The Northern Health Annual Christmas Decorating Competition was on again in 2020. After a challenging year, staff were encouraged to deck Northern Health’s halls with COVIDSafe cheer!

By decorating work areas, staff have brought much joy and delight to our patients, visitors and their families.

Once again, our Christmas decorating competition has attracted numerous creative entries across our Northern Health’s campuses.

Ward 4, Northern Hospital

Administration Office, Broadmeadows Hospital

Four year old Luca, pictured above, had been waiting all year to ask Santa this question. Much to his disappointment, he had to be admitted to our Children’s Ward before Christmas.

Santa (after some persuasion), decided to drop in to see Luca and all those in our Children’s Ward and make sure they got to enjoy Christmas, just like other children.

For the fourth year running now, ISS Facility Services have made a difference to children unable to spend Christmas with their families, with their annual Christmas Appeal. Over the four years, over 600 children and their grateful parents have been reminded that they are both cared for and not forgotten in this season of giving.

Snez Poposka, Facilities Service Manager ISS Facility Services, who initiated and coordinated the appeal, says she is grateful to all the staff who contributed presents and to Northern Health Foundation and Pacific Epping for convincing Santa to drop by, despite his busy schedule.

Says Snez, “This year we received 101 presents from across Northern Health. My heartfelt thanks to staff and colleagues for their generosity!”

Josie Verga, Fundraising and Engagement Manager, Northern Health Foundation, said she too would like to thank Pacific Epping and the marketing team for their continued support. In addition, she wanted to thank Santa for making the trek all the way from the North Pole to the Children’s Ward.

Courtney Lowry, Nurse Unit Manager Children’s Ward, had this to say, “It really was so wonderful seeing the smiles and excitement from all the kids when Santa visited. Being able to give the kids a present is a great feeling and we thank everyone from ISS Facility Services.”

Saj Amerasinghe, Key Account Manager for ISS Facility Services at Northern Health, thanked Snez and her team and said this was “yet another example of the amazing generosity of our team who give of themselves everyday in this season of giving, bringing the spirit of Christmas to the children of the north.”

At the latest Length of Service Awards, Swee Khor was one of the two staff who received an award for 45 years of service.

Swee came to Australia to study nursing as soon as she finished high school. The motivation for nursing came from her family. When she was younger, her sister was admitted to hospital for acute appendicitis which required urgent surgery.

“Whilst visiting her in the hospital, I observed the excellent care and reassurance provided by the nursing staff during her hospital stay. I believe this inspired me to pursue a career in nursing,” she said.

“I came with my best friend from Malaysia. I studied my general nursing training at Queen Victoria Hospital, which has since been relocated to Monash Medical Centre, and the site is now the QV Women’s Centre as well as the QV shopping mall in the CBD,” she said.

“I then completed my graduate year at the Royal Melbourne Hospital followed by a postgraduate theatre course at Austin Repatriation. I commenced work at PANCH in Preston before it relocated to become Northern Hospital. During my time at PANCH, I also completed my Bachelor of Science at RMIT,” she added.

Swee vividly remembers how Northern Health grew and developed from PANCH.

“After relocation, they initially built a smaller hospital than the size of PANCH to service the local community. We started with only four operating theatres. However, over the years, the workload has increased a lot more than was anticipated, as we also service regional areas and the population growth in the northern suburbs. As a result, we have seen the Northern Hospital expand continuously, with more advanced technology and equipment, and now awaiting our tenth operating theatre. It has been exciting to see Northern Health grow and adapt to meet the requirements of the community,” she added.

She enjoys the dynamics of the operating theatre and every day at work is different. For Swee, working in the operating theatre can be dynamic and challenging. Theatre nursing requires discipline, organisation, good stamina, concentration, quick response, good communication and good team work. Some days can be very hard work, frustrating and tiring; but knowing that nursing can be very rewarding at the end of the day is what keeps her going.

“We constantly strive to work together as a team to provide the best level of care for our patients. I enjoy the fact that, with nursing, I am continuously learning and improving my skills and knowledge. Nursing is an extremely rewarding career. Every day, I finish my shift knowing that I have made a real difference to my patient or even helped to save a life. Not only that, I have formed a lot of great friendships working with my colleagues over the years,” she added.

In her free time, Swee enjoys baking and cooking. She also enjoys attending dancing classes for exercise and socialising, arts and crafts, playing the keyboard and catching up with family and friends.

The wait is finally over!

The stunning Toyota Corolla Hybrid that has been on display in the Northern Hospital foyer since July has an owner!

And the winner is… Tatijana K! (Ticket No. 2788)

Proudly donated by major sponsor, Maxxia, the brand new Toyota Corolla Hybrid Hatch is valued at over $30,000.

Despite many challenges this year due to the pandemic, the 2020 Northern Health Foundation Major Raffle has proven a huge success – raising an amazing $76,000!

All proceeds from the raffle will go towards the purchase of state of the art intestinal ultrasounds (IUS) technology for our gastroenterology department.

IUS is an important piece of equipment used on patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to help diagnose and monitor conditions such as Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis. IBD can be debilitating and cause severe complications when not monitored and treated appropriately.

IUS will greatly benefit patients in our community because, at present, any patients requiring this service need to be referred to alternative health services.

Introducing IUS to Northern Health will alleviate the need for patients to travel further to receive the care they need, and will help provide better outcomes for our patients.

Proudly supported by major sponsor, Maxxia, the raffle this year had four amazing prizes up for grabs!

The winners of these were:

Second prize: Helicopter Joy Flight – RRP $4,500

Winner: Lay Leng N (Ticket No. 968)

Third prize: UPPAbaby VISTA V2 Pram and Bassinet – RRP $2,099

Winner: Les H (Ticket No. 1199)

Fourth prize: One night in Mantra Epping Penthouse Suite including Breakfast and Dinner for two – RRP $750

Winner: Pam D (Ticket No. 2550)

“It has been wonderful to see all of the support for this year’s major raffle to raise funds for a vital piece of equipment to benefit patients in our community,” said Andrew Williamson, Executive Director Public Affairs and Foundation.

“We extend our sincere thanks to all of the sponsors including major sponsor, Maxxia, and to everyone who has purchased tickets to support the important work of Northern Health.”

Featured Image (left to right): Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive; Andrew Williamson, Executive Director Public Affairs and Foundation; Donna McLaren, Maxxia   

In mid-December, we hosted the 2019-20 Northern Health Annual Meeting and Open Access Board Meeting.

The Northern Health Board and Executive were virtually joined by members of our community, including consumers, primary care partners, volunteers and staff, to hear about Northern Health’s highlights and achievements over the past 12 months.

“2020 has been an unusual and challenging year for Northern Health – and indeed for our entire community,” said Jennifer Williams AM, Board Chair.

“The past 12 months have been filled with successes and challenges, from bushfires to a global pandemic. I am proud of the way that Northern Health has responded to each and every one of these challenges with courage, resilience and an unwavering commitment to the health and safety of their patients, colleagues and community.”

Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive, reflected on some of the operational achievements over the past 12 months.

“Our Northern Hospital Emergency Department continues to treat more patients than any other emergency department in Victoria, including seeing the third highest number of presentations in Australia. In the past 12 months, we have received more than 105,000 attendances, including over 21,000 paediatrics and over 34,000 patient arrivals from Ambulance Victoria,” said Siva.

“With the use of telehealth, we have been able to provide our community with the services they need remotely, and provide them with access to their care team via phone or video conference, ensuring their health care needs and concerns are met, while reducing the added risk of multiple hospital presentations.”

He also echoed Jennifer’s words, acknowledging our staff for the extraordinary role they have played in the fight against COVID-19 in 2020.

“I want to thank each and every one of you for your enormous effort and commitment over the past nine months. I am proud of what we, as an organisation, have achieved to keep our community safe and healthy.”

“As we move into 2021 with renewed focus and determination, on behalf of the Northern Health Board and Executive, I take this opportunity to thank all of our staff, partners and of course, our volunteers, for their hard work and commitment,” Jennifer said.

Please view Northern Health’s 2019-20 Annual Report here.

You can view 2019-20 Northern Health In Review video below:

After an unprecedented year, last week marked the completion of intern education for 2020.

“I remember how lovely it was for the team to meet the 43 new interns. We could sense their excitement and trepidation as they were starting the beginning of the rest of their career. No one would have predicted what was about to happen. On Sunday, 3 January 2021, our interns will complete their internship. Most of them have chosen to stay at Northern Health to complete an HMO 2 year post in 2021,” she said.

The Medical Education team suddenly had to adapt to COVID-19 changes and find innovative ways to continue delivering the education.

“When the pandemic struck, we felt like one of our legs had been cut off. Our biggest challenge was how to balance service delivery, while also giving our interns a protected space to learn and mix with their peers, as well as for us in Medical Education to keep an eye on them. We kept intern education going, had to learn how to use Zoom, how to record and upload sessions on Vimeo, how to use tiny URLs to share the links and then transition to MS Teams,” she explained.

“My biggest challenge was to make sure the team felt supported as their responsibilities were double fold – balancing their own clinical/leadership duties, as well as looking after the junior doctors and what they needed during the crisis,” Susie added.

Dr Rachael Coutts, Associate Director, Medical Education, would often come to the team with new ideas on how to make education as user friendly as possible. Initially, the team offered both face to face and remote learning, but then had to move to remote learning only, and then back to a hybrid model.

“The pandemic has called on all of us to be flexible, adaptable and innovative. My whole team switched through multiple changes and embraced the benefits of online learning.  I have been extremely proud. The junior doctors – interns and HMOs, have been able to access both education sessions online, as well as recorded sessions. These have been really successful with over a thousand views on our videos, as well as reports of how helpful it is to be able to watch them in their own time,” she said.

“I am incredibly proud of the Northern Interns of 2020 – they adapted well with the challenges of COVID-19 and were quick to adopt the Zoom and Microsoft Teams interactive intern education sessions,” said Dr Carol Chong, Supervisor of Interns.

Dr Brandon Lui and Dr Nikki Petrakis, 2020 interns, said even though they missed the weekly free lunch, they were impressed by how smoothly the transition to e-learning was.

“Thanks to Northern Health’s rapid and adaptive COVID plan, our learning as doctors in training was able to continue undisturbed. It was tough not being able to see everyone in person, but knowing that our efforts contributed toward bringing our cases down to zero made it all the more sweeter when we were finally able to return to in person teaching at the end of the year,” they both agreed.

Chief Medical Officer, Ms Wanda Stelmach, also attended the final intern education session and personally thanked all the interns for their hard work this year, and for coping so well during the pandemic.

Northern Health’s Length of Service Awards ceremony was held virtually this morning, celebrating staff who have been with us from 10 – 45 years.

Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive, opened the ceremony, saying our Service Awards look a little different, as have many of our other activities this year.

“What a year this has been – the year that the world faced its biggest public health challenge in 100 years. COVID-19 has changed the way we work, the way we interact and the way we provide care. And through the challenges and triumphs, it is more important now than ever before to thank our hard working and dedicated staff who are working on the front line each and every day, saving lives and keeping our community safe and healthy,” he said.

Northern Health has over 5,400 staff working across Northern Hospital, Broadmeadows Hospital, Bundoora Centre and Craigieburn Centre, with many providing dedicated service since the days of PANCH.

“From humble beginnings in 1958, it is great to see the way our health service continues to grow, with stage two of our Northern Hospital expansion to be completed in March next year, and planning for two community hospitals, plus additional mental health services. Today, we celebrate the staff who have worked for Northern Health for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and even 45 years, an incredible achievement,” he said.

Three of the recipients, Gillian Walters, Swee Khor and Elizabeth Wills, have been with us the longest – and received awards for 40 and 45 years of service.

Gillian Walters has been working at Northern Health for 40 years. She commenced working in the Victorian Plastic Surgery Unit at PANCH on 3 March 1980, after completing her enrolled nurse training in 1979. In 1987, she commenced working in a split role as Enrolled Nurse and Clerical in Wound Clinic at PANCH, and, to this day, Gillian still works in Wound Clinic here at Epping, as well as providing clerical support to Specialist Clinics.

“Gillian provides great value to both roles, and has been a dedicated member of Specialist Clinics now for 40 years,” said Cathy Fletcher, her manager.

Swee Khor received the award for 45 years of service. Swee is a theatre nurse who also started in PANCH and after all this time, Northern Health has become a second home to her.

“I have enjoyed working with all my colleagues – they are all so professional in their work. I enjoy the dynamic of the theatre and every day is different,” she said.

“Congratulations on your 45th year of service at Northern Health. You have worked hard for this, and we truly appreciate your dedication,” said Ajimon Joy, her manager.

Elizabeth Wills also received the award for 45 years of service.

Her manager, Frances Brockhus, said, “Elizabeth has given 45 years of great service to Northern Health in many leadership roles. Her work has been to advocate tirelessly for the best outcome for every patient. She works with respect and consideration of how she can impact every staff member through every interaction. Elizabeth has built a career that has allowed her to combine both work and family commitments wholeheartedly, and remains a valued member of the access team through her work over many nights, over many years.”

Sue Lisle, Communications Supervisor, had this to say, “The virtual ceremony for the service awards was fantastic. The ceremony brought tears to our eyes. It was so pleasing to see many of our deserving staff receive their awards.”

To watch the full ceremony and hear from our Chief Executive, Executive and the long serving staff, please click here.

After the successful completion of the Fit-Test pilot project, where 847 priority health care workers were fit tested, Northern Health is now entering the second phase.

Fit testing is a process to verify if a selected brand, model or size of an P2/N95 mask adequately fits the wearer. Testing is carried out with all the different types of masks available, to identify the best fitting mask to ensure a consistent fit.

Michelle Wakelam, a certified Occupational Hygienist with many years’ experience in fit testing and respiratory protection, has recently been enrolled as our Respiratory Protection Program Coordinator (RPP Coordinator) and our respiratory scientists have received additional training to continue the testing program.

“We working  increase our capacity to be able to provide up to 21 tests a day,” says Michelle. “Since the pilot project , Northern Health has now fit tested an additional 70 staff members.”

Chief Executive Siva Sivarajah, was one of those fit tested by scientist Kristin Southwell recently.

Says Kristin, “Fit testing gives all Northern Health staff confidence on which N95 masks provides them the best protection. In addition to measuring how well a mask fits we also provide staff training on how to appropriately don masks and use their respiratory protective equipment effectively.”

Nicholas Romeo, Head Respiratory Scientist / Laboratory Manager – Department of Respiratory Medicine said, “we are very honoured to assist the organisation in ensuring the wellbeing and safety of our staff. The idea of having our respiratory scientists performing fit testing is innovative, but it’s a natural fit and utilises all our skill set. We look forward to phase 3 of the program and the opening of the dedicated fit testing laboratories where we expect to test 3500 staff members annually”.

Featured image shows Siva Sivarajah fit tested by Kristin Southwell