It’s a family affair this year at Northern Health with the first ever mother and daughter starting their careers together as graduate nurses in 2020.

Rina and Shivani Buldaho were two of the 52 excited graduate nurses and midwives welcomed to Northern Health in January.

Rina tells us she decided to pursue a career in nursing after she was inspired by her daughter completing her studies.

“I would help Shivani with questions sometimes, and then I developed an interesting in nursing so I enrolled in the mid-year diploma,” she said.

Rina’s daughter, Shivani, says it’s special to start her career alongside her mother at the same health service.

“We helped each other in university and now here we are starting our careers together,” she says.

“It will be a good opportunity to continue learning from each other,” she tells us.

Rina adds, “It’s something unique. We got to study together, graduate together and now work together!”

“They’re memories we can cherish forever.”

A northern suburbs local, Rina also says she is also looking forward to providing care to the community she lives in.

“We are absolutely delighted to have our first graduate mother and daughter starting their careers together at Northern Health,” said Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, Debra Bourne.

“This year is even more special for Rina and Shivani, as 2020 marks the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, as declared by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale,” she added.

Northern Health is marking the year under the theme ‘Caring Together’ – to showcase our nursing staff and their contribution.

Last week, we welcomed Channel 7 News to Northern Hospital to talk to Rina, Shivani and Debra Bourne – check out the video below to hear from them!

Featured Image (left to right): Rina and Shivani Buldaho 

A new partnership between Northern Health and The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) has proven an outstanding success, with local parents giving the new scheme an average satisfaction rating of 9.2 out of 10.

The partnership, developed jointly by the Heads of Paediatrics and Nurse Unit Managers at both Northern Hospital and the RCH, is designed to allow children from the north to be cared for closer to their home.

Northern Health Clinical Director of Paediatrics, Dr David Tran, was integral to the development of the partnership which sees Northern Health aim to offer two beds per day for the RCH to transfer children who live in the northern catchment back to our hospital. Here they can be cared for by our highly dedicated paediatricians, paediatric nurses and allied health staff.

In the first 12 months of the partnership, we transferred 84 patients which was the equivalent of 146 bed days at the RCH that were freed up.

Northern Health has since collected feedback from patients and families on their satisfaction with the service, receiving an average rating of 9.2 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Ninety per cent of patients and families also noted they would return to Northern Hospital as their first choice closer to home.

Dr Tran said, “This partnership with The Royal Children’s Hospital has been an important part of caring for children – closer to their home. It helps the community build trust in our paediatric care and allows for their ongoing inpatient and outpatient follow up to be managed through Northern Health.”

The Northern Health Paediatric Unit also recently organised an educational seminar for local Maternal & Child Health Nurses (MCHNs), with the aim of engaging with our community and improving care to our patient cohort.

There was a fantastic response with 30 MCHNs attending the event with representatives from Hume, Moreland, Whittlesea, Mitchell, and Nillumbik Councils. Northern Health paediatricians, allied health clinicians and nursing staff volunteered their time to present a topic of interest to the community-based MCHNs.

“It was a fantastic opportunity to meet with some of our key primary carers, and provide updates on some important paediatric topics such as management of the preterm infants at home, feeding issues and gross motor delays in premature infants,” Dr Tran said.

The feedback from the MCHNs was overwhelmingly positive, with a strong interest in further partnerships and educational activities with Northern Health.

A team from Northern Health also recently shared the Northern Hospital and The Royal Children’s Hospital Collaborative Partnership with Children’s Healthcare Australasia at their Paediatric Units Face to Face Insight Forum. 

Children’s Ward Nurse Unit Manager, Courtney Lowry, said, “The forum was a wonderful opportunity for us to be able to showcase the great work that has been done with the partnership with so many colleagues from around Australia and New Zealand”.

(Featured Image: Ebony Albon with daughter, Maisie, at Northern Hospital) 

The Specialist Clinics across Northern Hospital, Broadmeadows Centre and Craigieburn Centre had a very busy and successful year in 2019.

Last year, Specialist Clinics managed 135,641 referrals, and the number was up from 130,800 in 2018. The number of attendances in clinics was 198,000 in 2019, up from 189,100 in 2018. Fail to attend rate prior to Q-Flow was around 22 per cent, and since the introduction of Q-Flow, it is down to 18.2 per cent, showing significant improvement.

“Our urgent KPI was 98.8 per cent in December, which means we are seeing patients who require an urgent appointment within 30 days of receiving a referral.  Only four referrals were outside that time frame and those patients were seen within a couple of days after the date. That is the highest for Northern Health ever,” explained Cathy Fletcher, Nurse Unit Manager.

The department has been through a lot of change. When the Q-Flow was introduced in October, it has made a huge difference in workflow and improved communication to patients. The clinics also introduced a new contact centre, with a 105,000 calls that came through that centre last year.

“We’ve had really good response with Q-Flow. It has definitely helped patients come for appointments because they have received their reminders. We have had a lot of great experience with the volunteers helping us with Q-Flow. From our point of view, it has been a great thing for patient experience, as for us as an organisation. We have had some challenges but they have now settled,” said Danalene Moss, Clerical Supervisor.

The team has embraced change is proud of the coordinated patient care they provide. On a busy day, around 950 patients are seen in the clinics.

“We had a situation when patient transport was unavailable due to demand, to get our patient home. He ended up being taken home in a taxi, escorted by one of our staff members,” said Carolyn Wallace, ANUM.

The team is also working between nursing and medical to facilitate best patient care.

“We had a patient with impaired mobility. A multi-disciplinary approach was needed for that patient that required a number of different people to see them. Our team coordinated for the patient to be seen in one area, and have three different clinicians, from three different services see them on that day. The patient was seen by all the right people on one occasion, not having to be come into appointments at different times,” said Vicki Hutchinson, Clinical Lead.

The team have acknowledged the help they had to make 2019 a very successful year of improving patient experience, including interpreters and a dedicated PSA for Specialist Clinics. Twenty percent of patients who present at specialist clinics need the help of the interpreter.

“Interpreters need a bit of a a shout too, they are doing a great job,”said Rebecca Clark, Clinical Nurse Specialist.

“Having Lal Cinzah, PSA with us for the past 18 months, has helped improve patient services. He is always happy assist, and nothing is too much trouble for him,” added Cathy, NUM.

When asked about what the team like most about working in specialist clinics, they resounding response was, “The team, camaraderie, diversity of work and independence. No day is the same. Just one thank you makes a day better.”

Featured image: Catherine Fletcher NUM (second from the right) with Northern Hospital Epping Specialist Clinic team

“We don’t have all the answers but we are creating a space to ask the questions” – Better Together Conference

Electra Ulrich, Co-chair of the Northern Health LGBTIQA+ Working Group, shares key learnings from her recent attendance to the LGBTIQA+ Better Together Conference – facilitating conversations about LGBTIQA+ rights in Australia.

Better Together explores issues facing the LGBTIQA+ movement, bringing together voices from Indigenous communities, people with a disability, the deaf community and multicultural and multi-faith communities.

“We all know advocacy is important, but what does this look like for the LBGTIQA+ community? In particular for those at the intersectionality of vulnerable communities,” Electra said.

“At Better Together, there was a plenary, where those who are part of the LGBTIQA+ community and have a disability spoke about the challenges they face at this particular intersectionality. Some clear messages came through to me, such as the importance of asking before helping, involving those at the intersectionality in any planning, and respecting that the person with the disability knows what they need –’nothing about us without us’. As one speaker put it – ‘it’s important to vocalise your support because we don’t assume it’s there’,” Electra said.

A panel discussion on ‘exploring the role of allies’ covered what a LGBTIQA+ ally looks like, not only as an individual but also as an organisation. Three main areas were raised – through visibility, policy and education.

“One ally spoke of the challenges she faced, saying ‘being an ally is a process, going through the conversations, gaining more armour – it’s a journey’,” Electra said.

Acknowledgement and visibility were also discussed during the conference. In many places now, the addition of brown and black to the rainbow flag acknowledges Indigenous People & People of Colour.

“Narrun Wilip-giin (Northern Health Aboriginal Support Unit) welcomes the acknowledgement of our people to the rainbow flag. Our unit supports the advocacy for our ‘sistagirls’ and ‘brothaboys’ and encourages Indigenous people to attend the Pride March,” said Karen Bryant, Northern Health Senior Aboriginal Liaison Officer.

“As co-chair of the LGBTIQA+ working group at Northern Health, it’s been great to work with our partners in the North to be marching at Pride March for the first time,” Electra said.

“Staff members and their family and friends are all encouraged to join us to march this Sunday.”

Click here to register today and take part in Pride March 2020!

For any questions around marching as part of Pride in the North, email PrideintheNorth@nh.org.au.

Featured Image (left to right): Electra Ulrich (Co-chair of the LGBTIQA+ Working Group, Northern Health) and Eugenia Castro (Member of the LGBTIQA+ Working Group, DPV Health)

Northern Pathology Victoria just completed one year of service – a year in which it processed over 1.3 million tests and 400,000 patient requests, and received accreditation from the National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia (NATA).

As the first public pathology service in 40 years, it offers Gene Xpert testing for Flu/RSV, a Complex Coagulation Laboratory and a suite of onsite tests including tumour markers, haemolysis screen, HbA1c as well as high sensitivity troponin.

When asked about the future plans, Dr Prahlad Ho, Program Director – Diagnostic Services and Director of Clinical Haematology says 2020 will see the introduction of a total automation system, including a track and the expansion of current on-site laboratory repertoire to include thalassaemia testing, protein electrophoresis and bcr-abl, Factor V Leiden and prothrombin gene mutation.

“There’s also the ongoing collaboration with our external partners to ensure the availability of cutting edge laboratory tests for our patients” says Prahlad.

Dr Frank Hong, Director of Northern Pathology, says, “It has been a challenging year. However, with the hard work of every one of our staff, and the support of the clinicians, we have established a brand new public pathology service that we can all be very proud of. While this is a huge achievement, it is only the beginning and we will strive to make Northern Pathology Victoria even better.”

Shiraz Lubke, Operations Manager, who has seen how the service has grown in this one year, had this to say, “I feel privileged to have been part of the successful go – live of the Pathology Service.  Over the past twelve months, there have been many challenges to which we have risen and overcome. There is still much to be done and the next 12 months promise to be exciting for Pathology at Northern Health.”

The Northern Health Foundation Major Raffle, drawn in December 2019, had ticket holders gathered in anticipation in Northern Hospital foyer to find out who would be the winner of a brand new Hyundai Kona.

The Kona was on display in the foyer for the last few months of the year, creating a lot of buzz and excitement – and Christmas came early for one lucky person!

The winner of the car was Ivanna Panopoulos, graduate nurse at Northern Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.

When Ivanna picked up the phone on that December day, she couldn’t believe the news.

“I still can’t believe it – it’s just so exciting and definitely a dream come true. I bought a ticket because I knew it was going toward a good cause. I didn’t expect to win anything, but I thought I’d pitch in and here I am,” she said.

Ivanna says you’ve got to be in it to win it.

“Either way it goes towards a good cause – it’s supporting the community and the hospital, so definitely worth supporting. At Northern Health, everyone knows each other so there’s a really good sense of community,” she said.

Funds raised from the 2019 raffle will support the purchase of an additional emergency accommodation property for Northern Health patient families, who travel long distances to be with their loved ones in hospital.

Northern Health Foundation Director, Yvonne Amos, said, “the support from our major sponsor, Maxxia, who provided the Hyundai Kona as first prize, and our other sponsors, Helloworld, Eziway, Mantra Epping and South Morang Hyundai, provides a wonderful opportunity for us to raise funds. The campaign has been a joint effort by our partners, staff and the northern community who have all come together in support of Northern Health Foundation.”

Congratulations to Ivanna and thank you to everyone who purchased tickets and contributed.

A special thank you also to the dedicated volunteers who spent many hours selling tickets across our sites.

 

Featured image (left to right): Tim Bond, Maxxia; Yvonne Amos, Northern Health Foundation and the winner – Ivana Panopoulos.

Andrew Lauva enjoys a challenge and a problem that needs to be solved. That is one of the reasons he is one of Northern Health’s valuable consumers who has participated on a number of important initiatives, including the working party for the strategic plan, patient experience recruitment and Standard 2 committee.

Andrew spent the majority of his career working for the Victorian Public Service. His last role was as a HR Coordinator/ Facilities Manager was at the State Services Authority.

“I worked in about 10 departments during my career in the Victorian Public Service also volunteered with Brotherhood of St Laurence, working with Asylum Seekers and Refugees and helping them with job seeking,” he said.

Andrew had experiences as an inpatient both in private and public hospitals.  Through his rehabilitation at Bundoora Centre for an injured ankle he became interested in volunteering at Northern Health.

“Before Bundoora, I was also a patient in a medical ward at Broadmeadows Hospital and had rehab there to add to my consumer experience,” he said.

As an end user of the system, Andrew felt his experience, observations of routines and practices whilst in hospital provided an opportunity for input as a consumer at Northern Health.  Coupled with his impressive experience professionally, Andrew felt he had something to offer.

“After retiring, I was keen to stay engaged in the community and keep my mind active, as well as give back to my community. I was seeking a way to use my professional background to make a meaningful contribution. I value learning about the complexities of a public health system,” he said.

Andrew enjoys the opportunity to share his expertise and knowledge, as well as the social interaction as a consumer. Being active in the community, and the feeling of contributing and the contact – brings Andrew satisfaction. His work on the committees and being involved in the strategic plan development enable Andrew to make a valuable contribution.

Andrew also feels it is important to recognise and reward volunteers – as they provide their time, energy and skills to an organisation.

“Actually, my volunteering experience at Northern Health was as a Ward Angel.  After being an inpatient myself, I understood how long a day can be, and how your day is driven by routines. A Ward Angel visits people and spends time with them. Having a chat, being a friendly face that can help break up the day, particularly if you are mostly confined to bed really means a lot,” he added.

Andrew knows that a consumer brings fresh eyes to a situation, and being a future potential end user of the system, he aims to have his experience influence and improve others experiences.

“We are all consumers and potential users of health services. With increasing demand, consumers can influence processes and offer a different way of doing things, that can shift efficiency and effectiveness, which a clinical or medical model may not consider,” he added.

Andrew is excited to have a continued and deeper involvement in committees.

“I would like the opportunity to make an active contribution to development of Framework for involving consumers in recruitment.  I like to be involved in projects where I can see the results,” he added.

Nikki Petrakis says she has always wanted to be a Northern Doctor. This year, she saw her dream become a reality.

Nikki is one of our many excited and talented medical interns starting their Northern Health journey this year.

After studying as a medical student at James Cook University in Townsville and Mackay, Nikki was eager to return to her home city of Melbourne and work in the northern suburbs where she grew up.

“Northern Health was my top choice for internship as I was driven to give back to the community I had grown up in as a child. All my big Greek family live in the area, including the four grandparents who inspired me to become a Northern Doctor.”

“My mum began her career as a clinical support officer at Northern Hospital, and I am excited to begin my career in the same organisation,” she said.

Nikki tells us she enjoyed visiting family members over the years who worked for Northern Health.

“Growing up, I always visited family working here, including my two aunties who work in surgical bookings and podiatry still to this day. However, I’m proud to be the first in the family to work here as a doctor.”

Nikki’s time studying interstate provided her with a number of unique experiences to help shape her as a junior doctor.

“Studying in Far North Queensland has equipped me with the skills to become a practical and resourceful doctor. I was fortunate enough to deliver babies in the Tropics of Fiji, work rurally in Mount Isa and visit some of Australia’s remotest communities with the Royal Flying Doctors Service,” she says.

The future looks bright for Nikki and she is keen to hit the ground running to care for patients and families in the north.

She tells us she is most looking forward to being an advocate for holistic patient care. She says, “this is especially relevant in communities like ours that have such diverse backgrounds.”

“I am particularly passionate about having a role in the development of Northern Health as an organisation that services not just individual patients, but our entire community,” she adds.

“Although I have not chosen a medical specialty yet, it is exciting to be a part of the growth corridor out in the north, and see my career develop alongside the continued expansion of the health service.”