Northern Health has a very broad culturally and linguistically diverse patient population. Many of our patients have Limited English Proficiency (LEP) in the health context, and our excellent Transcultural & Language Services (TALS) department, with 37 in-house interpreters, covers our most in-demand languages.

Northern Health’s TALS team is the biggest in-house hospital language service team in Victoria. In these pandemic times, they are one of many non-clinical teams at Northern Health that had to quickly adapt to changes in their everyday work, while maintaining high levels of professional service to patients and clinicians.

Yue Hu, Manager, Transcultural & Language Services, explained the major change for the TALS team was the shift from face to face appointments to telehealth and phone and video appointments.

“When it all began in March, our team quickly responded by creating a work flow plan and sending it out to all clinical leads, as a guide on how to use TALS as a contact centre for patients when they wish to access the interpreting service,” she said.

The team soon realised they needed to upgrade the phone systems and become a genuine call centre. Clinicians who are now calling for their services are put in the queue and, every day, the team has at least three staff members answering the phone calls.

“The feedback has been great, and has reduced the stress of our staff members in coping with such a large amount of phone calls. As all the clinics are still running, the team is still very busy. Since the beginning of COVID-19, 63 per cent of the interpreting requests have been completed over the phone,” Yue explained.

The phone interpreting has allowed the team members to be able to easily work from home, and manage the workload.

David Le, Vietnamese Interpreter, added the team is also accepting video interpreting requests.

“We are slowly rolling out video interpreting across the health service. Our interpreters are still doing additional training on video interpreting, so that they are comfortable with using the system and booking appointments. We are still doing face to face appointments, when needed. It can happen that in one day we do face to face, phone and video,” he explained.

TALS staff are continuously rotating to ensure there is enough coverage on site for face to face appointments and areas like ED and ICU.

“The change has had some challenges, as interpreters find phone appointments very convenient when working from home, but still miss the face to face conversations, and actually seeing the patient and clinician, as the communication isn’t just verbal, there are a lot of visual cues that help with our job,” David explained.

“Our staff learned a lot of new skills very quickly – we’ve never been a call centre and we had to learn how to handle the increased amount of calls, along with the video training. PPE training is another skill that staff had to pick up quickly and become confident in donning and doffing PPE,” he added.

Stefania Zen, Manager, Transcultural & Language Services, added that besides interpreting, the team has also been working on translating COVID-19 related documents, completing a lot of urgent translations into different languages, especially when it comes to COVID-19 patient screening, as well as working on lengthy documents like the new Welcome Pack for patients.

“There are always new requests for translation coming in and often they need to be completed within a very short time frame,” she said.

The team has responded promptly to the increase in demand for translations, and are also contributing to several quality improvement projects during this time.

Featured image (left to right): Aygul Olcer, Lambrine Maniatis, Navneet Gill, David Le and Yue Hu.

As an organisation, we started the ‘Conversations on Mental Wellness Week’ in 2018 and will be continuing those conversations this year too.

Michelle Fenwick, Executive Director People and Culture, explained this year, due to COVID-19, all events will be held via MS Teams, offering our staff a chance to join numerous sessions from the comfort of their home or work space.

“I would like to invite staff to participate in Northern Health’s ‘Virtual Conversations on Mental Wellness’ commencing Monday, 7 September through to Friday, 11 September 2020. This year, we are focusing on bringing mindfulness, yoga, nutrition and TREAT rest and recovery sessions at different times during the week, so you can join during your coffee or lunch break or from home,” she said.

“Northern Health’s ongoing commitment to the safety and wellbeing of our staff is on display during all of next week. There are lots of opportunities to participate in a variety of sessions including yoga and TREAT rest and recovery, education, discussion panels, and a very topical Grand Round that I’m sure will be thought provoking. Sessions are on offer across time slots and we’re encouraging staff across all areas to participate” added Will Halpin, Director OHS and Wellbeing.

With 2020 proving to be a very challenging year for everyone, the wellbeing team is encouraging everyone to make a ‘Wellbeing pledge for 2020’ and write or draw a few things they would like to focus on to improve their mental health this year.

“Please download the pledge cards (click here), and set yourself a goal of improving your wellbeing by the end of 2020. Those can be even small things like reading a new book every month or cutting down on TV time,” Michelle added.

“We look forward to staff attending these events during the week and  ‘continuing the conversation’ on mental wellness, while focusing on their wellbeing the whole year,” Will added.

Northern Health’s psychologists agree that as health care workers we are often busy looking after the health and wellbeing of others and overlook our own self-care.

Dr Brooke Froud-Cummins, Clinical Leader, Psychology, said, “We simply can’t afford this mindset in the times of COVID-19 as the increased physical and psychological demands will eventually affect each and every one of us. Self-care is about making a plan to stay healthy in mind and body to get through this pandemic; we won’t be looking after anyone otherwise. Self care is vital.”

Some program highlights include:

• ’15 minutes of Mental Clarity ‘at 9 am every morning – start your day with a clear mind with Jo Gibbs from TREAT
• Grand Round – ‘Kindness in Healthcare’ with Dr Jane Munro, Head of Rheumatology at the Royal Children’s Hospital  – Thursday, 10 September, 8 am – 9 am
• Nutrition and Mental health session – with Emma Inglish, Dietitian, Wednesday, 9 September, 2 – 2.30 pm.
• Complete TREAT rest and recovery – 45 minute session to relax after a busy day – Thursday, 10 September, 7 pm – 7.45 pm.

Please click here to see the timetable of events, speaker bios and MS Teams links to all the sessions.

This July, staff and community members joined together to take part in Dry July in support of cancer services at Northern Health, a national fundraiser that encourages participants to go alcohol-free during the month of July.

Congratulations to the amazing team for their efforts, who raised over $12,500 for our cancer patients. All funds raised by Northern Health will go towards purchasing vital signs monitors and patient treatment chairs for our oncology units. The team proved that no matter how uncertain and challenging times can be, our staff and community continue to work together to support our patients. Eighteen Northern Health staff members joined the team, along with two community members who are extremely grateful for the care provided by our dedicated cancer services team.

One community member, Bianca, joined the team in honour of her father who lost his battle with cancer last month. “I joined the Northern Health team as the staff in both the oncology and palliative care teams provided outstanding care for my father, doing their jobs in a way that was accurate, gracious and empowered my family to feel relevant in the health care process.”

“From the bottom of my heart, I thank all health care staff who dedicate their careers to the fight against this insidious disease,” she said.

Bianca raised over $1,000, which will be contributed to the total of the Northern Health team.

Michelle Fenwick, Executive Director, People and Culture (pictured below) raised an impressive $2,823 from 22 individual donations. “I decided to participate in Dry July this year because I’ve been affected directly by either family or friends – some who are still here and some that I have lost,” Michelle said.

“So many people are going through struggles such as surgeries, visiting oncology and undertaking extensive treatment protocols – so 31 days is a small sacrifice from my part for what they actually have to endure.”

In 2019, Northern Health received support from the Dry July Foundation for part funding of a scalp cooling machine and blanket warmer for our Day Oncology Unit at Craigieburn Centre, to provide care and comfort to patients undergoing treatment. Throughout our Dry July campaign, over 240 donations from individuals were made to the Northern Health team. In total, Dry July raised in excess of $10.7m. Over 100 teams registered, and Northern Health came 22nd on the leader board – a massive effort for our first year participating, so congratulations to everyone involved!

Featured Image: Northern Health patient, Kirsty, who participated in Dry July 

Our Emergency Department (ED) is taking staff wellbeing seriously, with a number of creative and fun initiatives rolling out to ease the everyday challenges.

Dr Kirin Channa, Emergency Physician and ED Quality Lead, explained the ED Wellbeing Committee was formed in 2019, after a staff survey showed what the team would like to do to improve their mental and physical state.

“We started TREAT Rest and Recovery sessions, therapy dogs coming into ED, exercise classes, fruit platters and similar. However, with COVID-19 measures, we had to find some new ways of keeping well,” she said.

The strict COVID-19 measures and the pandemic environment meant coming up with fresh ideas to keep spirits and team morale high.

“Three of the main things we are doing in these pandemic times are providing resistance bands to staff to help them exercise at home, online TREAT sessions and the staff wellbeing wall, Julia Fotiadis has organised ” she said.

The ED wellbeing wall is a place where staff can give a shout out to their colleagues. This has had great feedback so far, with staff coming to the wall at the end of the shift to see the bright and colourful messages from their colleagues.

“Recognition goes a long way and it really helps staff feel motivated. People love reading something new every day about a different staff member,” Dr Channa said.

Julia who is an Associate Nurse Unit Manager and the wellbeing lead in the team, has also developed a recipe book.

“Along with the shout out wall, we also have our ED recipe book. I asked everyone to send me a recipe they love and have compiled it into one book of comfort food and healthy recipes. It’s been a couple of difficult weeks, and keeping on top of our wellbeing is imperative at these times,” she said.

Seham Shahin, Emergency Physiotherapist, added exercise is crucial, and everyone is affected with these lockdown changes.

“For shift workers, the curfew does affect the ability to be outdoors and do what you would usually do. It’s important to find ways we can exercise and get those endorphins and serotonins up. We are linking staff with apps and Youtube videos that show how to use the resistance bands and keep exercising. It’s about giving people different options, as we are all feeling a bit sluggish and run down at this stage,” she said.

To increase social interaction, the team is also implementing “Guess the ED baby” project, where staff are sending a photo of themselves as a baby and the team has to guess who is who, along with the upcoming trivia quiz night for the nursing staff.

Alison O’Sullivan, Workplace Wellbeing Coordinator, is working closely with ED staff to identify and develop the initiatives.

“It has been great to work with the ED team. The ED working group ensures all our approaches are aligned with the strategic direction of the organisation. Some great events and actions have been developed, including regular inclusion of TREAT sessions, now offered virtually, ED Wellbeing Week, and the work the team has done in the reward and recognition space,” she said.

“We look forward to continuing to support the staff in ED and indeed the whole of Northern Health in ‘Conversations on Mental Wellness Week’ which is being held from 7 – 11 September. This will include many of our regular wellbeing offerings and guest speakers, and is available to all staff,” she said.

Please click here to see the ‘Virtual Conversations on Mental Wellness Week’ schedule and join the online sessions.

Featured image (left to right): Julia Fotiadis and Seham Shahin

Northern Health has recently launched virtual childbirth education classes to support expecting mothers and families in our community during this time.

The pandemic has changed the way we work and we have had to implement new and creative ways to ensure we continue to provide the best possible care to our community.

Nicole Carlon, Director of Operations, Women’s and Children’s Services, is proud of her team and the way they have quickly adapted to the constantly changing situation and been able to respond to the needs of families.

“Unfortunately due to COVID-19, we aren’t able to run face to face classes anymore. To begin with, we had an option where families could access external content, however, we received feedback that they would have enjoyed being able to ask questions and be involved in a live situation, rather than watching a recording,” Nicole said.

“The childbirth education team took this feedback on board and, from this, started offering virtual live classes to better support patients and families,” Nicole added.  

The virtual classes include the same content as would be in the face to face classes, with our very experienced childbirth educator, Marie Treloar, running them.

“Preparing new parents for their birth and parenting journey has been challenging during the COVID-19 crisis due to the cessation of face to face childbirth and parenting classes. However, thanks to technology, providing education via live sessions has been very effective and rewarding. Families have felt empowered, equipped and supported during this time and feel more confident for the journey ahead,” Marie said.

The online classes have been running for just over three weeks and have already proved to be an outstanding success, with the team receiving “fantastic” feedback from patients and families.

One patient wrote, “Marie is a great presenter and you can tell she is very passionate about the topics discussed and helping women to have a calm and empowering birth experience.”

Other comments included:

“Really informative and gave us a better idea of things to include in our birth plan and different options available during labour.”

“Loved the class and the teacher was so helpful and knowledgeable – would definitely recommend this and so glad we did it!”

Along with these classes, the team are also running their Happy Mother’s, Happy Baby’s Group Sessions in the same format for Assyrian and Chaldean women in the community.

Nicole says expecting mothers are finding these particularly helpful as may be feeling isolated in the current situation.

“We understand how important it is for families to feel educated and empowered before they have their baby, and it’s great that we’ve found a platform where we can still achieve this,” Nicole said.

Currently, the virtual classes are running once a week, however, more classes will be offered should the demand increase.

Featured Image: Marie Treloar hosting a class 

This is a story about our Community Visitor Scheme (CVS) that allows our volunteers to visit socially isolated and lonely elders residing in aged care facilities. It is also a story about the beautiful friendship one of our amazing volunteers – Vera Bosheva has cultivated with Paul Ruckert, a resident of Vasey RSL Care (Vasey House).

When Vera was first interviewed for the CVS Program at Vasey House, she assumed she would be matched with a female resident. However the coordinator made a strong case for Paul, as someone who could benefit from Vera’s visits.

Vera began visiting Paul in June 2013, and soon discovered Paul had many interests; classical music, history, science, medicine and meteorology. However what Paul liked the most was quizzes and playing nine letter word games.

Vera would try and visit Paul every fortnight in between work and on every visit she would “chat about any of his interests, listen to his favourite music from his era on my mobile phone, where he would often sing-along, and finish with playing word games,” says Vera.

“On warm sunny days we would go outside for some of these activities.”

Vera would also show Paul short videos of his choice. “I would ask him what the first thing he thinks of and whatever he would pick, we would watch on my phone e.g. sausages. We would then watch a short video on how to make sausages!”

Says Vera, “It has been so rewarding to be able to make a difference to an elderly person’s wellbeing.”

“I have also learned so much from Paul and his life story, which I wrote the first year. I thought that it will be great to write what he remembers. I completed his life story and gave it to him for Christmas 2013,” says Vera.

“I look forward to visiting Paul. He is always happy to see me and thanks me for the visit.” says Vera.

Due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, Vera is unable to visit Paul, but calls Vasey House to check on him regularly.

Vera adds, “The Community Visitor Scheme provides companionship and friendship to many elderly people who are isolated and lonely. Even though some of them may be living with other elderly people, some residents are not interested in these activities, especially some men. The CVS volunteer can identify resident’s own interests/hobbies and share and act on these with the resident and enrich the quality of life of recipients.”

Monica Polimeni, Advisor Engagement, Broadmeadows Hospital and Community Visitor Scheme, says, “The CVS program has allowed residents to form lasting and rewarding friendships and has given a sense of purpose back to elders in the community.”

If you would like the chance to make a positive impact on the lives of others, and in turn your own, please contact the Northern Health Engagement Team via volunteer@nh.org.au or on 8345 5837.

Pharmacy exercise team, ‘Pharmily’, has won the inaugural Northern Health’s 15 Minute Exercise Challenge, receiving a $50 Rebel Sport voucher for each team member and the 15 Minute Challenge Cup.

The 15 Minute Exercise Challenge was a six-week online team competition which encouraged participants to be active every day and to form good exercise habits. The challenge started on Monday, 22 June, and resulted in 350 individual participants and 50 active teams exercising from all campuses.

Praseetha Koyadan Chathoth, pharmacy technician and the captain of ‘Pharmily,’ said they saw the promo on the Intranet and decided to join the challenge as a group, as many of them were already very active and keeping fit during the pandemic.

“In these tough times, exercise is of the best things to do. With some of us already dieting and exercising, it made sense to do this challenge as a group,” she explained.

At the start, the team realised it was a real challenge to stay committed and find those 15 minutes every day, but they worked diligently to make it part of their routines.

“Everyone did different exercises – like boxing, dancing, bush walking, yoga and similar. Even more staff wanted to join us, but our group was full, we couldn’t take any more people,” she said.

“I am really thankful that this was organised. We didn’t really expect to win, we took it as a fun activity. Winning was a really nice surprise,” she added.

The second place winners were ‘Pastoral Gym Junkies’ and third place winners were ‘Community-Fit Team’.

Other challenge awards included: Star Performer Award, which went to Danika Arney from team ‘The pOTentials’, Self Improvement Award went to David Paterson from team ‘Pastoral Gym Junkies’ and Profile of the Week Award to John Ferguson from team ‘Beauties and Beasts’.

The organisation-wide effort was evident when all the results came through – there were also four more teams: ‘Let’s get Fiscal’, ‘The Transformers’, ‘The pOTentials’ and ‘U70.8’ which scored above 90 per cent participation, an extraordinary effort.

Alison O’Sullivan, Workplace Wellbeing Coordinator, added that the idea for the challenge came from feedback received at last year’s Ideas Lab, where the need for a physical wellbeing initiative became apparent.

“The OHS and Wellbeing team were excited to be able to bring the 15 Minute Exercise Challenge to Northern Health. The challenge was a great way to encourage staff to stay fit and healthy, but also had fantastic benefits including team building and maintaining social connections. We hope staff continue to make exercise an important part of their self care routine – the benefits are proven in the literature regarding the impact on a person’s overall wellbeing and health,” she said.

“Thank you to all staff for their enthusiasm and involvement and congratulations to all the winners,” she added.

Featured image: Suzanna Tan and Praseetha Koyadan Chathoth

Northern Health Foundation Patron and local fundraising hero, Josie Minniti OAM, has been nominated as a Westfield Local Heroes finalist for 2020.

Westfield Local Heroes is a recognition and awards program that discovers and celebrates individuals who make a positive impact to their local community.

Local Heroes are nominated and voted for by their communities, with three finalists per Westfield centre each awarded a $10,000 grant. We are thrilled this year that Josie Minniti has nominated Northern Health as her chosen charity.

Should Josie be successful, she will contribute the funds towards the purchase of an EBUS machine for our respiratory department. This will help speed up the time for a respiratory diagnosis so treatment can start much sooner for our patients.

Josie’s nominator says: “Josie’s impact on our health service is immeasurable. Through her tireless fundraising, Josie has greatly improved the comfort of our patients during their treatments.”

Josie has dedicated over 20 years to fundraising for cancer services in Melbourne hospitals. Despite having health challenges of her own, Josie strives hard every year to make a difference to the lives of our cancer patients, something very dear to her heart with her own family dealing with cancer.

Josie is a dedicated and inspiring volunteer whose tireless efforts have helped raise over $700,000 to support patients with cancer or kidney disease at Northern Health. The funds have helped pay for medical equipment upgrades and for equipment that makes life more comfortable for patients undergoing cancer treatments.

“Whenever I am fundraising my motto is ‘there is always someone worse off than you’, so I will do all I can to improve their lives,” says Josie, who has received an Order of Australia (OAM) for her dedication.

“This year, my target is to purchase equipment for the respiratory unit to help patients suffering from lung cancer.”

Josie’s fundraising activities have included picnics in the park, dinner dances and pasta nights just to name a few. Proceeds have funded a scalp cooling machine, blanket warmer, patient treatment chairs and defibrillators for the Day Oncology Unit at Northern Hospital Epping.

Let’s thank and acknowledge Josie Minniti for her outstanding commitment to the local community.

Click here to vote for our local hero – Josie Minniti!