September 2021
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Northern Health Foundation: How we care for the community, together
Are you aware that Northern Health has its own Foundation? Northern Health Foundation is a formally registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-For-Profit Commission (ACNC) and has its own board of directors. Established in 2005, the Foundation’s purpose was to increase philanthropic, corporate, and community support for Northern Health services. While this is still the mission today, it’s role goes even deeper than this. According to John Molnar OAM, longstanding Foundation Board Chair, “We support Northern Health in its vision of creating a healthier community. We do this by funding life-changing medical equipment, research, and training. We are a…
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Stronger together: North Eastern Public Health Unit (NEPHU)
At the beginning of the year, Northern Health became part of the North Eastern Public Health Unit (NEPHU), a team of healthcare workers focusing on the North Eastern region to help manage the COVID-19 outbreak response. Austin Health has been appointed as the lead health service, in collaboration with Northern Health and Eastern Health. Dr Christian McGrath, Clinical Lead NEPHU @ Northern, explained the idea for a localised health unit came about last year due to an increase in COVID-19 cases and the need for more contact tracers to support the Department of Health. “At some stage, it got quite…
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Care packages for our junior doctors
Our dedicated junior doctors received a special delivery of care packages as part of R U OK? Day from the Junior Medical Staff Association (JMSA) Welfare team, to show their thanks for their incredible work during the COVID-19 pandemic. The R U OK? Day Care Packages filled with goodies were delivered to all junior doctors; interns, residents and registrars at Northern Hospital Epping, Broadmeadows Hospital and Bundoora Centre. Dr Natina Monteleone, JMSA Representative, said the Welfare team recognised that this was a challenging time for all our Doctors, and wanted to show their appreciation to the junior doctor community at…
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New COVID-19 outpatient treatment at Northern Hospital
This week, Northern Health launched a new outpatient service to treat patients with COVID-19 in the community. The ‘Sotrovimab Clinic’ is located at Entry 5 of Northern Hospital Epping. In the clinic, staff administer Sotrovimab, a novel monoclonal antibody treatment, intravenously to patients in the community who are unwell with COVID-19. Northern Health is one of only a couple of sites across Victoria that are administering this therapy in an outpatient setting. Professor Don Campbell, Director Staying Well Program, said, “We are very pleased to have the Sotrovimab infusion centre established here at Northern Health.” “Vulnerable communities who haven’t yet…
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Supporting people with COVID-19
Northern Health has a support program in place for people who have tested positive to COVID-19 in our catchment area. Our COVID Monitor Program provides best practice care for people whom have tested positive for COVID-19, and ensures other health care needs are met whilst in the program. The telephone-monitoring program also helps to prevent unnecessary hospital admissions of mild COVID-19 cases and ensures isolation protocols are followed to limit community spread. Patients complete a daily self-check survey to let a Northern Health staff member know how they are feeling and if they have any other symptoms. Staff will then…
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Healthy meals on the menu
Northern Health patients now have more fresh and healthy meal varieties as our kitchen staff go live with cooking fresh vegetables in their new state of the art industrial kitchen, with three new steamers utilised for this purpose. Our food services department transitioned into the new kitchen in February, which was one of the first areas to open as part of the Stage 2 of the Northern Hospital Expansion Project. Tina Smith, ISS Catering Manager, said her team received feedback from patient surveys about what they would like to see on the menu in regards to fresh and healthier meal…
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Interprofessional Passport for Allied Health students
Northern Health Allied Health students and graduates have access to an Interprofessional Passport, designed for students and early career clinicians across all professions including allied health, nursing and medical. The passport is a learner-led and clinically-based suite for interprofessional learning activities. It has been designed to help students and early career clinicians better understand their role, the role of others and how to work collaboratively in a team to deliver safe and trusted care to our community. Talin Gochian, Interprofessional Educator – Allied Health, highlighted the importance of interprofessional practice. “Today’s patients have increasingly complex needs. In order for us…
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Looking ahead: How will the EMR change our ward rounds?
Northern Health staff are constantly adapting the way we conduct ward rounds to meet new and changing circumstances constantly. With the implementation of our Electronic Medical Record (EMR), the primary function and purpose of the ward rounds will not change with the EMR, but the tools our staff use to access and document information will be different. Currently, we may refer to various paper forms, such as medication chart, plan of care, and observation chart for decision making. One of the benefits that the EMR will bring is a more streamlined process of information retrieval. Other than holding information from…