November 2022
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International Pathology Day
Tomorrow is International Pathology Day (IPD). The day was first marked in Sydney 10 years ago, and has continued to grow in popularity within the international pathology and medical community. As part of the celebration, Royal College of Pathologists Australasia is revisiting milestones in pathology from the last decade. You can find more information here. Pathology plays a critical role in healthcare and is a medical specialty in its own right. It is something all doctors and nurses rely on to determine the cause and nature of diseases by examining and testing body tissues and bodily fluids (e.g. blood, urine). Pathology…
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Mental Health Service transition continues
Today, the Bundoora Aged Persons Mental Health Unit (APMHU) and Assessment and Treatment Services (APATT) transferred to Northern Health. From today, Northern Health will be providing the assessment of, and treatment for, all persons at the APMHU and APATT. The Royal Commission emphasised the importance of services being more closely aligned with their local major public hospital, and the communities in which they reside, including residential aged care facilities. For the APMHU and APATT, this is Northern Health. For consumers, there will be no change to the care they receive and the services they access. Northern Health and The Royal…
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Going above and beyond at Euroa and Echuca
Kirralee Jensen, Bundoora Centre Director of Nursing, has just returned from flood-affected Euroa and Echuca. She led a team of fourteen nurses across four different Melbourne metropolitan hospitals, to support our regional health services. Five of the fourteen staff, Crystal Devenish, Kylie Pratt, Maddison Ryan, Mary Palapathwala, and Shamini Ramananthan are nurses from Northern Health. “It was outstanding to see the response from Northern Health, Austin Health, St Vincent’s Hospital and Royal Melbourne Hospital,” said Kirralee. The nurses were first deployed to Euroa Health. Over 65 per cent of Euroa Health staff were impacted by floods and road closures, resulting…
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Stepping out as Northern Health’s own older persons specialised mental health service
Next Monday, we officially welcome the staff of the Kath Atkinson Wing (KAW), Aged Persons Mental Health Unit and the Aged Psychiatry Assessment and Treatment Team (APATT). Today we speak to Stav Ropkas, Acting NUM, Aged Persons Mental Health Unit (APMHU) and Lynette Stephens, APATT Service Manager on their role in the transition. Stav sees her role as manager as “providing leadership and ensuring high quality of care for consumers in our 15 bed aged person’s acute mental health unit”. Lynette says that to be the APATT service manager is a privilege. She says, “My role is to support my…
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Get to know: Steve Manolas
For today’s ‘Get to know’ profile, we caught up with Steve Manolas, the new Director of General Surgery. What is your coffee order? I usually have a flat white. Tell us about your time/career so far at Northern Health? I have been part of Northern Health and PANCH’s history since 1991. Initially, I started as a senior Registrar/Fellow, and then went on to become a general surgeon. During this time, I started an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) service at PANCH, which continued at Northern Health from 1998. Although initially my work was very general, I had an interest in thyroid…