Stella bakes her 1000th cupcake for ED staff

November 13, 2019

Stella Gibbons has just baked her 1000th cupcake for our emergency department staff.

Stella began baking cupcakes when her daughter, Genevieve, completed her post graduate emergency nursing qualification at Northern Hospital.

Stella tells us, “Gen came home one day and she’d had a really hard night shift. She slept all day so while she was sleeping, I baked two dozen red velvet cupcakes for her to take back the next night shift. From then on, I just kept making two dozen, and then it went up to four dozen – and now I’m up to nine dozen!”

Even though Gen has moved on and now works only occasionally at Northern Hospital as a casual nurse, Stella has continued to bake cupcakes for our staff as she knows how challenging their work can be and admires them immensely.

Stella says she bakes the cupcakes as a way of saying thank you for all they do.

Associate Nurse Unit Manager, Julia Fotiadis said, “Most days are challenging in the emergency department so when Stella brings in cupcakes it brightens so many of our days.”

Stella said, “If they can come up here, have a coffee or tea and a cupcake, just decompress – that’s what it’s about,” Stella said.

“I get a kick out of it and I know they work hard – why wouldn’t you want to help?” Stella added.

On Grand Final Eve, Stella brought in over seven dozen Ferrero Rocher cupcakes for the afternoon and night shift staff.

 

While Gen was overseas, some of her Northern Hospital nursing friends would even drop in and see Stella and help her with the baking of the cupcakes.

Stella bakes an assortment of different flavours and themed decorations, and goes to great lengths to decorate the cakes. She drops them in on a number of special days including Easter, Christmas in July and Halloween.

Aside from baking for ED staff, Stella also bakes cakes for the volunteer cake stalls at Northern Hospital Epping. Staff, patients and visitors come up to the stall to admire her creations and money raised from the stalls go to Northern Health Foundation.

Emergency Department Nurse Unit Manager, Janice Fernandes, said, “Stella is famous in our department!”

Featured Image (left to right): Julia Fotiadis (Associate Nurse Unit Manager), Janice Fernandes (Nurse Unit Manager), Stella Gibbons, Teneille Holland (Associate Nurse Unit Manager)