2021
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It’s DonateLife Week
DonateLife Week encourages Australians to register as organ and tissue donors, and to have the conversation with their family and friends. Northern Health had the privilege of looking after seven patients and their families who very generously agreed to organ, eye and tissue donation in the last 12 months. The generosity of our Northern Health patients and families resulted in eight people on dialysis receiving kidney transplants, two people receiving life-saving double lung transplants, one person receiving a life-saving heart transplant, one person receiving a life-saving liver transplant and one person with diabetes receiving a pancreatic islet cell transplant. “Countless…
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Peter Brack on team sports, passports and interprofessional education
Peter Brack, Associate Director – Education, Allied Health and Interprofessional Programs, is a self-confessed introvert. As he admits it is, “a bit weird given a central theme of my career has been ‘collaboration’.” With a background in occupational therapy, Pete’s interest in Interprofessional Education (IPE) started over ten years ago when he was involved in two projects related to Interprofessional Education. One of those projects called the Interprofessional Practice Placement, was the first interprofessional training ward set-up in Australia, and was focused on interprofessional teams of students, working to provide care to patients on sub-acute wards at Northern Health. Pete…
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COVID-19 testing milestone!
Our COVID-19 testing clinics at Northern Hospital Epping and Craigieburn Centre have hit a significant milestone of 200,000 presentations through the clinics. Elisha O’Dowd, Acting Project Manager COVID-19 Clinics and Entry Screening, said the testing clinics opened in early March 2020 in response to the increasing demand for COVID-19 testing in our community, and since then, the program has evolved with the fluctuating needs of the pandemic. “This year, Craigieburn and Epping have been hit hard with multiple exposure sites in our local area, so they have each completed over 40,000 tests since January,” Elisha said. “We are very proud…
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New theatre recovery area opens
“I feel like I am at the 42 kilometre mark of a marathon, with only a few hundred metres to go!” Says Tracey Wyllie, Peri Operative Services Manager – Surgical Services. She is talking about the new theatre recovery area, which opened on Monday. Called the Post Anaesthetic Care Unit (PACU), the new theatre recovery area opened earlier this week as part of Stage 2 of the Northern Hospital Expansion Project. Tracey is excited as, “it enables us to deliver quality care in an environment that the team is really proud of and proud to work in.” The new unit…
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EMR: Designed by our clinicians for our clinicians
A key aspect of the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Project at Northern Health is to ensure the needs of clinical staff are met. Meeting these needs means our patients will receive the safest, most efficient care. Here we chat to some of the staff members working on this goal from areas such as the Emergency Department (ED) and Surgery. Stacey Williamson, whose role in the project is Clinical Lead – Emergency, has a wealth of experience from working as a Clinical Nurse Educator in the Emergency Department. Bringing with her extensive clinical and working knowledge of the ED and previous…
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Dr Leonie Griffiths awarded grant for Outstanding Women
The Melbourne Medical School’s Strategic Grants for Outstanding Women, offered biennially, is designed to assist high-performing, early to mid-career women in academia, negotiate some of the challenges faced as they pursue career progression towards senior academic and leadership roles. This year’s recipients include Dr Leonie Griffiths from the Department of Medical Education, Melbourne Medical School and Northern Health. Leonie is Chair of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences Clinical Placements Committee, and a member of the Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Portfolio. In granting the award, Melbourne Medical School recognized that through her work, Dr Griffiths ‘facilitates curriculum design…
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PSA’s shine in latest award ceremony
You see them cheerfully going about their work, which includes ensuring our health service complies with the Department of Health, Cleaning Standards for Public Health Facilities. COVID-19 further underlined the importance of the role they play in keeping our patients and community safe. See our story here. They also assist in other ways such as transferring patients, equipment, urgent bloods, mail, and medical records. They are our Patient Services Assistants (PSA’s). Earlier this week a handful of them follow Wendy Nicol, Operations Manager, PSA and Cleaning Service Contracts, to the courtyard near Allied Health unsure of what to expect. Seeing…
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A new honour for Wanda Stelmach
Wanda Stelmach, Chief Medical Officer, has been promoted to Honorary Clinical Associate Professor with University of Melbourne. Wanda said she was honoured to be promoted. “I think it’s a recognition of our health service and its engagement in teaching and training. Also, where it is going in the future, whether it’s education or research.” Wanda’s teaching journey at the University of Melbourne began in 1983, when she got into the Surgical Training Program and continued in 1993, after she received her Fellowship as a Consultant. Wanda is a general and breast surgeon, who commenced as VMO surgeon at Preston and Northcote…