Professor Don Campbell, Northern Health’s Director of Hospital without Walls Program, is pioneering a new trial into COVID-19 treatment.

Northern Health recently welcomed the Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy, The Hon. Jaala Pulford, to announce a $4.2 million grant for University of Melbourne and Monash University to establish a six-month clinical trial.

The trial involves using a simple heparin-based nasal spray to be used in households as both early treatment where a person has coronavirus and post exposure prophylaxis for household family members.

The second most widely used drug in the world and primarily prescribed as a blood-thinner to treat or prevent blood clots, heparin forms the base of the nasal spray treatment which is already being hailed as a success for its easy administration, stability at room temperature and global availability.

The Intra Nasal HEpaRin Trial (INHERIT) will be led by Northern Hospital, using the Covid (Oximetry) Monitoring and Early Treatment (COMET) platform which Northern Health has put in place as part of its Covid Community response, that has enabled researchers to access and treat patients within 24 hours of their diagnosis, speeding up treatment and providing remote patient monitoring through portable oximeter devices that measure oxygen levels in blood.

Professor Don Campbell initiated the research into using heparin for treatment of COVID-19.

He says, “What started as an idea that heparin might play a role in infection in the nose, and therefore treatment/prophylaxis for COVID- 19, has evolved into a testable hypothesis. Getting funded for this trial is the culmination of 20 months of intense collaborative effort from dedicated scientists including virologists from the Doherty Research Institute and researchers from Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, CSIRO and Victorian hospital-based clinicians as well as researchers from Oxford University. The support of our doctors and our CEO at Northern Health has been incredibly important.”

Professor Campbell has been working extensively with the Director of Lung Health Research at University of Melbourne, Professor Gary Anderson, the Director of Medicines – Manufacturing Innovation Centre at Monash University, Professor Michelle McIntosh, and Professor Paul Monagle, Haematologist and Professor of Paediatrics, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute.

“The team has done everything possible in the laboratory to suggest this treatment will be effective, but the only way to answer the question is with a robust clinical trial,” explained Professor McIntosh.

“Our study shows immense potential – studies show that intranasal heparin can wrap around the virus like a python, preventing it from infecting you or spreading the virus to others,” said Professor Anderson.

“Coronavirus is not going away any time soon and our amazing researchers are doing work that stands to make a real difference. These projects will benefit not just Victorians but people around the world,” said Jaala Pulford, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy.

 

 

Featured Image (left to right): Siva Sivarajah, Northern Health Chief Executive; Professor Don Campbell, Director Hospital without Walls; Bronwyn Halfpenny MP; The Hon. Jaala Pulford, Minister for Innovation, Medical Research and the Digital Economy; Professor Gary Anderson, Director of Lung Health Research Centre at University of Melbourne; Professor Michelle McIntosh, Director of Medicines – Manufacturing Innovation Centre at Monash University. 

2021 was another challenging year for Northern Health and our community due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the uncertainty and challenges, I am proud of the dedication and professionalism of our staff in continuing to provide care for our patients. Whilst working under immense pressure, Northern Health staff exemplified our values of safe, kind and together in continuing to provide high quality health care for our community.

As the pandemic continued into 2021, our COVID-19 testing clinics at Northern Hospital Epping and Craigieburn Centre picked up throughout the year, supported by expanding testing capacity at Northern Pathology Victoria.

We commenced our COVID-19 staff and community vaccination programs and, at the peak, established a large-scale vaccination centre for the community at Plenty Ranges Arts & Convention Centre in South Morang.

Many staff temporarily changed their roles to assist with the response, for which we are extremely grateful.

Our innovative COVID-19 Community Monitoring Program coordinated care for people with COVID-19 not requiring admission to hospital, and our Virtual ED was an Australian-first for a public health service. Northern Health has marked many milestones across the year.

The Northern Hospital Stage 2 Expansion Project was completed, with four wards opening – including a dedicated pandemic ward. Shortly after, three new operating theatres, including one hybrid theatre, become operational at Northern Hospital Epping.

Building has commenced on new mental health inpatient facilities, with 30 new beds for Northern Hospital Epping and the new multi-deck carpark at Epping will open within weeks.

Planning is progressing rapidly on the new community hospitals in Craigieburn and within the City of Whittlesea. Building works on the Craigieburn Community Hospital will commence early in the New Year.

We also received formal notification from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards that we had met all actions within the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards. I express my appreciation and thanks to all staff on this wonderful achievement. Well done.

In November, Ian Brand Residential Care, celebrated 30 years of service to the community. Congratulations to all who have been involved.

We recently commemorated Thank You Week with messages from our patients, volunteers and donors, as well as other prominent personalities from the Victorian community, showing their appreciation to all staff who have continued their great work to our patients and community during the pandemic.

I encourage staff to take some well-earned time off, so we can enter 2022 renewed and refreshed.

On behalf of the Board and Executive, I hope you and your family and friends have a safe and enjoyable festive season.

 

Siva Sivarajah

Chief Executive

This quarter’s Shine Awards have been awarded to staff members or teams from Support Services who role model Northern Health’s values of safe, kind and together.

The awards are presented under three different categories to people who have demonstrated one of Northern Health’s values.

The Safety Award, was presented to Almasa Julardzija and Tonia Scuteri, for demonstrating consistent safe work practices, providing suggestions for improving safety and being a role model for other staff. Almasa and Tonia were nominated by Snezana Velevski, Support Services Coordinator.

“Both Almasa and Tonia have stepped into the floater role while it has been vacated by another staff member who is on leave. They have worked as a team ensuring they work safely and complete manual handling tasks and patient transfers correctly, while providing excellent customer service,” said Snezana.

Wendy Nicol, Operations Manager, PSA and Cleaning Services Contracts, nominated Matko Musulin for the Kindness Award, for consistently and proactively supporting their peers, the broader department and Northern Health to achieve their work and goals.

“Matko kindly cancelled his Annual Leave and returned to work for us in the Cath Lab when another staff member unexpectedly took time off. He is a true team player who had no hesitation in stepping back in to help us when we were short staffed. We appreciate his efforts very much,” said Wendy.

Jenny Rexhepi also received the Kindness Award and was nominated by Karen Ayres, PSA In Charge.

“Jenny stood by a patient’s bedside for 15 minutes to hold his phone to his ear while he spoke to a family members. The phone has slipped from his shoulder so she wanted to assist. She went the extra mile to make the patient happy,” said Karen.

The Together Award was presented to Shimelis Dufera, who was nominated by Miguel Barros, Support Services Manager.

“A quiet achiever, Shimelis always works well as part of a team and always does a great job to achieve team goals. He is a great performer and works hard,” said Miguel.

Congratulations to all the award winners!

Featured image: Shine Award winners and nominators 

The Allied Health COVID-19 Navigators Program has started this week, aiming to assist with discharges of COVID-positive patients across Northern Hospital Epping.

Rachel Ellis, Clinical Lead Physiotherapy and Project Co-Lead for the COVID-navigator service, explained the navigators will be working both in the Emergency Department and in the COVID-19 wards, working closely with the disciplinary team to facilitate safe discharge.

“We believe this initiative will improve patient experience, ensuring a safe discharge,” she explained.

Simone Carris, Clinical Lead, Occupational Therapy and Acute and Project Co-Lead for the COVID-navigator service, added that four navigators will be joining the program at this stage – Antigone Koutoulas, Senior Clinician and Elise Hill, Maria Bowman and Devon Iluksooriya as Grade 2 Clinicians, and will be looking the expand the team as the service grows into the new year.

“To our knowledge, all the COVID-navigator positions that have been introduced in health services in Victoria are resourced by Allied Health professionals. It has demonstrated they are well placed to take on these positions, as they have a good knowledge of the discharge planning process. Our medical and nursing forces were really stretched throughout this period and Allied Health are in a position to be able to expand the scope of what we are able to help with,” she explained.

Antigone Koutoulas is one of the navigators, who joined the role to be able to provide great discharge plans for patients in wards and support them in the community.

“I am an occupational therapist, so from the OT perspective, we look at things quite holistically, so being able to support the patients when they go home is our bread and butter. The role of OT and Allied Health fits with this position,” she explained.

Maria Bowman, Social Worker, added: “I am really excited about this program because I think that it’s a challenging time for people living with COVID. There is a lot of information that takes a lot of times to digest, there is also a lot of support available, and we can keep our community informed and healthy together, in the best possible supportive way.”

Yesterday, Northern Health’s Length of Service Awards ceremony for 2021 was held virtually.

More than 400 staff were celebrated for achieving between 10 and 45 years of dedicated service.

Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive, opened the ceremony, acknowledging all our staff for their great work.

“We thank our hardworking and dedicated staff who are on the frontline each and every day, saving lives and keeping our community safe and healthy, especially during the past two pandemic years,” he said.

“We have over 5,700 staff at Northern Health working across Broadmeadows Hospital, Bundoora Centre, Craigieburn Centre and Northern Hospital Epping – with many providing dedicated service since the days of PANCH. It is great to see how our health service has continued to grow – expanding the range of services we provide to the communities of the northern suburbs.”

“We celebrate the staff who have worked at Northern Health for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and even 45 years – an incredible achievement.”

Eight recipients have been with Northern Health the longest, celebrating 40 and 45 years. We also acknowledged staff who marked 40 years of service in 2020, who were unable to receive their award last year due to the pandemic.

Licia Perillo and Anne Fraser have been with the health service for an incredible 45 years each, with 90 years of service between them!

“Nursing has progressed so rapidly, there’s been so many changes. You always need to be refreshing your knowledge,” says Licia.

Says Anne, “Most of those 45 years I have spent on two units and I have worked with the best team orientated group of not just nurses but doctors and allied health staff that you could ever imagine.”

Receiving an award for 40 years of service was Anne Roast, Sharon Robinson, Ann Maffei, Glenda Levens, Stefan Herodotou and Helen Opasinis.

“On behalf of the Board and Executive, congratulations to all our staff who received awards today. Thank you also to, not only recipients, but all our staff here at Northern Health. I am proud to be part of an organisation with such a rich history and whose staff are so dedicated, passionate and hard working,” said Siva.

To watch the full ceremony, please click here.

Featured image: 45 year recipients Anne Fraser and Licia Perillo

Tya Fry, one of our Occupational Therapists at Northern Health, was announced as the Indigenous Allied Health Professional of the Year at the Annual National Indigenous Allied Health Awards held virtually on Friday, 3 December.

This event was hosted by Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) where members came together online to celebrate the work of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Allied Health workforce during what has been another challenging year.

Says Tya, “I am truly honoured to be a recipient of this award. I have been a member of IAHA for a few years now, watching and learning from all those involved. There are some truly amazing people in Allied Health completing fantastic work and I am so grateful to now stand beside so many of them. I hope this encourages many young Aboriginal people to consider careers in Allied Health.”

The Allied Health Professional of the Year is awarded to an IAHA full member graduate who has worked in a relevant field for at least five years.

The Awards recognise current and future leaders who have each had significant impact on the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, families, and communities.

The award recognises the recipient’s commitment, dedication and contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and/or communities within their profession.

IAHA leads sector workforce development and support, to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

IAHA supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Allied Health students and graduates, value adding to existing professional development, educational and cultural support structures.

Karen Bryant, Senior Aboriginal Liaison Officer, congratulating Tya on her win, says, “Tya strives to influence change and improve culturally responsive action in service delivery for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”

“Tya is a quiet achiever and Narrun Wilip-giin is proud of her efforts across the Allied Health sector!” says Karen.

Jim Sayer, Director Allied Health, says, “I am truly delighted to see Tya recognised for the outstanding leader that she is. We are very fortunate to have Tya within our Allied Health team at Northern Health.”

Northern Health staff have faced a number of external and internal challenges and restrictions, differing work challenges, state-wide lockdowns and differing emotions, and it can be hard to gauge how we are feeling right now, especially as we are transitioning back into some sort of normality.

Michelle Fenwick, Executive Director People and Culture, explained the organisation acknowledges the need for ongoing support for our staff, as well as to continue to ensure our workplace is safe, rewarding, and one where our staff want to work.

“This is why we are excited to announce the development phase of our own Peer Support Program. This new program puts staff at the centre of support, enabling training to staff to provide brief wellbeing interventions to each other, complementing Northern Health wellbeing initiatives. It will contribute to a culture of care and build a positive work environment for our workforce and in alignment with our safe, kind, together values build Enabled Staff and Empowered Teams,” she explained.

The Peer Supporters act as role models that display the caring and positive behaviour that we want to strengthen across the organisation; normalising how to handle difficult situations and the challenges that are presented as a result of being a front-line worker.

“These programs have been an effective and efficient practice that have assisted healthcare workers (clinical and non-clinical) in handling challenging situations at home and at work, and increasing independence and awareness on the best strategies to implement in the face of adversity. Through feeling supported, our staff are also better able to provide care to our patients and community, and gain fulfillment from working at Northern,” said Stephen Whittaker, Wellbeing Team Lead.

Our Wellbeing Project Psychologist, Casey O’Brien, also speaks to the value of Peer Support Programs. “Whilst external support is crucial, some of us also feel the need to connect and be supported by people with whom we share a common bond – such as a similar working environment or profession.”

The new in-house Peer Support Program will be available for all staff to access by late February into March 2022. Between now and then, we remind staff that there are a wide range of supportive services that are always available to you such as:

• Employee Assistance Program
• THRIVE Wellbeing offerings
• The AMA Peer Support Program on 1300 853 338 between 8 am and 10 pm
• The Hand n Hand Peer Support Program

Emiliano Zucchi has been championing two streams of diversity at Northern Health for the last 15 years; the first as Head of the Transcultural and Language Services (TALS), for cultural and linguistic diversity and the second as the Head of Narrun Wilip-giin, for Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander diversity. It is a role that safeguards not only equitable access to health services for our culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and Aboriginal communities, but also staff diversity.

Says Emiliano, “Everything we do at Northern Health should be done by applying a diversity lens; this role covers cultural and First Peoples diversity, but at the same time it intersects with the Disability and LGBTIQA+ spaces.”

Emiliano has achieved a lot in his time here, but the two milestones he cherishes are the exponential growth of TALS from four to over 40 in-house staff, and from four in-house languages to 16; and the development and implementation of Northern Health’s first ever Reconciliation Action Plan.

Reflecting on his time here, Emiliano says, “I think it is fair to say that Northern Health – like many other health services – was a little behind in terms of diversity when I started in 2007. Coming from the university world, it was a bit of a shock for me.”

“It took a few years to ingrain cultural awareness and cultural competence concepts into the day to day operations of the health service; it then took some more time to extend the notion of diversity from cultural and linguistic diversity to disability and gender, and the intersectionality of these.”

“Today, Northern Health is a different place, mainly thanks to the work of the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Committee,” he says. 

Emiliano can take pride in building teams which became the ‘agents of change’ at Northern Health.

Says Emiliano, “At TALS, Stefania Zen and Yue Hu are assets no other health service has; their tireless work has meant we have made a huge difference in the health outcomes of patients with limited English proficiency. When I started, if you were a patient with limited English proficiency, you would stay in hospital three days longer than an Australian-born patient. Today, we have cut that gap to half a day.”

“At Narrun Wilip-giin ASU, with Aunty Karen Bryant – an absolute legend- we have built a team, and put in place changes which have altered, for the better, the perception the Aboriginal community had of Northern Health. As a result, we became a much culturally safer place, and there is some evidence the work done is having a positive impact on health outcomes.”

In the Aboriginal Health space, Emiliano is most proud of the development and implementation of the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

“People may not realise how difficult it is to get a RAP across the line. Within our first RAP, we have met most of our objectives: the team has grown, Aboriginal training has been made mandatory, cadetships have been introduced, an Aboriginal employment strategy was developed, new artwork and acknowledgement plaques were installed outside all wards and departments, we renamed the ASU ‘Narrun Wilip-giin’, opened Jornung Bik, the smoking ceremony garden, developed an Aboriginal patient portal and health scorecard, the MOU with the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service. I think Northern Health can be very proud of its work in this space, and I can tell you the community has noticed,” says Emiliano.

He adds, “I think that, as a health service, we are closer to accepting that diversity is not the exception, but the norm. We are all diverse in some way, and we should be very proud of it.”

“I am very grateful for the professional opportunities I have been given at Northern Health and I am particularly indebted to a few people along the way. I have already thanked them personally.”

Emiliano moves onto a new role as the CEO of Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria (ECCV). He says, “The role at Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria will give me the opportunity to work toward social cohesion, and greater access to services, not just in health, but across the board. I will also advocate for greater diversity in positions of power, because leaders should be representative of society demographics.”

“Northern Health and ECCV have an MOU. I hope we will be able to continue working together in communicating effectively with CALD communities as was the case with the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. We could do the same with the Virtual ED, Wellness initiatives, and much more.”

Briana Baass, executive sponsor for TALS and Narrun Wilip-giin, said of Emiliano, “I am so thankful for my time working with Emiliano. He is extremely knowledgeable and, more importantly, he is generous with sharing his knowledge. I will be sad to see Emiliano go, but it is a credit to his hard work over many years that he has an exciting new chapter ahead of him.”

Please join us in wishing Emiliano the very best in his new role.