It’s been a very successful Movember here at Northern Health.

Social Work Clinical Leader and Movember group organiser, Juan Alhucema, said the team at Northern Health pledged to either cut, grow, shave or dye their hair – should the group receive over $1,000 in donations.

“I am happy to say that we have raised $2,632.85 in donations and we would like to thank everyone who participated in the cause,” Juan said.

“This has been a great bonding activity for all us men involved here at Northern Health. Even though I lost my ponytail in the process!” added Juan with a laugh.

The promise was kept…besides Juan, another team member also cut off his ponytail, whilst Florian (pictured below) was in two minds and decided to keep half of his moustache.

The rest say they are considering keeping their new beards and moustaches.

“With a great beard, comes great responsibility,” said Mike Masilamani, another member of the Northern Health team – NoH-vember.

“In this instance, we have the satisfaction of knowing we are raising awareness and making a difference to men’s health, particularly addressing prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention,” he added.

 

Featured Image:

Top left to right – David Paterson (Pastoral Care CL), Andrew Dickinson (OT), Mike Masilamani (Public Affairs), Thomas Cooper (PT), Hugh Burch (PT and Cancer Service Facilitator), Juan Alhucema (SW), Nik Rawat (SW).

Bottom left to right – Florian Zimmerman (PT), Tim Gauci (SW), Birat Sharma (SW).

Other participants not in the picture:

Dhruv Govil (PT and Workforce Manager), James Watt (Pall Care Nurse), Jordan Casey (AOL), Paul Jackson (PT), Simon Keating (Chief Strategy, Business & Development Officer) and Richard Ram (Patient Flow Manager).

Northern Health has commenced on a journey to become a highly reliable organisation, and improving patient experience is one of the key components.

We work in a fast paced, ever changing health environment and sometimes it’s easy to lose track of the small things that matter.

But, what are those things?

Back in 1992, I had an experience as a student midwife that changed the way I thought for the rest of my career. I was looking after a lady having her third baby and I’d delivered less than seven babies as a student midwife.

Post birth, she had a massive haemorrhage and we couldn’t stop the bleeding. She had the first, second, third and the fourth line drugs and treatment, the massive transfusion policy was instigated. She also had emergency surgery and the team saved her life.

Two years later, I was in a supermarket when a lady randomly approached me and hugged me.

She said: “You may not remember me, but thank you”.

She told me her name and the trauma flashed back. I just smiled and said that I was a student and that I was lucky to be part of a great team.

She looked at me puzzled and said: “No, you were the one that mattered the most. You held my hand and you told me it would be okay”

I remember I heard my baby cry and you made the doctor hold her up for me to see.

You were the one that made a difference, you were the one I need to thank”.

I’ve never forgotten that.

Today, leading the Patient Experience work, I often wonder, how do we make it right for everyone?

We are working with several key messages to support the work, with the first one already mentioned:

Small things matter.

The  second key message helps us focus on the things that matter not only to us, but our patients, families and carers.

Ask what matters, hear what matters, do what matters.

The third is probably the hardest of all. It’s a shift from asking our community and family members

“What’s the matter?”  to asking

“What matters to you?”

As clinicians, we sometimes think we have all the answers. We have the technology, state of the art equipment, research and access to practice world class medicine.

We can cure, save lives and alleviate pain.

But is that all our community wants? 

The Patient Experience component of the Trusted Care transformation focuses on moving the words of patient-centred care into translational practice.

There are 13 pieces of work that make up the Trusted Care Patient Experience Strategy. As this work evolves, I encourage you to keep up to date with recent developments and register your interest for work you would like to be involved in.

Dr Harry Eeman, Rehabilitation Medicine Physician at Northern Health, was a young medical student when he was struck down by a severe form of Guillain-Barré syndrome whilst backpacking in Europe.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare but serious autoimmune disorder in which the immune system attacks healthy nerve cells in your peripheral nervous system. This leads to weakness, numbness, and tingling, and can eventually cause paralysis.

Harry spent the next two and a half years in hospital, five months of which were spent on a ventilator paralysed in what seemed like a coma-like state, except for the fact that he could hear those around him.

After years of rehabilitation, he recommenced his studies and completed medicine as a quadriplegic, which required overcoming a number of physical and attitudinal barriers.

He eventually graduated with honours and subsequently completed two postgraduate specialist qualifications.

As today is International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD), we interviewed Dr Harry Eeman on the subject of disability and the challenges he has faced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this morning, we unveiled an artwork by Yorta Yorta woman Kahli Luttrell from Epping, at the Day Oncology Unit at Northern Hospital Epping.

The picture signifies our continued and ongoing commitment to support our Aboriginal Community. It is as the artist has depicted, a journey that tells its own story.

Funded by an Aboriginal Cultural Safety Program Grant, the artwork is part of a larger project that aims to improve cultural safety at Northern Health.

Besides commissioning an artwork from a local Aboriginal artist, the project also includes consultation with local elders to identify priorities for inclusion, displaying of plaques acknowledging the traditional owners of the land, and the development of a sustainable cultural awareness eLearning training package.

The ‘Koorie Contemporary’ artwork by Ms Luttrell depicts the patient journey, with its seasons and struggles.

What is evident from the painting is that those on this journey are not alone. They ride on the back of turtles; symbolising persistence, strength and resilience.

It doesn’t matter if the road is long. A caring and supportive community is always at hand, represented by the dots and circles – a recurring motif throughout the painting.

The soothing and calming colours, bring a sense of peace.

This painting’s story is far from over. As this project signifies Northern Health’s ongoing commitment to support our Aboriginal community and pays respect to the traditional custodians of the land, past and present – it will also be part of their future.

It further strengthens our connections with our diverse community and our journey towards providing a holistic and culturally appropriate service, in turn, providing trusted care to our northern community.

So, like all good stories, we end by saying ‘to be continued’.

 

Artwork by Kahli Luttrell 

Mr Julian Gardner AM, chair of the Victorian Implementation Task Force for the Voluntary Assisted Dying Act (2017), presented at a forum on Voluntary Assisted Dying on Tuesday.

Julian Gardner is a lawyer with an interest in human rights.

He has been involved in high profile end-of-life decisions and litigation, and responsible for promoting and protecting the rights of people with disabilities that affected their decision-making capacity.

The forum provided an opportunity for staff to hear about the new Act and the role health care services will have when this legislation comes into effect on 19 June 2019. The forum was very well received by health care professionals from all backgrounds at Northern Health.

Julian Gardner, who has extensive experience in advocating for vulnerable people, spoke about the legislative requirements surrounding the Act, and the importance of patients being able to have compassionate access to Voluntary Assisted Dying.

Northern Health has established a steering committee to ensure that we meet the legislative requirements contained in the Act by 19 June 2019. One of the first tasks of the committee is to review the resources at Northern Health to ascertain which pathways will be offered with Voluntary Assisted Dying. 

“Mr Gardner gave a very thorough overview of the governance and patient safety mechanisms involved in the procedure,” said Associate Professor Bill van Gaal, Northern Health Divisional Director of Emergency Services and Director of Cardiology.

Bill, pictured above with Julian Gardner, was just one of the many participants in attendance at the forum.

“This generated much discussion around the process, what this means for patients and their families in our community and steps Northern Health should undertake to comply with the new legislation,” Bill said.

Nominated for his clinical leadership in spinal management, Acting Director of Emergency Department – Emergency Physician, Dr Dean Pritchard, received the award for ‘Excellence in Safety’ at the inaugural Staff Recognition Awards.

Challenged by the lack of a dedicated spinal service at Northern Health, Dean and the quality team identified some system issues that needed to be fixed to better manage spinal patients.

“This was one of the biggest pieces of work I’ve contributed to at Northern Health,” Dean says.

Dean was involved with a team who met with a patient’s family to discuss the findings of a quality case review, and most importantly, explained what things were going to change in response.

“I think being involved in the implementation of a new process really drives you,” Dean says.

In collaboration with the Emergency Department, General Surgery Department, General Medicine and Head of Neurosurgery at St Vincent’s Hospital, a new process was created to better manage spinal patients moving forward.

The new management system was presented at a recent Safe Practice Forum, highlighting Northern Health’s progress in treating an increasing number of patients presenting with spinal fractures.

Deputy Director Emergency Department, Jack Yeung, who nominated Dean says, “Dean has been instrumental in his clinical leadership with Spinal Management Protocol Version 2 and has worked well with the Orthotics team at Northern Health.”

On winning the award, Dean says, “there was a lot of work done outside normal work hours and a lot of work done outside my usual scope of practice to make this happen, so to be recognised for that was nice.”

When asked what it is about Northern Health he enjoys, he says it’s the patient mix and staff.

“The presentations are so rich and diverse, and the patients in this area absolutely need the Emergency Department to maintain their physical and mental health.”

“I also like the fact that despite us growing into the size of a larger hospital, we still maintain that friendly interaction between different departments. We’re all still very collegiate and it translates into the way we practice.”

Sponsored by Maxxia and BankVic, our Quarterly Staff Recognition Awards have been designed to formally recognise outstanding contributions by our employees and celebrate staff excellence. Nominations for the next Quarterly Staff Recognition Awards will open December 2018.

Christmas came early for our wonderful volunteers today at the Annual Volunteer Christmas Party, held at the Casa D’Abruzzo Club Epping.

The day was filled with music from DJ Con, delicious food, a lucky draw, dancing and even a surprise visit from Santa.

Northern Health has 350 volunteers who help to deliver our vision of providing trusted care for our community, with the oldest volunteer being 96.

Senior Coordinator Engagement, Henni Wade, was delighted to see everyone dancing and having fun, admiring how the Christmas party is a wonderful opportunity for everyone to come together.

“Sometimes, we don’t see all the people behind the scenes and all the work they do – this is a chance for us to thank them for all their help during the year,” she said.

The dedication of Northern Health’s incredible volunteers was displayed even today, on their day off.

“Even though they had a day off today, some of them still came in early to do their shift and then head to the party, simply because that is what they love. They just felt that they would let their ward down if they took a day off!” Henni said.

Executive Director Public Affairs and Foundation, Andrew Williamson acted as MC and Zoe Devenish, Site and Operations Director Broadmeadows Hospital, thanked the volunteers on behalf of the executive team and management.

Director Northern Health Foundation, Yvonne Amos said the volunteers are equally important and valued by our patients, their families and staff.

“I am astounded by the number of volunteers Northern Health has across its services and by the depth of their work. The volunteers are very much part of the caring community spirit that thrives here at Northern,” she said.

As part of Northern Health’s vision to create a centre for excellence in endovascular procedures, last week, a group of surgeons from Thailand and Vietnam visited Northern Hospital.

The visit provided our guests with the opportunity to observe the performed endovascular procedures, as well as to exchange findings with staff members.

Dr Iman Bayat, Head of Vascular Surgery Unit said that Northern Health collaborates closely with the industry.

“When there’s a requirement for training in overseas countries, the overseas surgeons are brought to Australia to observe our procedures, giving us all a great opportunity to exchange experiences,” he said.

The overseas surgeons witnessed some of the great outcomes our endovascular teams are achieving.

“Today we were successful in performing three endovascular repairs of abdominal aortic aneurysms. One of them was on a 96 year-old patient that was done purely under local anesthetics, and he will be going home tomorrow back to his family,” Dr Bayat said.

During the two day visit, Dr Kumpoo Foofuengmonkolkit, a cardiovascular surgeon from Bangkok, was introduced to medical devices used at Northern Health, as well as given a tour of the hospital and the chance to observe some of the procedures.

“The team here are just fantastic and I’ve learned a lot – especially the new techniques,” he said.

After sharing knowledge with experts from Northern Health and observing procedures, he feels confident he would be able to adapt the findings to procedures he performs in Thailand.

The visit was supported by Medtronic.