Today, we celebrate our wonderful social workers, and the vital work they provide to the community.

The day provides the opportunity for all socials workers to reflect on their work and come together and celebrate their amazing achievements.

Penelope Vye, Associate Director Allied Health, says this year’s theme – ‘Co-building a New Eco-Social World: Leaving No One Behind’ reminds us we all need to take part in building a world in which our abilities, gender, faiths and rights are protected and we are safe.

“The pandemic has greatly impacted upon our lives and wellbeing. Patients and families are experiencing increased poverty and homelessness, increased family violence and isolation from others. The pandemic has created financial, emotional and social challenges which has meant increasingly complex work for social workers and increased demand on resources,” she said.

Northern Health has a team of 42 social workers across acute and subacute, and five social workers in community programs including HARP, GEM@Home, Home Care Packages and ACAS (Aged Care Assessment Service). Social workers in acute and subacute provided nearly 21,000 encounters for inpatients and more than 6,000 for outpatients over the last 12 months.

“Over the past year, social workers have continued to innovate work such as advocating for NDIS services for people with disabilities, in COVID Monitoring as COVID Navigators and in the COVID Psycho-Social Response Team,” said Penelope.

“Feedback over the past year has recognised the value of social work, and has acknowledged our skills in undertaking assessments and providing interventions across a range of possible risks including family violence, child and elder abuse and trauma.”

“Social workers have been described by others at Northern Health as kind, compassionate, innovative, knowledgeable, skillful and caring. Let’s celebrate World Social Work Day together.”

Featured image: Northern Health social workers celebrating World Social Work Day

Five paintings have been gifted to Northern Health and are now on display on the walls at Bundoora Centre.

The paintings showcase local northern landscapes, and are the work of Maria Monzon-White, who was a patient at Bundoora Centre during the last years of her life.

Maria’s husband, Ronald White, who passed away in 2020, left the paintings as a bequest in will to be displayed for all staff.

Paloma White, Maria and Ronald’s daughter, said her mother had always loved painting from an early age. However, she tried to pursue a different career at first.

“She started a law degree and, after a year, she realised she was more of a creative person. She always wanted to do art and then she decided to pursue it,” she said.

“She did five years of a combined teaching, painting and drawing course – Bachelor of Fine Arts, in Barcelona. She studied there in the late 1950s to 1960s. She worked as an art teacher for quite a few years and she started her own interior design business with a friend of hers. Then she met my father.”

Born in Spain, Maria met Ronald while travelling in Italy.

“He was from Australia. She went back to Spain after they met and they got back together two years later,” Paloma said.

Together, Maria and Ronald had three children, Paloma, Vincent and Laurence, before they moved to Australia. The family settled in Murrumbeena, then they moved to Ivanhoe in 1973.

Maria and her family’s move to Australia did not mark the end of her painting. She worked part time as an art teacher, she had a studio at home and she also was a Spanish teacher.

“She did a lot of work in the 1970s – a lot of local portraits and landscapes. She loved painting and she was very much into the natural world. We lived in Ivanhoe and we had a big backyard that looked onto Donaldson’s Creek – our local creek,” Paloma said.

During the mid-to-late 1990s, Maria began working on a collection of five paintings of local landscapes, including Donaldson’s Creek and Darebin Parklands. These are now on display at Bundoora Centre.

“She was in Bundoora Centre quite often. She was there three or four times a year and that was for about 10 years. The nursing staff are excellent and were kind and patient with mum. My dad appreciated that and my mother appreciated all the staff there,” Paloma said.

“They really cared about her and we were always impressed. Going in there all the time, and seeing the same people every week, we always felt we were in good hands. Knowing we could go to someone on that shift and we knew who that someone was.”

“Mum would be really happy that the space has been enlivened up because she spent a lot of time there. We are proud and happy that we can give back.”

Northern Health, and particularly staff and patients at Bundoora, are extremely grateful for this very special gift from the White family.

Featured image: Kirralee Jensen, Site Director Operations and Director Of Nursing, Bundoora Centre with Vincent White.

This year too sees Research Week return as a virtual event from 28 to 31 March.

Research Week at Northern Health annually showcases a range of local and innovative research projects and presentations from research leaders around the world.

“We are privileged to have an exciting range of speakers at this year’s Research Week to explore national and global health challenges,” says Faye Zaibak, Director of Research Operations.

“We also have our own home-grown talent, showcasing how Northern Health is meeting our community needs and bringing research into practice,” she adds.

The ‘must see’ events, start with our guest speaker at the Grand Opening of Research Week 2022, Professor John Prins.

Professor John Prins is Head of the Melbourne Medical School and Professor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne.

In 2004, Professor Prins was Founder/Director of the UQ Centre for Diabetes and Endocrine Research, one of the most prominent and successful research groups on the Princess Alexandra Hospital campus, which merged with the UQ Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research (CICR) in January 2007 to form the UQ Diamantina Institute.

Professor Prins is an active clinician-scientist, a key opinion leader in diabetes and endocrinology in Australia and sits on numerous national and international scientific, clinical and educational committees and boards for the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), non-government organisations and industry.

Yet another highlight, is a deep dive into one of our research programs, titled ‘Cancer and Thrombosis, what is new?’ by our Northern Health Diagnostic and Cancer Services division.

New at Research Week 2022, is an  award that “will review all research-related outputs, including publications, and award a prize to the work that had the greatest impact in 2021,”says Faye.

“We will also recognise outstanding researchers (staff and students) in Medical, Nursing and Allied Health fields, as well as the clinical trial support staff that are the backbone to our clinical trials program, with an achievement award,” she says.

In a year where we could not even eat lunch together, we have organised an exciting social event. Professor Hamish Ewing, who hosted the great debate previously, returns for what promises to be a fierce, funny – and factually questionable virtual trivial pursuit game.

Rounding off the program of events are the poster and oral presentations.

To quote Professor Brooks, the presentations “highlight the quality of research activities occurring across the clinical spectrum being driven by an increasing number of staff at Northern Health.”

To ensure we can all participate, these will be displayed digitally on the Northern Health website and will be open for staff to view and vote on which poster they believe to be ‘Best Poster’ for the ‘People’s Choice Award’.

Visit the Research page on our website, as we update it with more information on our speakers and programs.

Today, Northern Health marks one year of our vaccination program.

Over the last year, we have seen many changes to our COVID response as we had to adapt quickly to the ever-evolving situation.

We initially started our vaccination rollout at Northern Hospital Epping, when healthcare workers were prioritised to receive their shots.

In June 2021, Northern Health commenced operating a mass vaccination hub at the Plenty Ranges Arts and Convention Centre (PRACC) in South Morang, in collaboration with City of Whittlesea, to assist in vaccinating as many community members as possible.

Early this year, we also opened our paediatric vaccination clinic for children aged 5 to 11 years old.

Since the rollout began, Northern Health has provided over 336,000 vaccines to our community – an incredible achievement.

Lisa Cox, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer (CNMO), congratulated staff on their fantastic work over the last year, and their significant contribution to protecting our community.

“As CNMO, I am very proud of all Northern Health healthcare workers, including our nurses, who have lead and worked within the COVID vaccination clinics/hubs on site and externally at PRACC over the past 12 months,” she said.

“These staff have contributed tremendously, to not only Northern Health’s COVID response, but collectively with other health services and agencies to Victoria’s COVID response, by providing a timely service to protect all staff, our patients, our community and the State of Victoria.”

“Staff have had to work under an ever-changing environment/conditions and ever-changing timelines, but have always delivered – and with a smile,” Lisa added.

Lisa commended Madelaine Flynn, Director Operations Infection Prevention Service, and her team for overseeing a very successful vaccination program for Northern Health, which has allowed external collaborations to work as partners, providing high-quality and timely vaccinations to staff, patients and community.

Shanice Molinaro, Vaccination Clinic Nurse Unit Manager, said, “It is a privilege and honourable to have been able to be a part of Victoria’s COVID response with the vaccine rollout to assist and support keeping our loved ones and community safe, and contribute to helping our healthcare system.”

“A very big thank you for all of the hard work and efforts by all that have been involved in the COVID vaccination hub the last 12 months. The time, dedication and perseverance has assisted in keeping Victoria safe,” added Shanice.

Featured Image (left to right): Shanice Molinaro, Abbey Gwyther-Jones (Clinical Support Nurse), Maegan Pagunsan (Roster Manager), See Kuan Lee (Immunisation Nurse)

Northern Health’s International Women’s Day (IWD) 2022 started with a virtual breakfast, with Elizabeth Batten, Northern Health Foundation Board Member and Nina Yhap, Barbados’ first Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon, as main speakers.

Lisa Cox, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, welcomed the speakers and opened the event. All staff who registered for the event received a small gift, with an IWD-themed cookie, coffee voucher, and a postcard from Barbados. Two raffle prizes were also drawn at the event.

“International Women’s Day is for women like Nina and Elizabeth, and for women like you and me. Women who are on the frontline as health workers, and who are taking care of patients at their most vulnerable. This day is for the supermarket workers, the teachers and the mothers who have taken care of their children during the lockdowns, some while also working from home,” Lisa said.

Elizabeth was born and raised in Epping and surrounding areas and has a strong connection with the north, after having lived and worked in the community for many years. The Batten family have contributed significantly to Northern Health Foundation. Some of the equipment in our neonatal unit has been generously donated by the Batten Foundation.

“Through the family trust, I’ve seen the impact that it has on the hospitals and what they have been able to purchase. Now, having had children myself and having gone through the public health system, I realise how important different equipment really is and the good that it has done – and I wanted to be a part of that,” she said.

After sharing her family history and glimpses of early settlement in the Epping area, Elizabeth also shared her views on balancing work and a young family.

“Because of the pandemic, I am now a stay-at-home mum, but that isn’t something I would have chosen for myself. My advice for all mums is that, if you want to go back to work, study – do it! You are a better mum if you are happy,” she added.

Nina Yhap has worked as a Northern Health Vascular Fellow and is now the first ever Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon in Barbados. She joined us from her tropical island, sharing her story of growing up among the strong Caribbean women. Nina sees the importance of having these forums, as they showcase women in different circumstances and careers, and contrast their experiences.

“One of the things I found beautiful about being a woman is that you can choose, hopefully most of the time, what your life can look like. When you are a little girl, especially in Barbados, you don’t necessarily get exposed to big professions. I wanted to be a teacher, then wanted to work in hotel management and anything interesting I saw around me,” she said.

Nina was named after her maternal grandmother who was a primary school teacher, and also worked on a farm. In her family, women were always important, both at home and at work.

“My mum was one of five daughters. I was raised in a family where women were the power source, and all of my aunts had girls. Sitting around my grandmother’s kitchen table on a farm, I knew nothing else except girls being loud, confident and that our opinions matter. While the opinions of the men around us also mattered, I’ve seen the support males in our family showed to their partners,” she said.

Nina is proud to be a woman in surgery, and even though most of her professors and mentors were men, she has always felt equal and appreciated, and highlights her time at Northern Health.

“Iman Bayat, Head of Vascular Surgery has been treating me like a colleague from day one. He explained that all opinions and experiences mattered. I never felt disadvantaged or different. I felt like a surgeon, that happened to be a woman,” she added.

“In me, there are so many versions of so many women. Women who were homemakers, women who were professionals and academics. I think what’s great is we get to be the version that we want to be. Every women I meet and get to speak to, and hear their stories, I get to admire them and think how can I replicate that,” she concluded.

Another ‘Big Idea 2021’ is turning into reality today, with the perioperative portal officially launching.

Dr Jamie Mackay, Anaesthetist, had an idea for a portal that would help our health service communicate better with patients, in the lead up to surgery.

“Some of the troubles we had was getting timely information to our patients, in form of health questionnaires and getting that information back. There is a lot of information we need to get from patients and give back as well, in this stage of their journey,” he explained.

Big Ideas usually come from big motivations. For Jamie, the big motivation was helping patients know what to expect when they come into hospital for surgery.

“In my clinic, there are constantly things I want to say to my patients and brochures I want to give them. I also want to talk to them about smoking and their diet and exercise, but as clinicians, we have a limited amount of time with each patient. This is where the new portal will help. The portal will also host information about medication, helping patients understand what medications to start, stop or change in the perioperative period and clarify any confusions,” he added.

“One of the things we see in theatre is that patients sometimes don’t follow the instructions exactly right and that can happen for a number of reasons. To remove the language barriers and potential misunderstandings, we are planning to implement this portal in our most commonly spoken languages, as we know that around 20 per cent of patients requiring surgery need an interpreter,” he explained.

The new electronic patient portal will now streamline the whole perioperative process. The system is set up to ask patients to complete their health questionnaire electronically, give them reminders for their medications and clinical appointments, as well as information on what to expect when they come into hospital and what they can do to be at their best health when they have surgery.

“The reason why that is important is because we know that people who are better prepared and who have stopped their medications properly are at smaller risk of complications after the operation – you are home earlier, and you avoid some of the bigger complications. A lot of our patients are having surgery for the first time, and we help them understand things like why they need to stop smoking and similar,” Jamie explained.

For Jamie, the whole process from the initial ‘Big Idea’ submission, to the pitch to the Chief Executive and implementation was a huge learning curve that has helped him better understand how ideas come to life.

“We were lucky enough to get to the sprints stage, where we worked with the Project Management and Transformation office to help us turn these ideas into something concrete. We then went through a series of talks and lectures that were really helpful for a clinician like me, as it helped me understand how to make projects happen. The idea was then pitched to the CE, and then we went to the next stage to actually implement the idea – that happened in October last year,” he explained.

“As clinicians, we always have ideas, and the biggest challenge was knowing how to go about getting it done. ‘Big Idea’ allows you to put your ideas into practice, by giving you the skills you need to build your idea up and get it to the state where you are ready to make it happen. I am very excited – I think it will make a huge difference to the patient experience and the surgical journey – we are thrilled to see the first stage go live today,” Jamie added.

“The Transformation Unit is excited to see another 2021 Big Idea come to life. Jamie has work tirelessly over the past few months to implement this system. We are grateful to the Anaesthetics department for their support and IT for their assistance with this project,” said Cassie Bramston, Project Manager.

Do you have a ‘Big Idea’ you would like to turn into reality? The current round of the ‘Big Idea’ campaign is running until 20 March 2022. We encourage all staff to submit their ideas via Ideascale.

Dr Saliya Hewagama is an infectious diseases specialist and COVID lead at Northern Health. Professor Don Campbell, a respiratory physician, leads our Staying Well at Home program.

While their journeys as physicians have taken them down different paths, it also regularly takes them back to Alice Springs, to the Alice Springs Hospital, a major regional teaching hospital.

The Arrernte, the original inhabitants who have lived here for tens of thousands of years, know Alice Springs as Mparntwe.

Saliya first went there to take a break before his advanced training.

He liked what he saw. “I really enjoyed my time there – great friends, amazing landscape and really interesting medicine.”

Talking of amazing landscapes, the photographs below were taken by Saliya, a hobby he got into around the same time he went to Alice Springs.

Don first went there as a locum for two weeks in 2015. He has been going back there, every year since.

Seeing how Adam Goodes, AFL footballer, was treated by a spectator, was Don’s initial motivation.

“All I did was think, what can I do to help?”

“I subsequently met Adam Goodes by chance in an airport and told him the story. He is a hero for me,” says Don.

Speaking of his work there, he observes, “The quality of medical care is very high, the range of clinical experience you will have is very broad, the people who work there are friendly and supportive and come from very varied backgrounds.”

“I like the interaction with the visiting specialists, including cardiologists and respiratory physicians. I am in awe of the strength and rigor of the Renal Unit. Renal failure occurs at about 45 times the non-indigenous rate.”

“Most of all, it’s a chance for me to learn something about indigenous culture and to make a very small contribution towards medical care.”

Saliya acknowledges Alice Springs as the place, where, “I first started seriously thinking about infectious diseases as a career path.”

“The exposure into indigenous health, unfortunately with its high burden of disease at a younger age, is really something you don’t appreciate fully, working in Melbourne – or probably most major centres in Australia.”

Saliya completed his advanced training in infectious diseases in Melbourne, to return to Alice Springs in 2011 as a full-time general medicine and infectious disease consultant. He was there until the start of 2015 when he started at Northern Health. Saliya has been going back for two months of ward service every year since 2016.

So what takes them back to Alice Springs?

Don recommends forsaking the city “to spend some time in regional and rural Australia in some capacity, if the opportunity presents itself, whatever stage you are at in your life’s journey.”

He believes that, “In particular, Alice Springs is a wonderful opportunity for advanced trainees where you will be well supported.”

He quotes his friend in Alice Springs, Dr Megan Brown, “If you spend some time working in Alice Springs as a doctor, you will come back a better doctor, a better person and a better Australian.”

Saliya says what takes him back is, “Great medicine, great friends, knowing that I am making an impact and contributing – in a small way – to improving access to medical care for individuals that have a high burden of disease.”

“In many ways it’s a world away from life in Melbourne, and it’s good to be reminded of another side of Australia sometimes,” says Saliya.

Featured image: Professor Don Campbell, Divisional Director, Hospital Without Walls Program and Dr Saliya Hewagama, Infectious Diseases Physician, COVID Lead Northern Health.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Northern Health, we continue to support and wrap care around our people.

As we are all aware, it has been a tough two years, and in some places this continues, especially as we watch what is happening in Ukraine, and the floods affecting Australians in Queensland and NSW.

Many of us will find the news and images of the unfolding events distressing, and for some, old traumas may be reactivated.

“Processing this news can be difficult – even if you are physically removed. Our thoughts are with those in Eastern Europe and Queensland/NSW at this time, and with the people who work with us and live in our community,” said Stephen Whittaker, Wellbeing Team Leader.

“With all that is happening, it is important that staff know how to access support. That is why we have many offerings available and are creating initiatives to promote, protect and support the wellbeing of all Northern Health employees,” added Stephen.

Renee Camilleri, Wellbeing Advisor, explained some of the support offerings in place for staff.

“A regular mindfulness practice can reduce our stress response, which is why Collective Pauses will continue to take place every Thursday, with calendar invites sent out as a reminder for managers to forward on to their staff,” Renee said.

All dates and times are available on our intranet here.

“As always, we encourage you to look after yourselves and each other, and to reach out to our services if you require one-on-one support. Northern Health’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available to you and your family – it’s a free and confidential service that offers professional support for work-related or personal issues. The contact number is 1300 687 327,” said Renee.

“We also have useful resources from our EAP provider available on our intranet and on our MedApp platform,” she added.

“During this time, some things you can do to improve your wellbeing include reaching out to mental health support services and EAP – especially if recent events stir up other memories or feelings from a past stressful event. You can also limit media exposure, particularly if it is increasing your distress,” explained Casey O’Brien, Wellbeing Project Psychologist.

“Talk about your thoughts and feelings with someone you trust – let your friends and family know of your needs. Help them to help you by letting them know when you need time out, or want a chance to talk or just be with someone,” Casey added.

For staff caring for children, be aware that children may need more comfort and reassurance during these times.

“For anyone feeling a sense of powerlessness, taking positive action, like contributing to humanitarian aid efforts, may help. Lean on the tools you have for self-care. Allow time for rest, relaxation, exercise and social connection,” said Casey.

Featured image: Staff at Northern Hospital Epping