Sydney born and bred Naomi Kent, Team Leader Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) now calls Melbourne home, after changing not only the state she resided in, but her occupation as well.

She joined Northern Health in October 2018, and in her role provides OHS advice, looks at all OHS incidents and liaises with affected staff members and managers. In her role, she also provides advice and support with OHS risk management .

“I started my career as a registered nurse, and worked in nursing for 8 years while living in New South Wales. At some point, I went back to university and started doing a Medical Science degree but never finished. It was then, I started thinking ‘what would  I like to do for the rest of my life?’, as healthcare has always been my passion,” Naomi said.

It was a series of circumstances that led Naomi towards a new career path.

“I remember that day when I had just 24 hours to make a decision. I went to two interviews, one for a full time nursing role and one for a claims management position in an insurance company. I then took the path less traveled, took the insurance job and did that for about four years,” she said.

It was in this role that she did her Return to Work coordinator course and moved on to work as a Return to Work coordinator for a NSW health service. She also started her Masters degree in OHS.

Moving to Melbourne was a life-long wish, having travelled to Melbourne a few times.

“Working in health and safety, I wanted to challenge myself and and I knew the legislation is different in every state. I wanted to see what I could transfer and what I could learn,” she said.

Naomi saw a job ad for Northern Health, took a flight to meet the team and went back to Sydney to wait for the outcome.

“I had a holiday booked and was waiting in line to board my Hawaii plane when I got a call from Northern. It was a sliding doors moment. I remember thinking – ‘I answer this call now and my life is completely changing. If I don’t answer, I will just continue on the path I am currently’. I took a deep breath, answered the phone and moved to Melbourne,” she said.

Naomi added she has always been willing to take a chance to see what she is really capable of doing and how far outside of her comfort zone she can push herself.

“I really enjoy the people I work with at Northern Health, both within my team and in the organisation. This is a very friendly and open organisation,” she added.

“I have grown so much since coming here,” says Naomi.

She feels her new occupation is now actually an extension of her nursing career.

“At orientation, I usually say to our new staff – ‘You are here to look after patients, I am here to look after you’. I used to be the one caring for patients, now I am caring for healthcare workers,” she added.

Since the COVID-19 preparation started, the multi-skilled Project Management/HRO team has been focused on two main things: setting up to use the split team model and supporting the organisation in COVID-19 response activities.

Sophie Argiriou, Director Project Management Office/HRO, explained the team first made a skill set list for all team members.

“We looked at the various qualifications the team has and where we could best use our previous experiences, or develop some of our skills further. We all had one question on our minds Where can I help in the organisation?” she explained.

“For example, the skills ranged from ICU specialist nursing to IT expertise – knowledge and past experience we could apply in a time of crisis,” she explained.

Sophie adds that creating a sense of team outside your home really helps in the whole way we deal with isolation.

“It’s not just about checking in with your people, it’s about creating an environment where you can have honest conversations with your team. There is a level of trust there that everyone is doing their job, but as a Manager I also care about how they are going as a person and as a team. We all have to be adaptable. The team has certainly proven we can be flexible and work in new ways,” she explained.

To keep her split team connected and in good spirits, Sophie introduced the 9 am ‘Virtual banter with coffee’ on MS Teams.

“This is not mandatory, it’s for all of our team members available and it can go from 15 to 45 min. The video chat is really good because we are able to see one another – body language and facial expressions are very effective in providing insight on how someone is coping. We talk about different things like home schooling kids, difficulties team members are experiencing and what we can do as a team to help out,” she explained.

To bring the fun into the chat and share a few laughs, the team is also regularly changing their background to “where would you rather be theme” – is it at the beach, a galaxy far far away or perhaps some Minecraft. A new addition has been the introduction of rapid 90 second trivia the team have adapted to a virtual platform. Many unique talents have been discovered!

The team will continue to be involved with Recovery Planning and ensure our High Reliability Organisation (HRO) work continues.

“What we have found is that there are strong connections between COVID-19 planning and HRO. There is lots of work ahead of us, with a focus on how as an organisation we can ensure there is a level of pandemic preparedness whilst ensuring transformation and innovation continue into what is our ‘new normal,’” Sophie explained.

Featured image: Sophie Argiriou (top left), Tracey Martin (top right), Ariana Carrodus (bottom left), Richard Nasra (bottom right) and Brooke Williams (bottom right)

Early this month, the Broadmeadows Surgical Centre were excited to conduct its first Plastics Surgery twilight session.

The team were enthusiastic and thrilled to be a part of Broadmeadows Surgical Centre expanding its service provision and enabling timely emergency access to surgery for the northern community.

Broadmeadows Surgical Centre has seen many changes of the past five years, increasing from a four-day per week day surgery unit, into a six-day per week Surgical Centre.

Brylie Wilson, Nurse Unit Manager, Broadmeadows Surgical Centre, says, “It has been a challenging and rewarding experience to be involved in this transformation. Being able to conduct our first twilight session was a pleasure and a privilege to see eventuate.”

The Surgical Centre will be conducting twilight theatre sessions on a Monday and Wednesday evening, in addition to Saturday all day session.

“We look forward to continuing this collaborative work with the Plastics Surgical Unit and the General Operating Theatres at Northern Hospital Epping,” adds Brylie.

Linda Romano, Divisional Director Nursing, Surgical Services, had this to say, “It’s been a great team effort between Brylie and her team, and Rodrigo Teixeira and his Plastics Surgery team! Well done!”

Northern Health recently welcomed its first toxicologist, Dr Joe Rotella, who worked at Northern Health as a medical student back in 2007 and went on to become an intern and a resident here.

Having previously held roles as Director of Clinical Informatics and Assistant Director of Education at other health services, Dr Rotella brings a wealth of knowledge to Northern Health – being one of only 10 toxicologists in Victoria. His mix of research, education and medical skills and roles keep him very busy, but he enjoys variety and sees it as “the spice of life”.

Dr Rotella’s predominant role is as an emergency department (ED) physician but his passion is clinical toxicology.

“Toxicologists are medical specialists who look after patients for whom poisoning is an issue. Most typically we see patients who have overdosed,” he said.

“Other patients we might see are paediatrics – kids are very good at exploring surroundings and getting into places their parents think they might not be able to get into, so we do also look after a lot of accidental overdoses,” he added.

As part of his role as a toxicologist, Dr Rotella also covers toxinology – management of snake bites, spider bites and marine envenomation.

“We also see and treat patients who have been poisoned with heavy metals. They are rare but there are cases we have managed in previous years of lead and arsenic particularly. So we cover a pretty broad spectrum.”

Dr Rotella says studies have shown when someone from the toxicology team assists in the management of patients in the ED, length of stay is reduced and quality of care is improved.

“Part of my coming across to Northern is to explore opportunities in that space. Northern Health sees a very diverse group of patients culturally, as well as from a medical point of view.”

“In toxicology we see a lot of patients for whom mental health is a pretty significant aspect. As we work towards more advances in terms of how we give patients more targeted, specific care from a mental health point of view, there’s a big role for toxicology at Northern.”

Dr Rotella has always had a strong connection to the northern community – “I’m a northern suburbs boy. I grew up in Northcote and Panch was our community hospital. I even got married next door to the hospital at The Manor.”

From his earlier years at Northern Health, Dr Rotella remembers the staff members who trained him and shaped him as a doctor.

“A lot of the ED physicians taught me procedures as a medical student and intern. Phyllis, one of the ED physicians, taught me how to do an arterial blood gas. Another ED physician, Cynthia, talked me through my first lumbar puncture. Stefan, one of the other ED physicians helped me do my first shoulder relocation – so a lot of those procedures you learn as a doctor, I’ve learnt here.”

“One of the ANUMs in ED even lives next door to my parents, so I’ve known her since I was 10 years old!”

Dr Rotella says his favourite part about working at Northern Health so far is the culture and can-do attitude.

“We’ve got lots of patients to look after, and thinking about the best way to give them care is at the forefront. That sense of innovation and ownership in a whole-of-hospital approach has been really good and really affirms why I’ve come to Northern Health.”

Dr Rotella is passionate about toxicology education and training, and in the future hopes to build a toxicology service here at Northern Health.

“I’m really keen to train some nurses in toxicology, as well as doctors, and build a service when the time is right. I’m always happy to be contacted about opportunities to develop things together and I’m really keen to synergise with what’s already out there and learn how I can help.”

To celebrate the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, we asked a selection of staff who exemplify the key qualities of a nurse/midwife to write a ‘postcard to their younger self’ and offer insight and advice.

Judy Sonneveld, Nurse Unit Manager of Ward 6 at Northern Hospital had this to say to her younger self:

Hey Jude…

What a journey you are about to experience. You will be faced with many challenges, but always remember be true to yourself and steadfast.  

You will find the only constant in your career will be change – this is not a bad thing. You will need to move forward and take with you what was good and learn to adapt. Not a bad philosophy personally and professionally. 

People will underestimate your true potential and you will believe them. DON’T! You need to seize every opportunity with both hands and hang on for the ride.

Inspire others on your journey and don’t worry if things don’t go as planned – they often never do.

Just remember to keep your eyes on the prize and support those around you as they will be your greatest accomplishments.

With the global COVID-19 pandemic, getting the flu shot this year is even more important.

To ensure our community stays protected, Northern Health is holding a “Staff Family Vaccination Weekend” from tomorrow, Friday April 24 to Sunday, April 26. All staff are encouraged to let their family know they can come to the Northern Centre for Health Education & Research (NCHER) on these three days, 9 am – 5 pm to get their free flu shots.

Linda Romano, Divisional Director Nursing, Surgical Services, brought her family to have their flu shots and encourages everyone to do so.

“It’s very important to have the annual flu vaccination and protect not only ourselves, but our community and each other as well,” she said.

Ros Payne, Director of Nursing and Midwifery, said due to a very high demand for community flu vaccination, they have decided to open this weekend for the family of our staff.

“The model will be the same as for the community. People can drive in, park and walk into NCHER. There they will fill out a form, get their vaccination and then wait outside for 15 minutes. We are not taking bookings for staff family, but will still also have community members with bookings coming in over the weekend. I would encourage everyone to be patient with potential wait times as aim to fit our families around people with prior appointments,” she said.

For their family members, staff are encouraged to print, fill out and bring the Influenza Vaccination Program form, available on PROMPT.

The form has also been emailed to staff with the Staff Family Vaccination Weekend announcement.

More information on our community vaccination can be found here.

Featured image: Linda Romano with her family and nurse Pauline Chingwe

Today, Wednesday 22 April, marks 50 years of Earth Day.

The theme for Earth Day 2020 is climate action. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity, and happens when the Earth heats up because of too much carbon dioxide and other ‘greenhouse gases’ in the atmosphere.

Today, on Earth Day, we showcase the PVC Recovery in Hospitals Project, an environmental/recycling initiative that Northern Health, and in particular pharmacy, has been involved in since 2017.

Plastic contributes significantly to hospital general waste. It has been estimated that all plastics account for about one third of a hospital’s general waste, most of which is sent to landfill in Australia. Of all plastic waste generated by a hospital, PVC medical products such as intravenous (IV) fluid bags, tubing, oxygen masks and blood bags are estimated to represent about 25 per cent. PVC, also known as vinyl, can be recycled relatively easily once it is recovered from the waste stream and has been separated from other plastics or materials.

At Northern Health, the high volume areas identified were theatre, intensive care unit and dialysis.

“All the fluids we use in the hospital, like those IV bags, get put in a special bin for recycling,” explains Vinod Chellaram, Director, Pharmacy.

“The PVC bags are then recycled and turned into garden hoses and soft floors for playgrounds, “he adds.

“The Vinyl Council, the peak body representing Australian PVC, tell us we have the best recycling rates for the state,” says Sandra Molinaro, Manager, Support Services, at Northern Health.

Northern Health also recycles other waste such as organics, fluorescent tubes, batteries, Kimguard from theatre, metal and electronic waste, beds and mattresses.

“This has resulted in Northern Health successfully diverting 23450 kg of waste away from landfill,” adds Sandra.

In addition to Northern Hospital Epping, two of our other sites Craigieburn Centre and Broadmeadows Hospital are already recycling PVC.

This Earth Day, Northern Health is asking staff to pledge their support and commitment that we will minimise our waste. Small changes such as remembering to turn off lights and computers when not in use can have a big impact.

The world needs you – and your actions – for Earth Day 2020.

Northern Pathology has successfully implemented onsite testing for COVID-19, with a turnaround of one to three hours.

Previously, all tests for COVID-19 were referred to the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory (VIDRL), with some delay in results due to the high demands on their services.

Dr Frank Hong, Director of NPV, explained, “one of the major benefits of bringing the testing onsite is the marked improvement in turn-around time.“

“Our local testing capacity will build up over time, with the addition of more equipment and testing kits. Currently our tests are being performed on patients that require urgent results, like those in ICU, ” he added.

“Our goal is to be able to test everyone coming to the Northern Hospital in the future, and we are hoping that would happen late May to early June”.

Jennifer Stuchbery, Senior Scientist – Microbiology, said that the in-house test works by detecting genetic material from the virus that is present in specimens collected from patient’s nose and throat. She was extremely happy with the performance of the in-house test, stating that results obtained so far have shown that it is comparable to those results obtained at VIDRL.

“We are in the process of training more staff to perform the test, so that once more testing kits arrive, we can offer these tests to a larger number of our patients and health care workers,” she said.

Dr Prahlad Ho, Program Director Diagnostic Services, said that it was a huge effort from the team to set up the molecular laboratory within weeks from scratch.

“In most laboratories this would take months. I am proud to say that we have been able to achieve it in two to three weeks. We are looking at introducing not just one technology for COVID-19 testing, but three technologies, which allows for high volume testing. This would significantly contribute to our ability as a health service to diagnose and appropriately manage unwell patients presenting with respiratory symptoms, as we head into the influenza season,” he said.

Featured image (left to right): Yvonne Hersusianto, Head of Microbiology and Jennifer Stuchbery, Senior Microbiologist from Northern Pathology Victoria