manraj Khosa – Chair
Mr Rod Attrill – Deputy Chair
Ms Amarja Ringay – Secretary
Mr Jeffrey Nurse – Treasurer
Ms Flora Chong – Board Member
Ms Sonia Miller – Board Member

Learn more about our Board members here.

Our Policies

After four decades providing caring services in the community, ECHO understands the importance of good governance. We’ve developed well-considered policy documents guiding many aspects of our services, making sure that all of our people know what’s expected, and so do you.