March 2022
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Happy International Women’s Day!
Northern Health’s International Women’s Day (IWD) 2022 started with a virtual breakfast, with Elizabeth Batten, Northern Health Foundation Board Member and Nina Yhap, Barbados’ first Vascular and Endovascular Surgeon, as main speakers. Lisa Cox, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, welcomed the speakers and opened the event. All staff who registered for the event received a small gift, with an IWD-themed cookie, coffee voucher, and a postcard from Barbados. Two raffle prizes were also drawn at the event. “International Women’s Day is for women like Nina and Elizabeth, and for women like you and me. Women who are on the frontline…
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Big Idea: New perioperative portal launches
Another ‘Big Idea 2021’ is turning into reality today, with the perioperative portal officially launching. Dr Jamie Mackay, Anaesthetist, had an idea for a portal that would help our health service communicate better with patients, in the lead up to surgery. “Some of the troubles we had was getting timely information to our patients, in form of health questionnaires and getting that information back. There is a lot of information we need to get from patients and give back as well, in this stage of their journey,” he explained. Big Ideas usually come from big motivations. For Jamie, the big…
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Saliya, Don and Alice
Dr Saliya Hewagama is an infectious diseases specialist and COVID lead at Northern Health. Professor Don Campbell, a respiratory physician, leads our Staying Well at Home program. While their journeys as physicians have taken them down different paths, it also regularly takes them back to Alice Springs, to the Alice Springs Hospital, a major regional teaching hospital. The Arrernte, the original inhabitants who have lived here for tens of thousands of years, know Alice Springs as Mparntwe. Saliya first went there to take a break before his advanced training. He liked what he saw. “I really enjoyed my time there…
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Looking after your wellbeing
At Northern Health, we continue to support and wrap care around our people. As we are all aware, it has been a tough two years, and in some places this continues, especially as we watch what is happening in Ukraine, and the floods affecting Australians in Queensland and NSW. Many of us will find the news and images of the unfolding events distressing, and for some, old traumas may be reactivated. “Processing this news can be difficult – even if you are physically removed. Our thoughts are with those in Eastern Europe and Queensland/NSW at this time, and with the…
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Supporting Northern Health Foundation through workplace giving
Northern Health employees have the unique opportunity to support and contribute to the health service, and the care of our patients and families, through Workplace Giving. All donations through Workplace Giving are made to the Northern Health Foundation, which raises funds on behalf of Northern Health to purchase state-of-the-art medical equipment and technology to improve the care given to our patients, facilitate the upgrade of patient and visitor facilities and fund PhD Research Scholarships that will support ground breaking medical research. Workplace Giving donations are made through regular pre-tax payroll deductions, so there is no need for a tax receipt.…
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How your ideas change our health service
Northern Health values your suggestions and ideas, and we want to work with you to improve our services for our staff, patients and community. In 2022, we’ve had two different campaigns running to gather and action these suggestions and ideas. The COVID and Our Workforce campaign focused on staff suggestions to assist Northern Health address challenges such as environment or workforce during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The workforce idea came from the Hospital Incident Management team and numerous ideas have now been implemented,” explains Jason Cirone, Director, Workforce Sustainability. Some of the ideas submitted to our People and Culture team included:…