In this month’s Get to know: Q&A with…we catch up with Robyn Johnson, Reception Services Manager at Bundoora Centre.

• What is your coffee order?

I very rarely buy coffee, but when I do it’s a skinny latte.

• What does a typical work day look for you?

I’m up with the birds early to start work at 7.30 am, and although my day is predictable with some tasks, working on the front desk always throws up curly questions and mysteries to solve.

Although my primary responsibility is to answer the calls into the switchboard, this can often be like playing detective. As a lot of our callers often ring without knowing who they wish to speak to, or what program or service they require, it takes quite some time and a lot of patience to be able to actually direct the caller to the correct person or area.

As a lot of our callers are older and have difficulty with technology, this can be a real challenge. The visitors also require lots of help, often only knowing a patient’s first name and where they live. I am always happy to see our patients get to the right person quickly and I am glad I can help the Bundoora community that way.

The staff are also our customers, and I like to help them as much as possible in accessing cars to do home visits and generally just making life easier for them to provide their service to our patient’s and their families. When I finish my shift at 3 pm, I usually then head off to visit my Mum, go to the gym etc. and finish the day watching mindless TV or ABC/SBS on demand.

• Tell us about your Northern Health journey.

It started a while ago now, before Northern Health or any other network existed! I was a return to work single mum and through a ‘friend’ of a ‘friend’ was offered a casual position on the BECC switchboard/reception. I was terrified when I started as all I knew of switchboards was from the movies and it all looked a bit scary to me.

But I survived and soon was offered the role of Manager, which I was very grateful for the regular wage. A couple of years after, I started helping the Admitting Officer and Geriatrician with bed management and eventually I was responsible for this with consultation with the doctors.

I did this for about eight years and worked with some amazing Registrars who I saw ‘grow up’ and become wonderful Geriatricians, and as well  I built up good professional and social relationships with the discharge planning coordinators at Northern Hospital. From then my role has continued to change and grow, and I have had my finger in a few pies, including a stint covering DVA Liaison. Currently, I sit on the OH&S Committee, am a member of the Emergency Response Team and sit on the Emergency Management Committee and now I also assist with the day to day support services delivery.

This year will be my 25^th Anniversary of working at Bundoora Centre, which is amazing as when I started I couldn’t even see myself as reaching any long service leave.

• Can you tell us a bit about your career before starting at Northern?

I was a stay at home mum for quite some time surviving being a mother of four with a husband who worked long hours, and children who were very active after school and at weekends. Before that I worked at the Austin, mostly in the Spinal Unit, Paraquad Association and prior to that my graduate year at Bendigo Base Hospital.

• What is your greatest achievement or favourite memory since working here?

The fact that I’m still here is an achievement in many different ways , and also the team I work in still has original members and we are very supportive. Some of our BECC Christmas and retirement parties used to be good fun but unfortunately I started soon after the demise of the Friday afternoon happy hour!

• What are some things people don’t know about you?

In my previous life I was a Physio. I mostly worked at the Austin in the Spinal Unit Gym which I really enjoyed.

• What do you like to do after work?

After work I like going to the gym, I’m working very hard on postponing the effects of ageing! When patients younger than myself started arriving at Bundoora Centre for the Falls Clinic, Dementia Clinic etc, I decided I’d better start being very serious about staying strong and fit. I also like to read, garden, quilt, go to the movies, football and spend time with friends, my kids and grandchildren.

• Do you have a bucket list item? Something you would love to do?

I would like to do more travelling around Australia, particularly in the Outback and hopefully when I eventually retire I would like to think that I could disappear off into the horizon in a 4WD campervan. In the meantime I would also like to go to India, Myanmar and Morocco.

• How would you describe Northern Health in one sentence?

Northern Health reminds me of a fast growing teenager – as soon as you buy them a pair of shoes they have outgrown them! It’s evolving and changing all the time.

• Who would you nominate next for a staff profile and why?

I would like to nominate John Davies from the Pastoral Care Team. John has had a typical Northern Health journey, but also has an interesting life outside of work. To me, he always seems so serene and calming, until that sense of humour escapes!

Our Northern Pathology Victoria staff have been working hard since the COVID-19 outbreak, making sure all specimens are processed and delivered timely to the testing authorities.

Sam Djukic, Pre-analytical Manager, explained that Pathology is picking up the specimens from the Fever Clinic, processing and forwarding to Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL) for testing.

“Then we have to send those samples away, which takes additional time. In between, we are wiping down the benches and that takes time as well for our staff,” he explained.

Shiraz Lubke, Operations Manager, added on Sunday, we had 80 tests for COVID-19.

“If you multiply that number by three minutes that it takes per test to do the data entry, it is clear how much of additional work has to be distributed among our current staff, as we don’t have any extra staff,” she said.

Collection staff gather the samples Monday-Friday and, on the weekends, specimen collection picks up the specimens. That enables the Pathology team to get smaller batches through and get them to VIDRL quicker.

“When it comes to COVID-19 testing, samples from health care workers and critically ill patients are coming back within 24 hours. It can be three days for other cases at this stage,” Shiraz said.

The Pathology staff are also facing situations when they have to prioritise which tests to focus on first.

“These specimens are a high priority. The pre-analytical staff have to prioritise what to do first. It’s putting extra pressure on the front-line staff,” she added.

Both Shiraz and Sam see the role of Pathology as, “get the samples to VIDRL as quick as we can, get the results back as quick as we can, and stay calm”.

“We are handling it well, we have risen to the challenge and our team at the front end is doing a magnificent job. We just need to stay calm, keep working together and realise that our bit is really important,” she added.

As Northern Health gears up to address COVID-19 (see our story here) the importance of team work has come into focus. As Dr Nancy Sadka, Emergency Physician said “The key thing staff can learn…is that we need to be prepared and to practice and communicate as a team.” The exercise highlighted some of the unsung heroes of our organisation, our Personal Service Assistants (PSA’s), and the key role they play as part of the front line team. The PSA’s play many roles, besides participating in emergency response teams. They also transfer patients, equipment, urgent bloods, mail, and medical records besides ensuring compliance to DHS Cleaning Standards for Victorian Public Health Facilities. Basil Ireland, Chief Financial Officer, said, “The PSA’s and cleaning workforce are critical to our day to day operations and in keeping the hospital clean and infection free for our patients, staff and families. This has never been more apparent than in the current circumstances.” Margaret Ash and Usu Lian Bawi are two PSA’s from vastly different backgrounds. The first was born in Melbourne, the second came as a refugee from Burma.  They both agree on the sense of family they get from working at the Northern. “I love the atmosphere here, you are a family, together in the hospital,” says Margaret. Usu agrees with a big grin that needs no translation. They both have worked at Northern Health for just under a year, working across the wards, theatre and public areas such as the foyer. They both recently got to work at the new Fever Clinic and spoke of their experience there. “Safety is a big consideration and I was provided with a mask and all the protective equipment (PPE),” says Usu, as he gets ready for his second shift at the Fever Clinic. Margaret says “I didn’t think anything of it,” when she was asked to work in the Fever Clinic, and adds, “I did my bit”. “We greatly admire the work our front line staff perform and the PSAs are a key part of the team,’ said Basil. He recalls Brendan Murphy, Chief Medical Officer, in his previous capacity as Chief Executive of Austin Health saying PSA’s are a critical part of the clinical team and ‘the legs the hospital stands on.’ ‘Now is the time to show appreciation to our front line staff,” adds Basil. We join Basil in wishing our front line staff stay Safe, practice being Kind to each other in these challenging times, and know that we are in this Together.

Featured Image (left to right): Margaret Ash and Usu Lian Bawi

Today, Northern Hospital held a multidisciplinary, hospital-wide in-situ simulation which included a patient who came in who had a suspected case of COVID-19. The simulation involved multiple departments and teams, including emergency, anaesthetics, ICU, recovery, High Reliability Organisation (HRO) and Patient Services Attendants (PSAs).

Dr Nancy Sadka, Emergency Physician, explained that the aim of the simulation is to test our systems on how we would manage these patients. The simulation started with a call from Ambulance Victoria saying that they have a suspected COVID-19 patient with recent travel history and symptoms consistent with pneumonia.

“The patient was in respiratory distress and needed to be intubated. With the patient’s symptoms, we couldn’t wait for the positive test to take precautions – we took precautions from the beginning to the end. We went to three areas of the hospital to test our systems and processes. The simulation started in the Emergency Department, then moved on to Recovery and ended in the Intensive Care Unit,” she said.

Around 30-35 people were involved in today’s simulation, and Nancy feels this was an excellent test of our systems.

“Different teams were working together. The infection control was evolved to see how we don and doff our PPE and all this has been done to help us prepare as an organisation. It has helped us feel confident to manage these patients,” she said.

Dr Sadka added that in-situ simulations help create the culture where all our teams, together, build staff confidence for real-life scenarios.

“The key things staff can learn from this simulation is that we need to be prepared and to practice and communicate together as a team. We also need to involve all team members in every phase so they can contribute. We need to make sure our teams are confident and comfortable using the PPE and precaution measures, so they can protect themselves on daily bases,” she said.

Personal Services Assistants (PSAs) participated in the simulation for the first time. Cindy Sherlock, PSA on the Maternity Ward found the simulation very eye-opening.

“I don’t usually do patient transfers, but it’s nice to know that if in an emergency I get a call, I would know exactly what to do. The key takeouts for me and the two other PSAs who participated is the new donning and doffing for PPE and the procedures around that.

Brooke Williams, HRO Project Support Officer, has facilitated numerous simulations at Northern Health.

“What I have learned through my ongoing simulation experience is that sometimes people can forget the things they know when they are under high pressure. That is why practising these high-intensity scenarios is so important. When a real patient comes, we are better equipped to handle the situation,” said Brooke.

Last week, Northern Health hosted the first possum skin workshop, open to both staff and the community.

Once an everyday item for Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia, possum skin cloaks were worn for warmth, used as baby carriers, coverings at night, drums in ceremony and for burial. Incised and painted with ochre, possum skin cloaks also mapped the identity of their owner, holding stories of clan and Country.

Today, possum skin cloaks are of continuing importance to Aboriginal people across the south-east of Australia, with new uses and contemporary ways of making.

Joanne Quinn from the Koori Maternity Service explained the idea for the workshop came because the team saw the Treaty Possum Skin Cloak that Gina, the workshop facilitator and artist helped create.

“We knew the community out here would love to have a possum skin cloak and baby wrap. That is why we have invited the community to work on the skins with us,” she explained.

Joanne and her team are looking at creating a healing cloak for patients and families to use and a baby wrap for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies and families to use.

“It’s not just for Koori Maternity Service patients, but for the whole hospital. People in palliative care will be able to use it and it’s very traditional for babies to have the possum skin wrap when they are born,” she explained.

The artist and faciliator, Gina Bundle is a Yuin/Monaro woman and the Program Coordinator of Badjurr-Bulok Wilam – meaning ‘Home of many women’ in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri Peoples – at the Royal Women’s Hospital.

She explained how back in 2006, her sister-in-law and mentor, Vicki Couzens, along with a group of women, revitalised the making of the traditional possum skin cloaks, sharing the craft and the story of cloak making.

“Today is my very first solo possum skin cloak making workshop. It has been really wonderful and people and interested in the process. I use lots of colours, and the skins are full of imagery. It’s a mix of traditional and contemporary cloaks,” she said.

Gina explained how the design part is the most important part of the cloak, as the the images tell the story.

“That is why I like to do the images first and then sow the parts together. A lot of people say they can’t draw – but they can. Once all these cloaks are done, we will lay them on the table and put them together like a jigsaw, telling our story through the drawings and images,” she explained.

These workshops are open for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

“It is though these workshops that we are learning about the beautiful culture we have here. Healing cloaks are different than personal or aesthetic cloaks and I am glad these be usable cloaks for patients, on display here at Northern Health,” she said.

At the invitation of the Victorian Treaty Advancement Commission, Gina facilitated the Treaty Possum Skin Cloak. The cloak is a symbol for the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and path to treaty and ushered in the historic first meeting of the Assembly at Victoria’s Parliament in December 2019.

“It was 72 skins big, and had 288 artworks. We travelled all around Victoria and people drew images,” she added.

 

Featured image (left to right): Joanne Quinn, Seneka Bowen, Kate Dawson, Gina Bundle (facilitator), Jakara Elian, Maja O’Connor.

The Respiratory CUSP (Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program) turned two last week.

Dr Katharine See, Director of Respiratory Medicine, explained the purpose of the CUSP is to empower every single person who works on the ward, from the head of department to all of nursing, medical, allied health, administrative and support service staff to raise a hand and contribute to improving quality and safety on the ward.

“During these two years, there have been numerous improvements on the ward, with over 50 initiatives. For example, our junior medical staff designed a new form. New rules and regulations around how much oxygen is required to be in the cylinder before the patient can safely be transported to radiology and implementing that hospital-wide is just something that came out of CUSP meetings,” she said.

Dr See explained how the team also implemented the use of hand-held fans for patients with breathlessness on the ward, with patients provided with education on how to optimally use the fan.

“The reason why this is so important is that the drug treatment for this condition would be morphine, which increases their risk of falls. The team has also established a dedicated pleural procedure room, a sterile space for procedures,” she said.

Other improvements include making sure two nurses check blood gas results, at handovers, which enables staff to detect deterioration earlier for patients with respiratory failure.

“It can be little changes in process, or it can be major redevelopments, that is the beauty of the CUSP. All these smaller things put together are just as important as the big thing,” she said.

Dr See advocates for putting the responsibility on the CUSP, empowering staff to bring safety concerns to light. The CUSP is an opportunity for every single member of the team not only to identify concerns, but also to identify ways to improve our current systems and processes.

“When we first started, everyone felt this was another meeting that they need to attend, but after two years, there is no complaining when staff come to the CUSP meeting, as they bring all these amazing ideas on how they can improve things. It’s improved our safety culture and brought our team together,” she added.

Dr See sees the CUSP as her favourite meeting of the month.

“We are now being proactive at looking at our systems and ways to improve. Around 30-40 people attend every meeting and are still coming every month,” she added.

Next month, Dr See and Clare McCarthy, Project Manager, were scheduled to take the CUSP to Copenhagen, Denmark to share the ‘Northern’ experience at the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare.

“It will be a fabulous opportunity to represent Northern Health and share our CUSP endeavours with an international audience. The Forum has been postponed in view of the spread of COVID-19 with a new date pending late 2020,” said Clare.

At Northern Health we have been focused on our response to COVID-19 including daily incident team meetings to ensure we are best placed to respond.

We have established an Incident Control Centre and are working with DHHS, Health Purchasing Victoria and other health services on our collective response and how to best utilise resources across the state (e.g. Ventilators, PPE and consumables).

The Incident Management Team is gathering the best experts, both internally and externally, to manage this evolving situation. During this time we need to defer to the experts – whether clinical or non-clinical.

As you will have seen over the weekend, an enhanced response to COVID-19 was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday. These measures were agreed on a phone conference with state and territories Premiers and First Ministers yesterday afternoon, and include:

• Anyone arriving in Australia from overseas will be required to self-isolate for 14 days
• Banning all cruise ships from foreign ports arriving in Australia for 30 days
• Banning gatherings of over 500 people.

There was also emphasis placed upon the importance of social-distancing, including encouraging people to maintain a distance of 1.5 metres and not engage in handshakes. There will also be increased restrictions in regards to nursing homes and most schools and universities will remain open at this stage.

In Victoria, Premier Daniel Andrews has this morning declared a state of emergency in Victoria, effective from 12 pm Monday, March 16, for four weeks in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

This is addition to the Victorian Government’s $60 million announcement to fast-track more than 7000 procedures in the coming weeks, to free up capacity in hospitals as we continue to prepare for an increase of COVID-19 patients.

We have been running a Fever clinic located in Clinic E Northern Hospital open between 9 am and 8 pm. The clinic has been operating for just over a week, with almost 700 people seen.

To date, Northern Health has had one person test positive to COVID-19. This was a person who recently returned from overseas. All correct processes were followed, and the person is currently at home in self-isolation.

Northern Health is planning for how we best continue to sustain critical services whilst protecting our staff and patients. With an emphasis on social distancing measures, meetings are now limited to 15 people or less in one room. We are reviewing what this means for our services, and is looking at multiple solutions including relocating specialist clinics and better utilisation of telehealth services. We will keep you updated on these discussions and outcomes.

Your safety and wellbeing is our priority, and we thank you for your professionalism and understanding during this time.

Siva Sivarajah

Chief Executive

To continue to keep you informed on developments with our response to COVID-19, we are running a special live stream Chief Executive All Staff Forum on: Monday 16 March 2020 at 1 pm. This can be viewed on your PC, laptop or smartphone (not available through FollowMe) via the following link: https://youtu.be/5byGz1o3IwE. Please note this is an online live stream only, NOT a meeting at NCHER as previously advised. If you have any questions you would like answered about COVID-19 during the forum, please email them to corporatecommunications@nh.org.au.

For more information about COVID-19,  please click here for our intranet page.