Holistic Health & Well-Being April 2022

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Laughter lifting lives

by CRAIG ROSS

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ealth and wellbeing may not generally be considered a laughing matter, but for one Sunshine Coast Toastmasters International club laughter is indeed the best medicine.

Formerly known as The Comedy Club, Humour’Us Toastmasters prides itself on being the home for Toastmasters International members who take their humour seriously.

Club president Lorraine Lehmann says Humour’Us Toastmasters is the brainchild of fellow founding members Clare Horan and Tracey Head, who recognise the importance of humour to our everyday lives and its effectiveness as a means of communication.

“They’re extremely funny ladies and they’ve both won (district) Toastmasters humorous competitions, so they felt that there was a need to have a humorous club,” Lorraine says.

“They looked into it and we had a meeting and it all came from there. We got our 20 members, we charted (the club) and it’s still going, which is wonderful.”

There is no shortage of research espousing the benefits laughter has on our health and mental wellbeing, which suggests the Humour’Us crew are a happy and healthy lot.

“Our club is all about laughing, it’s about fun,” Lorraine says. “Humour’Us Toastmasters is an advanced club, attracting experienced Toastmasters, and it’s all about using humour to deliver our message in a clear and precise way.

“I’ve heard so many speeches about laughter being the best medicine. The more we laugh, the less stress we have in our lives – and we certainly have lots of laughs at our club.

“We just decided that it’s important for people to laugh and it’s important for people to have fun, but it’s also important for us all to be able to deliver a serious message in a fun way (because) when you laugh, you remember messages a lot better.”

Any who doubted the viability of such a club at the time of its founding soon found that the joke was on them.

Each of the club’s monthly meetings is based on a theme (recent examples being ‘classic cartoons’ and ‘fractured fairy tales’), with members encouraged to employ all manner of comedic approaches including satire, puns, dad jokes,

Celebrating a club debate victory are Sarah Lawson, Marietta Wetzig, Irene Waters and Lorraine Lehmann

spoonerisms and alliteration to get their message across.

But there’s a lot more to all this funny business than may initially meet the eye. One thing that Lorraine is serious about is the benefits that Toastmasters International brings to club members.

“Toastmasters is all about building leadership skills and self-confidence,” she says. “And it’s always done in a very supportive way.

“The people you meet are amazing and building selfconfidence is important, particularly if you need it in your workplace.

“I’ve heard people say that they are more scared of public speaking than they are of dying. To me, that’s sad. Why fear getting up in front of people and putting your point across or delivering your message?”

Lorraine, a teacher who is also a member of the Caloundra Toastmasters International Club, says she has seen many Toastmasters members start out as nervous speakers before going on to become eloquent presenters, something that provides her with great satisfaction.

“I started with Toastmasters 22 years ago,” she says. “I don’t stay for me; I stay for the people that come in through the door.

“I think a lot of the experienced President Lorraine Lehmann says the Sunshine Coast's Humour'Us Toastmasters club is all about having fun while building leadership skills and self-confidence Enjoying the fun of a Toastmasters International Central Division conference are Humour'Us club members (from left) Irene Waters, Marietta Wetzig, Lorraine Lehmann, Barbara Nielsen, Sarah Lawson and Marilyn Freeman

Toastmasters feel like that. To see people come in from all walks of life and to see them develop, to me, is like teaching a student and seeing them flourish and getting an incredible job at the end.

“There’s nothing wrong with making yourself a better person and that’s what Toastmasters certainly does. It helps provide that growth that’s needed to make you a better person.”

Although an advanced club, those interested in becoming members or who wish to see what all the fun is about are encouraged to attend Humour’Us meetings.

Those attending are welcome to attend the premeeting dinner and participate in the warm-up discussions that constitute part of the meeting, or simply look on if they are uncomfortable about speaking.

Lorraine says new attendees will soon discover that all speakers are met by a supportive audience eager to help them on their speaking journey.

“It’s a supportive environment where you know you can’t fail,” she says. “If you stand up and you can’t get the words out, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got people in the audience who are going to support you no matter what and you always get helpful feedback on what you do well and what could be improved.”

So what is Lorraine’s advice for those about to experience a fate apparently worse than death, such as speaking at a wedding or delivering a work presentation?

“My little tip is to take three deep breaths and that just fills your brain with oxygen and gets your braining thinking,” she says. “Preparation is important too. If you have to give a speech, be prepared. Have it thought out beforehand and practice it a number of times before you deliver it.”

Humour’Us Toastmasters meets on the second Thursday of each month at the Alexandra Headland Surf Club. The next meeting is on May 12. Club members gather for an optional dinner at the venue’s dining area at 6pm with meetings following at 7pm. For more information contact the Humour’Us Toastmasters International Club via its Facebook page or email lesley@storkeysteam.com.

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Cancer is a complicated process W

elcome to our new Q&A column I’ve Always Wondered… for all the big and little medical questions you’ve always wanted to ask.

I’m a breast and endocrine surgeon but over the years I’ve become allergic to gloves and skin preps (and a few people), so I’ve recently retired from surgical practice on the Sunshine Coast. Medical communication has always been my passion and although I’ve loved operating it has always been the process of sharing information and developing understanding with my patients that has kept me engaged.

Each edition I’ll choose a question sent in by readers to explore more deeply. As this is the first edition I’ve chosen one of the questions I’ve been asked most often.

I’ve always wondered, what is cancer actually?

Cancer, like all the words that mean so much in life, is surprisingly hard to define. I think the most useful starting point is to understand cancer in terms of two fundamental processes: unregulated cell copying and loss of cellular markers of identity.

The four trillion or so cells in our bodies are highly specialised and form intricate networks to create our tissues and organs. They need to be replaced continually throughout our lives and faithful copies need to be made – the right cell type, at the right time, the right number of copies. In broad terms this process is dictated by our DNA and damage to the

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one or more of the many genes regulating cell copying may lead to too many copies, copies with errors that predispose to more errors and copies of immature and incomplete cell types. What arises in the body is a “lump” made by these extra cells. This lump can be the ‘canary in the coal mine’ that leads to diagnosis, or can itself cause serious harm if it blocks a critical function as it expands.

The other hallmark of cancer as a process is loss of cellular identity. A nerve cell with its long tentacles carrying electrical impulses and endings capable of transmitting those signals via chemical release is vastly different to a breast milk duct lining cell that forms a smooth tiled passage and tight barrier between the internal and external environments.

Cancerous cells are often incomplete or immature versions of the cell they are meant to be. As a result, they lose their tight relationship to neighbouring cells and can drift or move through tissues, blood, lymph or membranous body cavities in ways a mature fully developed cell can’t. This is what underpins movement of cancer from where it began (the primary cancer) to movement to other sites in the body (secondary cancer, or metastasis). Vital organs and processes can be overrun by invasive cancer cells, and loss of critical functions in these organs can lead to death from cancer.

So although we naturally tend to think of cancer in terms of the organ it appeared in (breast cancer, bowel cancer, skin cancer and so on) it’s the underlying loss of regulation of cell copying and markers of cell identity that underpin all cancerous processes. There are shared processes at a molecular level that cross between cancers arising in very

different organs – and research breakthroughs in one type of cancer often translate into insights and treatment advances in other cancers. Moving our focal point from the visible lump to these cellular and molecular changes is the paradigm shift that has seen cancer move from a universally fatal disease 100 years ago to one that is now often curable when caught early enough in its development.

I hope this has been helpful and interesting.

Email your questions for Emma to editor@sunnycoastmedia.com.au.

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It’s time to talk about men’s mental health ADVERTORIAL

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here are many reasons many men do not seek mental health support. Most commonly it’s a misconception that asking for support is weak, that it’s not ‘manly’.

Our traditional Australian masculinity doesn’t always align with the mindset required to reach out for support: keep emotions to yourself, except anger; tough it out, especially when it hurts; rely on yourself at all costs; avoid even the slightest hint of vulnerability; don’t complain.

Other reasons relate to men’s general lack of knowledge and understanding about what’s going on for them, or underdeveloped skills to talk about their emotions. Some men simply don’t know when they are struggling, when they might need support, where to go for support, or what to say and how to say it when they’re in the hurt locker. Furthermore, poor experiences with seeking help in the past is now a known reason why men don’t ask again.

They work up the courage to seek support but then regret doing so because it simply didn’t meet their expectations.

This is a lost opportunity.

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But it’s not all doom and gloom – there is hope.

Thankfully, there is an increasing understanding of what is required for a men’s specific mental health service. Mantle Health is a specialist one-on-one video telehealth psychology service, primarily for men, aimed at prevention, treatment and performance enhancement. The service is all about giving men access to high-quality psychological support when they want and need it, with minimal wait times.

Its primary goal is to help men to be better partners, brothers, sons, fathers, workmates or friends, and improve the lives of men and those around them.

Why do we do what we do at Mantle? Let’s not sugar-coat it, many men in Australia are struggling with their mental health. Almost 50 per cent of men will experience a mental health problem in their lifetime, with 72 per cent of these men not seeking professional support. Mantle has been designed with the wants and needs of men in mind. It uses availability, technology and psychologist capability to remove barriers to accessing professional support and is dedicated to improving the lives of men.

So if you’re struggling, engage in professional support sooner rather than later – your capacity to learn is greater when you’re not completely overwhelmed.

Seek support for the betterment of your own mental health and for those closest to you. Give the team at Mantle a call on 1300 646 753 or visit mantlehealth.com.au and they should be able to get you in with a psychologist within the week.

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Finding a better health solution ADVERTORIAL

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overnment research indicates that every day an estimated nine million Australians take prescription medicine, two million take over-the-counter medication and seven million take complementary medicine.

Additionally, almost a quarter of a million people are hospitalised each year due to problems caused by their medication.

The evidence seems to be mounting up that western medicine doesn’t always hit the mark.

Take this scenario, for example: A person has some pain in their knee. They see their GP, who refers them to a physio, but the pain continues. So the patient heads back to the GP who then refers them to a surgeon. The surgeon does what surgeons do and operates. The patient is then left with months of post-surgery recovery and more prescription medications to help with post-surgical pain.

This seems to be the status quo in specialists’ rooms across the country.

It’s worth exploring some of these issues, the first being symptom management versus a root cause fix.

When the health solution focuses on the symptoms in that one area, it is a quick fix – a masking of the issue. So if the knee pain is covered up using medications, the person may feel better because they are temporarily ‘pain-free’, but this ‘solution’ is not addressing the source of the issue. The hamster wheel of using medications to ‘mask’ the pain can

ANF uses small adhesive discs that work directly with the nervous system

also have negative side effects like stomach or kidney damage from sustained use.

Next is looking at specialist body part versus holistic health.

When any body part is looked at in isolation, the information being studied is only a small part of the bigger body picture. In the human body, nothing ever works in isolation (remember the old song ‘the hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone’ and so on).

If only a knee specialist is involved in the health solution, they may not look at the rest of the body to see the whole picture of how and what is affected.

And finally, we need to look at body prioritisation.

This is a fancy way of saying that the body will do what it needs to do to keep the most vital of its functions going – sometimes to the detriment of other functions in the body.

This is called a ‘hierarchy’.

By starting with the part of the body that has the highest ranking in the body’s hierarchy (rather than where it ‘hurts’), all of the body’s interlinked systems are addressed, from the most important to the least important.

For example, emotions (aka stress) rule all systems in the body and need to be worked on as top priority. Have you heard about stressed people getting sick? This is why.

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After stress, the second priority system is the lymphatic and liver system. However, how often have you heard about the lymphatic system from a health professional as the cause of pain? See why many medical professionals are missing the mark?

The least prioritised system (and the one that often presents the most obvious problems) is the muscles, joints and ligaments – where the specialist investigates your knee pain.

So if mainstream medicine isn’t getting to the root problem, what are the options?

Seeking out an open-minded, educated health practitioner who understands the ‘whole of body’ approach to health is the first step. And the key to finding these people is to ask the right questions. These include: when you do your assessment, do you take into consideration the impact of the lymphatic, endocrine and nervous systems; when I have a health issue, do you look at where the pain is presenting or my whole body; and do you believe invisible inflammation can be recognised in the human body? (The answer here is yes and can display as fatigue, stiffness, headache, loss of appetite, pain, oedema, swelling, redness, memory problems and loss of function.)

One approach that’s now available in Australia involves a unique therapy developed in Europe that’s totally drug-free and address the body in the right hierarchy of needs. This therapy is called Amino Neuro Frequency (ANF). It consists of small adhesive discs that work directly with the nervous system and therefore address the root cause of the presenting problems or pain.

It’s essentially like they reboot nerves that are compromised through injury, illness or disease.

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ANF Therapy is different because the health practitioners who are trained in the hierarchy of need in the body’s systems are now able to find the root cause of somebody’s pain, rather than just treating the symptom. This way they are looking at the body holistically and provide a whole health solution.

Because it works at a cellular level, ANF Therapy is also quick to act and offers long-lasting results. Patients may experience up to a 50 per cent reduction in pain within 15 minutes, transforming physical and sporting performance while reducing inflammation.

Being Therapeutic Goods Administration-registered, ANF Devices give patients a way of allowing their body to regulate itself and heal from the inside out, which means sometimes that planned surgery can be avoided altogether.

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Helping you come back from injuries ADVERTORIAL

by RUBEN DELIN Core Strength Fitness

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hat’s so humbling about everyone’s fitness journey is that we all start from somewhere, and for different reasons.

The truth for me is I started out in my mum’s living room, struggling to make just one push-up. I wanted to feel better, have more energy throughout the day and be a better person to the people around me. With consistency and dedication my journey gave me more than what I asked for and eventually it became my biggest passion.

My name is Ruben and I coach out of Core Strength Fitness. I have a background in competitive powerlifting and bodybuilding, placing second and fourth in two divisions in states bodybuilding ICN and third in the 105 division in states powerlifting APU, and have personal experience of the dieting that both of these sports entail. I’ve studied a Diploma of Sport Development, which includes Cert 3 and 4 in Fitness, and I’m currently doing a

Ruben Delin from Core Strength Fitness can help clients recover from injury setbacks

Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of the Sunshine Coast.

All these things might sound grand but I too had to start my fitness journey somewhere.

After a few years as an athlete where the mindset is to push boundaries, I was predisposed – like most people – to come across injuries. I had to teach myself new ways to train around them and to improve on my weaknesses and instabilities to face it head on. Quickly this became one of my main interests as I was determined to come back stronger and all the wiser for it.

Today most of my clientele have had some sort of injury and have come to see me. Surprisingly, in most cases, it’s a matter of helping my clients understand their weaknesses and how to improve them, little by little and not to force the progression.

If you´re feeling like you’re stagnating and not improving with your training, or you’re recovering from an injury and feel lost in how to take it from there, feel free to reach out to me and I’ll see in what way I can assist you. Email rubenssmartstrength@gmail.com or phone 0414 184 340.

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Buderim mum is helping other new and expectant mothers to return to exercise safely – and have a laugh along the way.

Emma Bunting from Motivate Mums says she is passionate about motivating pregnant women and new mothers to get active and feel part of a mum community.

“I want to help mums feel strong on the inside and out, change the way women look and feel about themselves,” she says. “I know all too well that new mums often feel overwhelmed with the more-thanfull-time job of being a mum and the thought of exercise can sometimes feel too hard. Joining a fitness group with likeminded mums might be just what you need.”

She launched the business in Sydney in April 2020 after having her first baby and recognising a gap in the way women are looked after within the fitness industry once they become a mother. Soon after she

launched an online platform to reach more mums after both personal and group training sessions were over-subscribed.

She relocated to Queensland in December last year and relaunched the business on the Coast in January, offering personal and group training sessions in her own studio and at an outdoor location in Buderim.

Her sessions are child-friendly, meaning mums can bring their bubs.

As a certified MumSafe training provider, Emma works alongside women's health experts to ensure new mothers are given the best introduction to pre- and post-natal exercise.

“I believe all mums deserve a safe return to exercise after having a baby,” she says. “I am passionate about building a community for my mums where they feel motivated to be fitter and stronger.”

Classes follow term times.

Visit motivatemums.com.

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An attitude of gratitude IMAGE

by KERRIE FRIEND

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t seems like it takes a lot of energy in these extraordinary days of a global pandemic, war, natural disasters and other life happenings to not be pulled down by negativity. These things are very real and are constantly being pushed at us through the 24/7 availability of news and the noise of social media. In the past few years there seems to be an endless barrage of circumstances that have been quite tiring and have left a lot of us feeling lost, confused and hopeless, but I’m telling you my “brave hearts” that we can fight back with an attitude of gratitude.

Take a good look around and you’ll still see there’s beauty to be found everywhere, even among all of the craziness we’ve been enduring, through the acts of kindness – whether small or big. Take a deep breath and don’t be too hard on yourself or others as we all navigate the chaos together. None of us are perfect but we can have perfect moments among the turmoil. Life is beautiful and though it surely has its challenges, staying mindful of the gift of life itself keeps us more grateful. Don’t allow the things you might currently see going on around you keep you down or make you feel negative about life, and most importantly don’t let whining, gossip and complaining begin

to seep into your soul because it can be a very slippery slope that’s difficult to stop when you start. Fight the good fight of fear and negativity with faith and hopefulness.

Another essential thing to do, especially during tough times, is to take care of you and avoid any bad habits such as too much alcohol, sugar, poor diet, social media, news and lack of sleep. Staying disciplined and focused on the things you can control, doing your best and letting the things outside your control drop away is a really good strategy called “controlling the controllables”. The journey of life and the world we live in are constantly changing, so expecting things to stay the same is naive, but seeing it all through a more expansive lens helps you realise that difficulties and challenges change also and the sun rises each new day.

If you’re feeling exhausted, overwhelmed or tired from the past few years, I hear you. But I believe it’s time for us to make a valuable decision and turn the page as the season we’ve been living through is changing and it’s time to stamp out any remaining negativity and replace it with appreciation and thankfulness. Let’s kick pessimism, complaining or unreasonableness to the curb and instead choose to be expectant of good things. Life is what we make so let’s make it overflow with thankfulness. No one’s life is perfect but there are always perfect moments so let’s opt to celebrate those and continue to be grateful and not let negativity gain any momentum in our one-of-a-kind precious life.

God bless, Kerrie.

Visit kerriefriend.com.

Screening service comes to you

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reastScreen Queensland Sunshine Coast is hitting the road in April, with “pop-up” breast screening sessions at shopping centres around the region.

The region has recently seen a lot of residents moving home or relocating from interstate, and in the upheaval of a move it is easy to forget about your two-yearly breast screen.

“Women new to the Sunshine Coast may not be aware that free screening is available in six locations from Gympie to Caboolture, as well as at a number of regular mobile sites,” BreastScreen Queensland health promotion officer Gillian Duffy says.

“By taking our mobile service to shopping centres, our service is easily accessible for busy women. They can drop in for information, book an appointment at a convenient time, or have a breast screen there and then.”

The service is provided free to women aged 40 years and over. Women aged 50-74 are encouraged to have a breast screen every two years as studies show that this age group benefits the most from regular screening. Finding breast cancer early can increase treatment options and save lives.

“To encourage women who are overdue for their twoyearly breast screen to book an appointment, women who attend for breast screening during April, May or June will be entered in a monthly prize draw to win one of five $50 gift cards,” Ms Duffy says.

The mobile service will be at Stockland Baringa from April 19-20 and Bunnings Caloundra from April 21-23.

No doctor’s referral is needed. Some walk-in appointments are available. For more information, to update contact details or to make an appointment phone 13 20 50 or visit breastscreen.qld.gov.au.

Calls to support cancer charity

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loomhill Cancer Care is launching its Greatest Need Appeal, celebrating 25 years of providing personalised support to those touched by cancer.

“We’re delighted to launch our Greatest Need Appeal, which will run throughout the month of April,” CEO Christopher John says.

“This month, please join with us as we begin celebrating Bloomhill Cancer Care’s incredible 25-year legacy.

“The Greatest Need Fund is for individuals or organisations who want to give but want their dollars to go toward the most urgent shortfalls, across any area of the organisation, from nurse wages to paying the main operating expenses.

“We are a community-based organisation and receive no ongoing government funding. Almost 100 per cent of our funding comes from our entrepreneurial endeavours and community donations, which allows us to provide dedicated care services for those touched by cancer.

“Over the past year, we have supported more than 1400 people and provide more than 7120 occasions of nursing, allied health care and wellness activities each year at our wellness centre in Buderim.”

One of those many people who have been helped by Bloomhill is Shelly Rankin.

She was 20 years old, fit and healthy. After visiting her GP for the 10th time to find out why her cold wouldn’t go away, and after several tests and an X-ray, she was told she had Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Six rounds of chemotherapy and six months later, Shelly’s treatments were successful, the tumour was gone and she was in remission. Blood tests and other scans have shown no evidence of the disease. She has six-monthly check-ups and monitors for symptoms, but as far as she knows is cancer free.

When Shelly found Bloomhill Cancer Care and came to the wellness centre in Buderim, she felt relief that there were people who “just got it”.

“What’s helped me is having a community who understand,” Shelly says. “Even if they’re not your age or your cancer, people get it. You just talk to people and keep in touch; find like-minded people. We’re all a lot more mature than others our age. Nobody else really gets it.”

To help with the Greatest Need Appeal visit bloomhill.com.au/appeal/greatest-need.

Shelly Rankin at Bloomhill. Image by Patrick Woods APRIL 2022 SUNNY COAST TIMES

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Program empowering

children

by JACQUI HENSEL

The Mountain View Walk is a valuable part of Elissa Seib’s Curious Kids Can program. Image by Jacqui Hensel

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warm, intuitive and charismatic person who has spent her professional life inspiring kids to empower themselves, Elissa Seib’s openness, zest for life and love of nature have a positive impact on those around her. Her life path has drawn her to many contrasting communities, where she found the similarities out-weighed the differences.

Now, Elissa uses her unique teaching experiences as she runs mentoring business Curious Kids Can, which aims to emotionally empower kids and celebrate their individuality.

Fresh out of university Elissa was appointed to a 12-month post at Goodooga Central School in outback NSW, teaching Indigenous kids.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, Elissa then accepted a second teaching appointment in a Lebanese school in Sydney.

Although these communities were very different from each other, she found the kids in both often struggled with communication.

“In my early days of teaching, the kids at both Goodooga and St Charbel’s were often frustrated and struggled to communicate with me,” Elissa says.

However, through effective non-verbal communication and observing their body language, Elissa learnt to respect these forms of communication and subtly incorporated these skills into her

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Personal Awareness Program.

“In both of these places I learned so much and it made me realise that I wanted to help kids,” she says. “Both of these communities were so accepting of me. The experiences I had enriched my life so much – and the food from the Lebanese community was so delicious!”

After a number of years in Sydney, Elissa returned to Queensland and settled at Eudlo in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

It was here that Curious Kids Can was formed.

“My house was right on the edge of the rainforest and it was such a beautiful place that I decided to share it with my kids,” she says. “We would go for a walk there and it was a great way to reset. I was there for 18 years and recently decided to relocate to Maleny. So the rainforest walk became the Mountain View Walk.”

She developed her signature Personal Awareness Program based on her personal and professional experiences and caters for school-age children.

“I really want to nurture and strengthen kids' emotional intelligence so they can become confident and competent lifelong learners. I knew I had the skill set thanks to my early days of being a teacher,” Elissa says.

“Empowering Elissa and her students from St Charbel's in the 1990s

kids instead of ‘telling them what to do’ allows them to take ownership of their own thoughts, actions and goals. With this in hand, kids are more likely to ‘have a go’ without shame or embarrassment. I also never liked being told what to do when I was young.”

Curious Kids Can is an intimate oneon-one Covid-safe personal mentoring service, dedicated to nurturing and strengthening emotional intelligence.

“The Personal Awareness Program is taking the time to really get to know each other in a respectful way. Each program is individualised,” she says.

“Kids can be so self-aware, they know what they need and what skills they have. My program is holistic, in that the child’s parents are crucial for the success of their child.

Throughout the eight-week program, kids at Curious Kids Can become more confident, self-assured and willing to ‘have a go’ at any new strategy I introduce to them.

“If they are not ready to talk, they know to head straight to the self-empowering Think Tank challenges where they actually empower themselves.”

Now Elissa is located in Maleny, she is able to take advantage of the wonderful scenery.

“The most important conversations, however, happen on the Mountain View Walk,” she says. “The walk ‘clears the air’ and makes it easier to transition into the structured component of the Personal Awareness Program.”

Elissa’s qualifications include a Master of Education in Children’s Literature, a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Education, a Diploma in Education K-6 and a Certificate in Religious Education.

For more details visit curiouskidscan.com.au or email Elissa at elissa@curiouskidscan.com.au.

Nursing ‘the best life decision’ says new graduate

T

hirty new nursing graduates have been welcomed to hospitals on the Sunshine Coast as the health industry works to recover from staffing shortages related to the pandemic.

The introduction of the 30 graduate registered nurses (RNs) by Ramsay Health Care is a 130 per cent increase on the intake at the same time last year.

Among the new graduates is an RN who has been working at Noosa Hospital for five years.

Emma Perry began her career as a catering assistant at the hospital in 2017 and was inspired to join the team of nurses.

“I had always been interested in caring for others however I never knew that I wanted to become a nurse until I started at Noosa Hospital,” she says.

“I love that every single day I look forward to going to work. Each day is different and a challenge in one way or another.

“If you’re considering becoming a nurse it’ll be the best life decision you make.”

Ramsay CEO Justin Greenwell says the new graduates will receive plenty of support as they begin their new roles.

“Like many industries, workforce shortages have been a significant challenge over the past two years, so it’s wonderful to welcome so many new members to our nursing team,” Mr Greenwell said.

“To ensure they feel supported, Ramsay Health Care has introduced a buddy system so there is someone to regularly check in on the new grads’ wellbeing and progress. We’ve also increased the educational support available to them.

“Ramsay Health Care has also invested in our nurse leaders with a new leadership program focused on creating exciting career pathways for them.”

In total, Noosa Hospital has 14 new RNs (up from four in last year), Nambour Selangor Private Hospital has seven (also up from four) and Sunshine Coast University Private Hospital has nine (up from five).

Emma Perry at Noosa Hospital