Just six months after receiving a double lung transplant, Jillian Wilkes, 70, is keen to show off her cycling skills to Maureen Goodwin, Respiratory Clinical Nurse Consultant at Northern Hospital. This doesn’t concern Maureen, after all the two have been on this journey together for some time now!

Jill’s first visit to the Northern Hospital Emergency Department (ED) was on New Year’s Eve in 2018. Jill says “As you can imagine, ED on New Year’s was very interesting. All the staff that night were fantastic – of course it was a bit noisy!”

Jill was admitted and spent five days at Northern Hospital, where she says, “Everybody was very attentive and looked out and looked after me.”

A few weeks later, however, she says she felt unwell again and came back to Northern Hospital, and was this time admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

“The fellows in ICU kept an eye on me and put me at ease! I was referred to the Respiratory team, where Dr Bassem Dawood and Dr Naomi Atkins took over, and it went from there,” says Jill.

“I still remember the first time I met Jill,” says Maureen. “It was in April 2018 when I was asked to help organise home oxygen for Jill.”

Jill had recently been diagnosed with scleroderma, a condition which can affect the lungs and the severity of her condition was quickly recognised.

Scleroderma literally means hard skin. It is an auto-immune condition, which means the immune system attacks healthy tissue and causes them to produce too much collagen, making their skin hard and tight. Currently, there is no cure for scleroderma, but there are many treatments available to help particular symptoms. Prompt and proper diagnosis and treatment can minimise the symptoms of scleroderma and lessen the damage.

In Jill’s case, it had affected her lungs and was spreading rapidly, and she was promptly referred to the Alfred Hospital lung transplant team.

As Jill says, ‘Thanks to you people sensing that something was very wrong,” her treatment was timely.

On the first anniversary of her transplant, Jill visited Northern Hospital to say thank you to Maureen, the oxygen clinic service and the rest of Respiratory Department.

“Maureen has kept in contact with me. She helped organise oxygen for me, when I needed it,” says Jill.

Jill is keen to make up for lost time, and says her new lungs are fantastic, and despite the scleroderma affecting her fingers and toes, she is back to playing tennis and enjoying cycling.

“Maureen was just lovely to me. Plus the staff on ward 18 and in the Respiratory Clinic, who could see that I was unwell and looked after me. They didn’t just treat me as a number,” says Jill.

Jill is looking forward to sharing her experience with others and is happy to tell anyone who will listen how grateful she is to the staff at Northern Hospital. Jill will soon be joining the Northern Health Respiratory Steering Committee.

Featured image shows Jillian Wilkes ready to set off on a cycle ride with Maureen Goodwin looking on.

This week, we hosted the first of our Chief Executive Staff Forums for 2020. These quarterly forums provide us with an opportunity to share news and highlights about Northern Health’s performance, achievements and plans for the future.

I encourage you to attend an upcoming forum if you have not yet done so, and look forward to answering your questions and hearing your feedback. Please click here for forum dates and times. 

As most of you will be aware, 2020 has been declared as the International Year of Nursing and Midwifery by the World Health Organisation. During the year there will be many opportunities to celebrate the outstanding work of our nurses and midwives.

Next Friday 6 March, we host the 2020 Digital Health Futures@Northern Health. This landmark forum will launch the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Centre of Research Excellence (CRE) in Interactive Digital Technology to Transform Australia’s Chronic Disease Outcomes.

While the situation with Coronavirus (COVID-19) is continually evolving, I can confirm that there have been no cases of COVID-19 identified at Northern Health. Thank you for your work in ensuring we have practices, systems and adequate consumables in place to keep our community safe. We will continue to monitor this situation closely and update as required, and I encourage you to visit the portal on the intranet for the most up-to-date information.

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and congratulate Northern Health Foundation Board Chair, John Molnar, who was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in last month’s Australia Day Honours.

John was previously a Northern Health Board Director and was instrumental in establishing the Foundation. I would also like to congratulate Lilian Leonard OAM, a well-respected nurse at Panch and Northern Hospital from 1984 to 1999, who also received an OAM and Sabine Phillips, Northern Health Board Director from 2007-2016, who received a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

 

Siva Sivarajah

Chief Executive

 

 

The Organisational Capability team at Northern Health is launching a refreshed learning and development program – Learning Labs and Learning Hubs.

“Learning Labs are our face to face learning offering for 2020, and include one day workshops, open to all staff, at different levels,” Emily Dawson, Director Organisational Capability, explained.

They are workshops covering core soft skills, leadership training and Northern Health specific knowledge, and encompass four levels; Tool Lab, Manager Lab, Leader Lab and Leadership Masterclass.

“Our Tool Lab is open to all staff members. Topics include emotional intelligence at work, resilience, communication skills, RISSN, LISN and much more. Next level up is our Manager Lab, which is open to all new and aspiring managers. They will cover topics like employee management and performance management,” Emily added.

“The Leader Lab is the next step and is open for people who are already managers, but would like to learn leadership skills. The last level, Leadership Masterclass, is for identified high potential individuals and attendance is by invite only,” she added.

Learning Hubs are a place to go to on the LMS which will host videos, blogs and educational material for various departments and we will be creating more hubs as the year goes on.

The Hubs are a way of giving different departments, divisions or areas a place to collect relevant information and host discussion forums, blogs, podcasts, videos and links to relevant websites.

“Hubs will be a spot where staff can find all crucial information for their areas,” Bec Gilbert, Manager, Organisational Capability, said.

For more information, and to register, please head to the Organisational Capability intranet page. Please talk to your manager if you are interested in participating, as all programs require manager’s support.

If you have any questions, please reach out via NH-HR-Learning@nh.org.au 

Featured image (left to right): Simon Bertoli, Digital Designer Lead; Sarah Spicer, Senior Coordinator; Bec Gilbert, Manager; Emily Dawson, Director; Hania D’Avoine, LMS Admin; Alysha Spencer, Advisor; Chloe Moorcroft, Student Admin.

The Maternity Hospital in the Home program, launched in December last year, provides midwifery care to mothers in the comfort of their own home.

The program provides a safe alternative to hospital based care for medically stable women who wish to go home between six and 24 hours of their baby being born.

One such beneficiary was Laxmi Thapa, who not more than six hours after delivering her daughter Liana at Northern Hospital, was back at her home in Lalor as part of the Maternity Hospital in the Home program.

Says Laxmi, “I was feeling good after my delivery and I was keen to go home instead of staying at the hospital.”

“I am more comfortable at home, and my midwife was very approachable and did everything for me,” she adds.

Natalie Mckell, Clinical Coordinator Domiciliary and Lactation, says, “Families are providing positive feedback about the program as it allows them to be at home, surrounded by family and friends, while still having midwifery care.”

Laxmi says she would highly recommend the program to others. “I have my family with me at home, in my case my husband and my in-laws, to help me look after Liana,” says Laxmi.

Debra Bourne, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, says, “The Maternity Hospital in the Home program is about providing safe and supported options for women after they have given birth.  Each woman and their family have individual needs and, for some, going home back to an environment that they are comfortable is extremely important. Maternity in the Home provides that option, by providing home visits by experienced and highly skilled midwives.”

Three new members have joined the HRO (High Reliability Organisation) steering committee this month – Nicholas Romeo, Head Respiratory Scientist; Kelly Suber, Consumer and Paula Kuder, Nurse Unit Manager, Renal Services.

Paula joined the committee as she was motivated to play a pro-active role in shaping our health service as a strong foundation for the wellbeing of everyone in the area now and for generations to come.

“I first heard of HRO in one of our Northern Health leadership workshops.  The concept of a high-reliability organisation that draws on safety inspirations from other industries such as the airline industry genuinely inspired me to ‘look outside the box’ and not just accept the usual statistics for healthcare and instead aim for a higher standard of care.  For me personally, it means people will have complete confidence in the organisation’s ability to keep their loved ones safe and have the best care possible,” she said.

Paula works with in-home dialysis with patients who’ve lived with chronic diseases for years, but are still remarkably positive with taking charge of their care. She is passionate about initiatives and projects that centre consumers in their goals and looks at patients’ holistic wellbeing by giving them the tools and empowering them to make the best choices for themselves and their families.

Kelly Suber is part of the Community Participation Program, with over 12 years of executive leadership experience, delivering high level strategic and operational planning focused on innovation and efficiency, financial management, risk mitigation and governance.

HRO caught her attention as she felt she was was at a stage in her life and and career where she wanted to take the skills, knowledge, expertise and experience and apply this to environments where she could make a difference, even if the difference was as simple as changing the conversation or highlighting new conversations that needed unpacking.

“HRO is about the people. All the people from patient, to clinician, to the cleaner, to a supplier, from the CEO to the Board and how each of them play an integral part in the way  organisations mold and deploys services based on needs. It’s also about understanding the safety/zero harm implications or unintended consequences of actions/inaction,” she said.

“In all my work I maintain the mandate that it is not about the change, it is always about the people and their intersection with the change,” she added.

Nicholas Romeo is equally passionate about providing trusted care to the northern community. He has seen firsthand the improvements in quality and safety that occurs from following the HRO methodology through his involvement in the Respiratory Outpatient Services Comprehensive Unit based Safety Program (CUSP).

“I want to find ways to help others make the same improvements. My exposure to HRO methodology started with completing the Reliable Innovation and Safety Science (RISSN) program offered by the HRO team. Soon after, we  launched our Outpatient Services CUSP using the HRO methodology. From these experiences, I have been able to see the tremendous value of the HRO principles and how small changes in systems and processes can have a big impact,” he said.

As the representative for non-clinical staff, Nicholas is hoping the team can initiate projects to communicate better, identify common problems and share existing solutions.

“I also hope the newly established HRO Champions network will provide a strong foundation and give everyone a pathway to the HRO steering committee. This will facilitate all staff to be a voice for change, encourage collaborations and form the foundation to initiate projects,” he added.

Featured image (left to right): Kelly Suber, Nicholas Romeo, Paula Kuder.

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 to their younger self.

We begin with Lumnise ‘Luma’ Gashi, Nurse Unit Manager for Short Stay Unit/Clinical Decision Unit. Here’s what she had to say to her younger self:

I know you’re only 15 but you’re coming to a brand new world. Don’t be frightened – don’t be scared – this will be the beginning of a fantastic new life.

Right now you feel like you can’t communicate because you can’t speak English but know that in years to come your voice is the one everyone will listen to as you are respected and admired in your profession. You will become a powerful role model for other nurses to aspire to.

Don’t always worry about pleasing other people – trust in yourself – you’ve got it covered. You will be faced with challenges and be distracted by life events but don’t lose sight of your dream.

You might be chaos in the inside but always look your best – amaze them with your glamour, your dazzling demeanor and your beautiful personality.

Leave them in awe of you!

On Wednesday, 19 February 2020, Northern Health Foundation hosted their annual Thank You Evening, to celebrate and thank our wonderful donors for their ongoing support.

“We were delighted to celebrate the fundraising efforts of our supporters and donors, and their generous contributions to the Northern Health Foundation,” said Andrew Williamson, Executive Director, Public Affairs and Northern Health Foundation.

“Through the amazing support from the community, our recent Defibrillator Campaign raised over $300,000 to purchase state-of-the art defibrillators for all Northern Health sites, along with implementing many other improvements and upgrades across the health service.”

Northern Health Foundation Board Chair, John Molnar OAM, said, “I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to all of our generous supporters, patrons, corporate partners, dedicated volunteers, Northern Health staff and everyone who has contributed towards our fundraising efforts through donations, grants and support at our events.”

Mr Molnar also paid tribute to the late Alexander Robertson who, together with his family, have been supporting Northern Health since Northern Hospital first opened.

“Having grown up locally in Epping, not far from Northern Hospital, Alex was always actively involved in community activities – and was passionate about giving back,” said Mr Molnar.

“His association with Northern Health began when he was approached to sponsor the first Annual Dinner in 1999. This support has continued for over 20 years and we will miss Alex and extend our sympathies to his family and colleagues.”

The evening also included a presentation from Dr Katharine See, Director of Respiratory Medicine at Northern Health. Dr See spoke about the Foundation’s current fundraising campaign, to support the purchase of an Endobronchial Ultrasound Service (EBUS) for Northern Health, which will reduce patient wait times for lung cancer stage diagnosis and treatment.

Watch the video below to hear from some of our staff about the contribution our donors have made to their departments.

Featured image: Peter McWilliam, Josie Minniti, Andrew Williamson, Bev Carman, John Molnar OAM and Trudi Hay 

The ‘Mentoring for Success’ program launched in September last year, attracting 69 mentoring matches across Northern Health.

One of these matches is Grant Taylor, Site Director of Broadmeadows Hospital and Craigieburn Centre with Karen Barnett, Deputy Director, Finance.

Grant, who is mentoring Karen, said he had previously participated in mentorship programs at other health services and has always found these programs to be of great personal and professional benefit in terms of growth and development.

“It is through participating in these programs, I have been able to achieve my career goals and furthermore have enabled me to work towards my current position as Director of Nursing and Operations,” he said.

Karen, the mentee, said she was particularly attracted to Northern Health’s mentorship program as it offered her the opportunity to be paired with a mentor from outside of Finance, and provide her with valuable insight into operations. Through the program, she now has the opportunity to brainstorm ideas around how to address challenges within her portfolio.

“As the mentee in this relationship, I was looking to gain greater insights into Northern Health from a nursing perspective. I believe having these insights will help myself as a finance professional to provide better business support to our operational stakeholders,” she said.

As a mentor, Grant’s goal is to support the growth of his colleagues, help troubleshoot challenges and come up with new ways of doing things.

“As I’ve previously been a mentee, I wanted to share that same positive experience I had. As a mentor, I also hoped to gain insight into other people’s experience, which thankfully I’ve been fortunate enough to have gained. Even though I am the mentor in this relationship, I have still learnt a lot of things from Karen, given she is from a Finance background. It’s been great to blend our two ‘world views’ and find some common ground in how we get through our days, as well as take on ideas on how to best manage new scenarios,” Grant added.

Both Karen and Grant agree they would strongly recommend mentorship to others, as they found it to be a really rewarding experience and through participating in it, they are able to share ideas and notice not just their own growth and development, but that of a colleague.

“Who knows, you might even find a new friend,” Grant added.

Natalie Sposaro, Manager, Organisational Capability, said the overall staff feedback has been extremely positive.

“Our staff are thankful that Northern Health has allowed employees to connect within and cross discipline. People are enjoying the different types of mentoring relationships – traditional, peer to peer and reverse. We have most of the Executive team participating in the program and they are very supportive,” she said.