November 2020
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Take a look inside the new CSSD!
Our new state of the art Central Sterilising Services Department (CSSD) is now open! The Northern Hospital Expansion Project hit a key milestone last month with the successful move of our CSSD from Level 1 to their new space on Level 2 (opposite Ward 18). Over five days, the dedicated team completed the move safely and efficiently – with no interruption to services or patient care. The new CSSD officially went live on 23 October after months of hard work and an enormous effort from staff to bring the move to fruition. “I am incredibly proud of the collaborative work…
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Craigieburn Testing Clinic: Ongoing hard work and dedication
Craigieburn Centre has seen a lot of change since the beginning of the pandemic. Back in June, a drive-through COVID-19 testing clinic was erected in the Craigieburn Centre car park, in collaboration with the Department of Health and Human Services. Since then, the clinic has seen over 30,000 people. Running seven days a week, including public holidays, the clinic has been an important part of our pandemic response by helping to test a large proportion of the community, in the safety of their cars. Since its inception, staff have demonstrated terrific team work and adaptability during uncertain and challenging times.…
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Gender-Based Violence: Call it out!
16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is a global campaign to end gender-based violence. The campaign began yesterday with the International Day for the elimination of violence against women and concludes with International Human Rights Day on 10 December. Says Snezana Filiposki, Project Support Officer, Strengthening Hospital Response to Family Violence, “This is a time for us all to reflect on the social norms which exacerbate and excuse gender-based violence, and as a collective society, bring an end to discrimination, inequity and abuse.” Findings released by The Crime Statistics Agency show the impact COVID-19 has had on family violence:…
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‘Dialysis at Home’ patients thriving through lockdown
Lockdown was a difficult time for many of our patients, but for some Dialysis at Home patients, these last seven months brought significant changes and improvement to their life and care. Paula Kuder, Nurse Unit Manager Dialysis at Home, explained most of their patients had home treatments set up prior to the pandemic, and the team had set up remote monitoring for these patients. “We have continuous contact with our patients and, through our programs, we can see everything that is happening with their dialysis at home. All our patients were safely looked after during the pandemic and were able…
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Rino Minniti’s Walk for Cancer
Long standing Northern Health Foundation supporter, Rino Minniti, is walking over 11km to fundraise for cancer services at Northern Health. On Sunday 6 December, Epping local Rino will walk from Northern Hospital in Epping all the way to PANCH in Preston – an impressive distance of 11.3km. Cancer is a cause very dear to Rino who is walking in memory of his brothers who battled the disease. He is especially motivated to raise funds for cancer patients as Rino himself also fought cancer and has experienced firsthand its challenges. He is grateful for the exceptional care he received at Northern…
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New SPECTRE project for individualised, safer care
A new collaborative project in the Short Stay Unit (SSU) is improving the pathway for patients to get the right care, at the right time. The Toxicology HDU (High Dependency Unit)/SPECTRE Cubicle Project is aimed at reducing the length of time in the main Emergency Departments for patients presenting with sedation, whether it be from an overdose or recreational substance use, whilst ensuring safer care. This project has been developed in conjunction with the SPECTRE Unit. SPECTRE is Northern Health’s new specialty unit that focuses on the care of patients with a problem pertaining to one or more of the following: Substance Dependence, Psychiatry/Mental…
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Ward 15 staff return to Broadmeadows
In the last week of July, Unit 1 staff from Broadmeadows Hospital were redeployed to the new Ward 15 at Northern Hospital Epping – to look after COVID-19 positive and suspected COVID-19 patients. Minu Manuel started her Nurse Unit Manager role at Unit 1 just the week before. She didn’t get much time to enjoy her new role, as the COVID-19 numbers were rising. “It was a very short notice for our staff and a big change, but the staff turned up for work the next day and embraced it. Some of them hadn’t been at the Epping campus for…
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Multidisciplinary team treats lung cancer patients at Northern
November is Lung Cancer Awareness month, an important initiative to raise awareness of the condition and break one common misconception – that lung cancer only affects smokers. Dr Katharine See, Head of Respiratory, explains lung cancer doesn’t just affect smokers: one in five people with lung cancer have never smoked. “Lung cancer affects both men and women, and statistics show twice as many women die of lung cancer each year than of breast cancer, and three times as many men die of lung cancer than of prostate cancer. During the pandemic, the number of new diagnosis of cancer has dropped…