Early this month, the Broadmeadows Surgical Centre were excited to conduct its first Plastics Surgery twilight session.

The team were enthusiastic and thrilled to be a part of Broadmeadows Surgical Centre expanding its service provision and enabling timely emergency access to surgery for the northern community.

Broadmeadows Surgical Centre has seen many changes of the past five years, increasing from a four-day per week day surgery unit, into a six-day per week Surgical Centre.

Brylie Wilson, Nurse Unit Manager, Broadmeadows Surgical Centre, says, “It has been a challenging and rewarding experience to be involved in this transformation. Being able to conduct our first twilight session was a pleasure and a privilege to see eventuate.”

The Surgical Centre will be conducting twilight theatre sessions on a Monday and Wednesday evening, in addition to Saturday all day session.

“We look forward to continuing this collaborative work with the Plastics Surgical Unit and the General Operating Theatres at Northern Hospital Epping,” adds Brylie.

Linda Romano, Divisional Director Nursing, Surgical Services, had this to say, “It’s been a great team effort between Brylie and her team, and Rodrigo Teixeira and his Plastics Surgery team! Well done!”

Northern Health recently welcomed its first toxicologist, Dr Joe Rotella, who worked at Northern Health as a medical student back in 2007 and went on to become an intern and a resident here.

Having previously held roles as Director of Clinical Informatics and Assistant Director of Education at other health services, Dr Rotella brings a wealth of knowledge to Northern Health – being one of only 10 toxicologists in Victoria. His mix of research, education and medical skills and roles keep him very busy, but he enjoys variety and sees it as “the spice of life”.

Dr Rotella’s predominant role is as an emergency department (ED) physician but his passion is clinical toxicology.

“Toxicologists are medical specialists who look after patients for whom poisoning is an issue. Most typically we see patients who have overdosed,” he said.

“Other patients we might see are paediatrics – kids are very good at exploring surroundings and getting into places their parents think they might not be able to get into, so we do also look after a lot of accidental overdoses,” he added.

As part of his role as a toxicologist, Dr Rotella also covers toxinology – management of snake bites, spider bites and marine envenomation.

“We also see and treat patients who have been poisoned with heavy metals. They are rare but there are cases we have managed in previous years of lead and arsenic particularly. So we cover a pretty broad spectrum.”

Dr Rotella says studies have shown when someone from the toxicology team assists in the management of patients in the ED, length of stay is reduced and quality of care is improved.

“Part of my coming across to Northern is to explore opportunities in that space. Northern Health sees a very diverse group of patients culturally, as well as from a medical point of view.”

“In toxicology we see a lot of patients for whom mental health is a pretty significant aspect. As we work towards more advances in terms of how we give patients more targeted, specific care from a mental health point of view, there’s a big role for toxicology at Northern.”

Dr Rotella has always had a strong connection to the northern community – “I’m a northern suburbs boy. I grew up in Northcote and Panch was our community hospital. I even got married next door to the hospital at The Manor.”

From his earlier years at Northern Health, Dr Rotella remembers the staff members who trained him and shaped him as a doctor.

“A lot of the ED physicians taught me procedures as a medical student and intern. Phyllis, one of the ED physicians, taught me how to do an arterial blood gas. Another ED physician, Cynthia, talked me through my first lumbar puncture. Stefan, one of the other ED physicians helped me do my first shoulder relocation – so a lot of those procedures you learn as a doctor, I’ve learnt here.”

“One of the ANUMs in ED even lives next door to my parents, so I’ve known her since I was 10 years old!”

Dr Rotella says his favourite part about working at Northern Health so far is the culture and can-do attitude.

“We’ve got lots of patients to look after, and thinking about the best way to give them care is at the forefront. That sense of innovation and ownership in a whole-of-hospital approach has been really good and really affirms why I’ve come to Northern Health.”

Dr Rotella is passionate about toxicology education and training, and in the future hopes to build a toxicology service here at Northern Health.

“I’m really keen to train some nurses in toxicology, as well as doctors, and build a service when the time is right. I’m always happy to be contacted about opportunities to develop things together and I’m really keen to synergise with what’s already out there and learn how I can help.”

To celebrate the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, we asked a selection of staff who exemplify the key qualities of a nurse/midwife to write a ‘postcard to their younger self’ and offer insight and advice.

Judy Sonneveld, Nurse Unit Manager of Ward 6 at Northern Hospital had this to say to her younger self:

Hey Jude…

What a journey you are about to experience. You will be faced with many challenges, but always remember be true to yourself and steadfast.  

You will find the only constant in your career will be change – this is not a bad thing. You will need to move forward and take with you what was good and learn to adapt. Not a bad philosophy personally and professionally. 

People will underestimate your true potential and you will believe them. DON’T! You need to seize every opportunity with both hands and hang on for the ride.

Inspire others on your journey and don’t worry if things don’t go as planned – they often never do.

Just remember to keep your eyes on the prize and support those around you as they will be your greatest accomplishments.

With the global COVID-19 pandemic, getting the flu shot this year is even more important.

To ensure our community stays protected, Northern Health is holding a “Staff Family Vaccination Weekend” from tomorrow, Friday April 24 to Sunday, April 26. All staff are encouraged to let their family know they can come to the Northern Centre for Health Education & Research (NCHER) on these three days, 9 am – 5 pm to get their free flu shots.

Linda Romano, Divisional Director Nursing, Surgical Services, brought her family to have their flu shots and encourages everyone to do so.

“It’s very important to have the annual flu vaccination and protect not only ourselves, but our community and each other as well,” she said.

Ros Payne, Director of Nursing and Midwifery, said due to a very high demand for community flu vaccination, they have decided to open this weekend for the family of our staff.

“The model will be the same as for the community. People can drive in, park and walk into NCHER. There they will fill out a form, get their vaccination and then wait outside for 15 minutes. We are not taking bookings for staff family, but will still also have community members with bookings coming in over the weekend. I would encourage everyone to be patient with potential wait times as aim to fit our families around people with prior appointments,” she said.

For their family members, staff are encouraged to print, fill out and bring the Influenza Vaccination Program form, available on PROMPT.

The form has also been emailed to staff with the Staff Family Vaccination Weekend announcement.

More information on our community vaccination can be found here.

Featured image: Linda Romano with her family and nurse Pauline Chingwe

Today, Wednesday 22 April, marks 50 years of Earth Day.

The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity, and happens when the Earth heats up because of too much carbon dioxide and other ‘greenhouse gases’ in the atmosphere.

Today, on Earth Day, we showcase the PVC Recovery in Hospitals Project, an environmental/recycling initiative that Northern Health, and in particular pharmacy, has been involved in since 2017.

Plastic contributes significantly to hospital general waste. It has been estimated that all plastics account for about one third of a hospital’s general waste, most of which is sent to landfill in Australia. Of all plastic waste generated by a hospital, PVC medical products such as intravenous (IV) fluid bags, tubing, oxygen masks and blood bags are estimated to represent about 25 per cent. PVC, also known as vinyl, can be recycled relatively easily once it is recovered from the waste stream and has been separated from other plastics or materials.

At Northern Health, the high volume areas identified were theatre, intensive care unit and dialysis.

“All the fluids we use in the hospital, like those IV bags, get put in a special bin for recycling,” explains Vinod Chellaram, Director, Pharmacy.

“The PVC bags are then recycled and turned into garden hoses and soft floors for playgrounds, “he adds.

“The Vinyl Council, the peak body representing Australian PVC, tell us we have the best recycling rates for the state,” says Sandra Molinaro, Manager, Support Services, at Northern Health.

Northern Health also recycles other waste such as organics, fluorescent tubes, batteries, Kimguard from theatre, metal and electronic waste, beds and mattresses.

“This has resulted in Northern Health successfully diverting 23450 kg of waste away from landfill,” adds Sandra.

In addition to Northern Hospital Epping, two of our other sites Craigieburn Centre and Broadmeadows Hospital are already recycling PVC.

This Earth Day, Northern Health is asking staff to pledge their support and commitment that we will minimise our waste. Small changes such as remembering to turn off lights and computers when not in use can have a big impact.

The world needs you – and your actions – for Earth Day 2020.

Northern Pathology has successfully implemented onsite testing for COVID-19, with a turnaround of one to three hours.

Previously, all tests for COVID-19 were referred to the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL), with some delay in results due to the high demands on their services.

Dr Frank Hong, Director of NPV, explained, “one of the major benefits of bringing the testing onsite is the marked improvement in turn-around time.“

“Our local testing capacity will build up over time, with the addition of more equipment and testing kits. Currently our tests are being performed on patients that require urgent results, like those in ICU, ” he added.

“Our goal is to be able to test everyone coming to the Northern Hospital in the future, and we are hoping that would happen late May to early June”.

Jennifer Stuchbery, Senior Scientist – Microbiology, said that the in-house test works by detecting genetic material from the virus that is present in specimens collected from patient’s nose and throat. She was extremely happy with the performance of the in-house test, stating that results obtained so far have shown that it is comparable to those results obtained at VIDRL.

“We are in the process of training more staff to perform the test, so that once more testing kits arrive, we can offer these tests to a larger number of our patients and health care workers,” she said.

Dr Prahlad Ho, Program Director Diagnostic Services, said that it was a huge effort from the team to set up the molecular laboratory within weeks from scratch.

“In most laboratories this would take months. I am proud to say that we have been able to achieve it in two to three weeks. We are looking at introducing not just one technology for COVID-19 testing, but three technologies, which allows for high volume testing. This would significantly contribute to our ability as a health service to diagnose and appropriately manage unwell patients presenting with respiratory symptoms, as we head into the influenza season,” he said.

Featured image (left to right): Yvonne Hersusianto, Head of Microbiology and Jennifer Stuchbery, Senior Microbiologist from Northern Pathology Victoria

’Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.”
Mary Shelly

 

 

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is in demand for staff on the frontline of fighting COVID-19.

When Nicholas Romeo, the Head Scientist and Lab Manager of the Respiratory Department at Northern Health, first heard of a possible shortage of PPE in a discussion with his head of department, Dr Katharine See, he decided to do something about it.

He first asked himself, “Who could make PPE?” and fast concluded it needed a supplier with the ability to fold plastic.

He ‘cold-called’ a few suppliers locally that make plastic folders and found Victor Stoyanaski, the most engaging in terms of wanting to assist.

Victor, the proprietor of Norbind Plastics Pty Ltd., a 28 year old business in Epping, says at first he was sceptical – but decided he had nothing to lose. At the time Nicholas called, he had already stood down the majority of his staff, working them only in rotation.

Victor it turns out was already supplying the plastic folders that we use at our bed-ends at Northern Health.

That was Monday, 30 March. The same afternoon, he had ready a couple of prototypes and that Thursday had a finished prototype for Nicholas to share with the various stakeholders, including emergency department and theatre physicians.

On being given the green light, Victor was in production on Friday and delivered his first order the next Monday. He is now in the process of delivering an additional ten thousand face masks to Northern Health.

Now that he has got his first order under his belt, Victor is already investing on machinery to make cutting the material quicker.

He says “I want to make it more efficient and then ramp up production.”

Says Nicholas, “A very big thank you to Dr Katharine See for her assistance and facilitating the valuable feedback from all the physicians. It was great having the support of heads of department, executives, supply department and our respiratory medicine team to make this happen. It was also great to support local industry at this time. Hopefully we can support them into the future.”

“Thank you Nicholas and Katharine for encouraging this initiative. We’re grateful for your resourcefulness and are glad we can support a local business”, says Basil Ireland, Chief Finance Officer.

There’s none more grateful than Victor. He already has had enquiries both from Melbourne and interstate. “If not for Nicholas, I would be facing a very different business scenario. On behalf my team and myself, I can’t thank Northern Health enough, for thinking of local business at a challenging time like this for all of us.“

“It’s true what they say ‘We are in this together’,’” says Victor.

Featured image show Nicholas Romeo on left with Victor Stoyanaski on right.

With increased physical distancing measures and stage three restrictions currently in place, our staff have been spending their days off, quite differently lately.

A number of them have found creative ways to spend their time at home and express themselves through their cooking, sewing, weaving, gardening, photography, art – even dance and carpentry!

Wanda Stelmach, our Director of Surgery, refused to let the lock-down get in the way of celebrating Easter with her 95 year old dad , who is in residential care.

Not only did she prepare and deliver Easter eggs (the Polish version of coloured hard-boiled eggs) but also got to chat to him on Skype.

Says Wanda, “I think it is important to observe these traditions at a time like this. Challenging as it was to get my dad to use this technology, it made his day – and mine!”

Pets are a recurring theme – both as figurines (made by Danielle Wilding) and as companions (Olivia Wynne and Heidi McKenzie) and then there’s Steph Labourne’s rather bemused cat. Or is it annoyance, that there’s no food in sight?

We are hoping to put Catharine Fowler, who made this incredible outdoor table below, in touch with John Ferguson, our Chief Medical Officer, featured in our gallery for his wood chopping skills. We think there might be a business opportunity here.

Some have found their inner child – Yvonne Amos, our Foundation Director, has been ‘making silly animals for our front yard to keep the neighbourhood entertained’. We are not aware of any complaints from the neighbours – yet.

From our picture gallery, it is very evident there is an abundance of talent out there.

We would encourage staff to continue to send in examples of how staying at home can be both fulfilling and socially responsible.

Featured Image: Kim Scott who is in the front line at our Fever Clinic,  with her spinning wheel