Northern Hospital, Epping is a long way from Kandy, Sri Lanka where Dr Fathima Farook was born and educated. Currently a Hospital Medical Officer (HMO) at Northern Health, she says “Working here, to me, feels like I never left home!”

Fathima attributes this as much to the friendly and caring staff as she does to the confidence she gained from the International Medical Graduate (IMG) Observer Program she was fortunate enough to enlist in.

Says Fathima, “I was able to take full advantage of the Observer Program to enrich my knowledge and immerse myself in the Australian health system.“

Formally known as the International Medical Graduate Clinical Observer Program, this highly competitive program on average attracts five applicants for every position secured. It offers international medical graduates an opportunity to spend six weeks at Northern Hospital to acclimatise to the Australian health system.

“As an international medical graduate, it helps to know how the Australian health system works, and what is required in order to hit the ground running. This is where Northern Health makes a big difference.”

Typical placements involve three weeks on a general medicine unit and three weeks in the emergency department.

Says Fathima, “Northern Health actively engages the IMGs, recognises their skills and offers them a path for jobs.”

Dr Alison Giles, IMG Supervisor, says, “The International Medical Graduate Clinical Observer Program offers international doctors a chance to acclimatise to Australian health system. Some go on to get job offers which helps diversify our workforce to reflect our community.”

Dr Rachael Coutts, Associate Director Medical Education Unit, agrees. “IMG’s are an essential part of our workforce – both junior and senior medical staff.  Their diversity matches our multicultural community.”

“Transitions into new environments can be challenging, and our IMG program offers multifaceted supports including the observership program, an education program, support groups, mentorship and supervision. The program of support we provide helps us attract wonderful IMGs like Fatima, who is not only an excellent clinician but is kind and compassionate – embodying Northern values, ” she adds.

Saya Fathima, “I’m indebted to the Observership Programme for providing me that opportunity to be a cut above the rest. I am grateful that this programme was the doorway to continue my medical career in Australia.”

 

Featured image shows from left to right:

Dr Rachael Coutts, Associate Director Medical Education Unit, Emergency Physician, Rebecca Hartmann, Education Advisor, Medical Education Unit, Dr Fathima Farook, HMO and Dr Alison Giles, IMG Supervisor, Head of Palliative Care.

 

This week, 45 new junior doctors commenced as medical interns at Northern Health.

Dr Wanda Stelmach, Chief Medical Officer, warmly welcomed the interns, saying,”We are delighted to welcome 2021 interns, who commenced orientation this week, and officially start work next week. Some of this group assisted Northern Health during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, in areas such as pathology, and helped to conduct audits and work in our call centres, a contribution we value greatly.”

Susie Sangas, Medical Education Manager said the interns are very enthusiastic and the team is excited to welcome them, especially face to face.

“We worked hard to make this happen, and have organised the first day in two lecture theatres, to allow for physical distancing,” she added.

During the five day intern orientation, the interns will get to know the hospital system, practice their skills in the simulation lab where they will focus on basic life support, learning how to put Indwelling Catheters (IDCs), cannulations, writing on drug charts and they will spend the last two days of shadowing, where they have an opportunity to accompany an outgoing intern and learn more about the Northern Health’s wards.

“The program is design to orientate the interns in quite a practical way, so they get all the skills to function on the ward as efficiently as possible. The interns will be at Northern Health for the full year, rotating through different specialties like General Medicine, General Surgery and Emergency, with a couple of optional specialties”, said Dr Carol Chong, Intern Training Supervisor.

“The 2020 interns are also in their last week of internship, and we congratulate them on completing their year of training and attaining full MBBS status in spite of COVID! Thank you for working with Northern Health to manage the challenges COVID-19 presented during 2020,” Dr Stelmach said.

We welcome all of our new interns and wish you the very best in your career at Northern Health!

Following the recent outbreak in NSW and increase in community transmission in Victoria, Northern Health was required to rapidly scale-up our testing capacity over the weekend to help reduce the risks of COVID-19 within our community.

“I would like to thank the huge number of staff involved in COVID-19 testing over the New Year’s long weekend. Our Chief Executive, Siva Sivarajah, also extended his appreciation to all staff involved,” said Debra Bourne, Acting Chief Executive.

Chief Executive, Siva Sivarajah, visited our three testing sites on Sunday, to personally thank the staff involved.

“A big thank you to our nursing, pathology, administration, PSA and security staff for this tremendous effort. Many staff worked long shifts and others were called in at the last minute to assist. This is a great example of the dedication of our staff in keeping our community safe,” Ms Bourne said.

“We had record numbers of our community being tested across our Northern Hospital Epping, Craigieburn Centre and Glenroy testing sites, with over 1,100 tests undertaken on Saturday alone – more than any day during the busiest time in 2020!”

This week our Fever Clinic has exceeded 100,000 tests and our own Northern Pathology Victoria has been analysing over 1,000 tests each day.

“Northern Pathology Victoria has a done a fantastic job over the weekend, processing over 1500 samples per day. Our service has also made met a milestone of performing in-house testing for over 1000 samples with a median turn around time of 8-10 hours,” said Associate Professor Prahlad Ho, Program Director of Diagnostic Services.

“I would like to thank the pathology team for their hard work and dedication during this period, which has allowed us to seamlessly deal with this testing surge,” said Associate Professor Ho.

Staff are encouraged to keep up-to-date with the hot spots by viewing the DHHS website.

If you need to be tested for COVID-19, please attend the drive through testing clinic at NCHER and identify yourself as a Northern Health employee.

Gillian Walters, Specialist Clinics at Northern Hospital, received an award for 40 years of service at Northern Health, recently.

Gillian has worked at Northern Health for 40 years. She commenced working in the Victorian Plastic Surgery Unit at PANCH on 3 March 1980, after completing her enrolled nurse training in 1979. In 1987, she commenced working in a split role as Enrolled Nurse and Clerical in Wound Clinic at PANCH, and, to this day, Gillian still works in Wound Clinic, as well as providing clerical support to Specialist Clinics, at Northern Hospital.

Gillian’s career started in August 1978 when she commenced the Nursing Aid course at Fairfield Infectious Disease Hospital, which she completed in August of 1979.

“When I completed my course, I worked for about a month at Colac District Hospital, then at Macleod Repatriation Hospital until March 1980. After that, I commenced at PANCH as an enrolled nurse on 3 March, 1980,” she said.

“I started at PANCH in the Victorian Plastic Surgery Unit, where I spent 25 years in Ward 4 West as one of four Nursing Aides that worked there and was the only one left. When I was moved out of VPSU,  I worked in POOL Outpatients for 12 months and then went to 2 North.”

Gillian was then offered a job as Ward Clerk/EN in the late 1990’s, a position which she still holds today.

“I always wanted to be a nurse from when I was a very small child, and as I had only done Year 10 (in my day it was called Form 5), I was only able to be a Registered Nursing Aide as it was called then.”

Gillian commented on how much has changed since she started working at Northern Health.

“From the growth of the Northern Hospital from a small hospital in bed numbers to what we have now, and having gone from paper to paper-less and now using iPM and Qflow.”

Gillian also commented on how her role has changed and developed over the years, and the challenges of 2020.

“My role has changed from working in the clinic as a nurse and clerk, to be on the desk and learning the processes relating to the clerical side of the job and registering  patients, making appointments and working with clinical leads in the outpatient specialities,” she said.

“The biggest challenge has been working throughout 2020 due to COVID-19. Being flexible to be able to work as either a nurse or a clerk has been a challenge, as my role can change from one to another role at short notice.”

Gillian finds working in a dual role to be rewarding, and is something she really enjoys, “I have colleagues that are willing to assist and encourage me in my working journey.”

She also has a message to her younger colleagues, who may just be starting out in the health care workforce, “Take every opportunity that is offered to you.  Be kind and take every opportunity to learn and study for the advancement of your career.”

Picture above: Basil Ireland, Chief Finance Officer, presenting Gillian Walters with her 40 years of service certificate.

 

The Northern Health Annual Christmas Decorating Competition was on again in 2020. After a challenging year, staff were encouraged to deck Northern Health’s halls with COVIDSafe cheer!

By decorating work areas, staff have brought much joy and delight to our patients, visitors and their families.

Once again, our Christmas decorating competition has attracted numerous creative entries across our Northern Health’s campuses.

Ward 4, Northern Hospital

Administration Office, Broadmeadows Hospital

Four year old Luca, pictured above, had been waiting all year to ask Santa this question. Much to his disappointment, he had to be admitted to our Children’s Ward before Christmas.

Santa (after some persuasion), decided to drop in to see Luca and all those in our Children’s Ward and make sure they got to enjoy Christmas, just like other children.

For the fourth year running now, ISS Facility Services have made a difference to children unable to spend Christmas with their families, with their annual Christmas Appeal. Over the four years, over 600 children and their grateful parents have been reminded that they are both cared for and not forgotten in this season of giving.

Snez Poposka, Facilities Service Manager ISS Facility Services, who initiated and coordinated the appeal, says she is grateful to all the staff who contributed presents and to Northern Health Foundation and Pacific Epping for convincing Santa to drop by, despite his busy schedule.

Says Snez, “This year we received 101 presents from across Northern Health. My heartfelt thanks to staff and colleagues for their generosity!”

Josie Verga, Fundraising and Engagement Manager, Northern Health Foundation, said she too would like to thank Pacific Epping and the marketing team for their continued support. In addition, she wanted to thank Santa for making the trek all the way from the North Pole to the Children’s Ward.

Courtney Lowry, Nurse Unit Manager Children’s Ward, had this to say, “It really was so wonderful seeing the smiles and excitement from all the kids when Santa visited. Being able to give the kids a present is a great feeling and we thank everyone from ISS Facility Services.”

Saj Amerasinghe, Key Account Manager for ISS Facility Services at Northern Health, thanked Snez and her team and said this was “yet another example of the amazing generosity of our team who give of themselves everyday in this season of giving, bringing the spirit of Christmas to the children of the north.”

At the latest Length of Service Awards, Swee Khor was one of the two staff who received an award for 45 years of service.

Swee came to Australia to study nursing as soon as she finished high school. The motivation for nursing came from her family. When she was younger, her sister was admitted to hospital for acute appendicitis which required urgent surgery.

“Whilst visiting her in the hospital, I observed the excellent care and reassurance provided by the nursing staff during her hospital stay. I believe this inspired me to pursue a career in nursing,” she said.

“I came with my best friend from Malaysia. I studied my general nursing training at Queen Victoria Hospital, which has since been relocated to Monash Medical Centre, and the site is now the QV Women’s Centre as well as the QV shopping mall in the CBD,” she said.

“I then completed my graduate year at the Royal Melbourne Hospital followed by a postgraduate theatre course at Austin Repatriation. I commenced work at PANCH in Preston before it relocated to become Northern Hospital. During my time at PANCH, I also completed my Bachelor of Science at RMIT,” she added.

Swee vividly remembers how Northern Health grew and developed from PANCH.

“After relocation, they initially built a smaller hospital than the size of PANCH to service the local community. We started with only four operating theatres. However, over the years, the workload has increased a lot more than was anticipated, as we also service regional areas and the population growth in the northern suburbs. As a result, we have seen the Northern Hospital expand continuously, with more advanced technology and equipment, and now awaiting our tenth operating theatre. It has been exciting to see Northern Health grow and adapt to meet the requirements of the community,” she added.

She enjoys the dynamics of the operating theatre and every day at work is different. For Swee, working in the operating theatre can be dynamic and challenging. Theatre nursing requires discipline, organisation, good stamina, concentration, quick response, good communication and good team work. Some days can be very hard work, frustrating and tiring; but knowing that nursing can be very rewarding at the end of the day is what keeps her going.

“We constantly strive to work together as a team to provide the best level of care for our patients. I enjoy the fact that, with nursing, I am continuously learning and improving my skills and knowledge. Nursing is an extremely rewarding career. Every day, I finish my shift knowing that I have made a real difference to my patient or even helped to save a life. Not only that, I have formed a lot of great friendships working with my colleagues over the years,” she added.

In her free time, Swee enjoys baking and cooking. She also enjoys attending dancing classes for exercise and socialising, arts and crafts, playing the keyboard and catching up with family and friends.

The wait is finally over!

The stunning Toyota Corolla Hybrid that has been on display in the Northern Hospital foyer since July has an owner!

And the winner is… Tatijana K! (Ticket No. 2788)

Proudly donated by major sponsor, Maxxia, the brand new Toyota Corolla Hybrid Hatch is valued at over $30,000.

Despite many challenges this year due to the pandemic, the 2020 Northern Health Foundation Major Raffle has proven a huge success – raising an amazing $76,000!

All proceeds from the raffle will go towards the purchase of state of the art intestinal ultrasounds (IUS) technology for our gastroenterology department.

IUS is an important piece of equipment used on patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to help diagnose and monitor conditions such as Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis. IBD can be debilitating and cause severe complications when not monitored and treated appropriately.

IUS will greatly benefit patients in our community because, at present, any patients requiring this service need to be referred to alternative health services.

Introducing IUS to Northern Health will alleviate the need for patients to travel further to receive the care they need, and will help provide better outcomes for our patients.

Proudly supported by major sponsor, Maxxia, the raffle this year had four amazing prizes up for grabs!

The winners of these were:

Second prize: Helicopter Joy Flight – RRP $4,500

Winner: Lay Leng N (Ticket No. 968)

Third prize: UPPAbaby VISTA V2 Pram and Bassinet – RRP $2,099

Winner: Les H (Ticket No. 1199)

Fourth prize: One night in Mantra Epping Penthouse Suite including Breakfast and Dinner for two – RRP $750

Winner: Pam D (Ticket No. 2550)

“It has been wonderful to see all of the support for this year’s major raffle to raise funds for a vital piece of equipment to benefit patients in our community,” said Andrew Williamson, Executive Director Public Affairs and Foundation.

“We extend our sincere thanks to all of the sponsors including major sponsor, Maxxia, and to everyone who has purchased tickets to support the important work of Northern Health.”

Featured Image (left to right): Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive; Andrew Williamson, Executive Director Public Affairs and Foundation; Donna McLaren, Maxxia