December 8, 2023
Meet Navneet Gill, Translations Coordinator, Transcultural and Language Services (TALS), Northern Health.
Q: What is your coffee order?
A: Mostly a tea addict, in my veins you’ll find more tea than blood. However, when I go for a coffee, it’s cappuccino and extra hot for me please! I also love Turkish coffee, one which is exclusively made and served by my colleagues at TALS.
Q: Tell us about your journey at Northern Health?
A: I started working at Northern Health in 2017 as an interpreter and translator and have not looked back since. We have a wonderful team here at TALS that I am so proud of. Our days as interpreters can quickly go from sad to happy, and vice versa. As in, soon after you might have delivered sad news of someone not making it through the night, you might be interpreting in the maternity ward, welcoming a newborn into this world. It all happens in one day. Apart from many other insights, this role has made me appreciate life, family and friendships even more.
Q: What does your new role at TALS entail?
A: My new role as a Translations Coordinator involves liaising with various stakeholders, assessing the documents, mostly information brochures, that are requested for translations, assisting Stefania Zen, our Education and Engagement Manager in delivering trainings, along with facilitating the interpreting student’s practicum. The Northern Health catchment area is highly diverse, one appointment in every five is with an interpreter. If we want to provide patient centric care, along with keeping the Northern Health values of safe, kind and together intact, then the role that we play cannot be underestimated.
Q: Tell us something not many people know about you?
A: That I am a people’s person. I keep people above everything else. Another thing people might not know about me, is that being a mum to boys, I am exploring new things I never did in my life before, like going to the Formula 1 races. It’s fun to watch 20 race drivers drive around in circles for hours!
Q: Favourite destination to travel?
A: Favourite destination is India. Besides my unfinished exploration of Himalayas, my bucket list is full of some places of historical importance like Varanasi (one of the oldest living cities in the world), Bodh Gaya and others. Although not sure how much my broken ankle would allow me to climb, I’m a mountain girl at heart!
I would also like to go around Australia some day on a caravan too. I would not feel like a complete Aussie till I do this.
