Murdoch Monthly February 2023

MURDOCH Monthly

February 2023

celebrates Random Acts of Kindness day

OUR FIRST RED CROSS SOUP PATROL

page 9

WELCOMING OUR 2023 GRADS!

page 13

TV COMMERCIAL STARS

page 18

CAREGIVER NEWS FROM ST JOHN OF GOD MURDOCH HOSPITAL

CC team

Acting

A message from the CEO

Welcome to the February Murdoch Monthly, the first edition of 2023.

Hospital Activity

Unfortunately, like both December and January we again missed our budget target for February. February however was an improvement on both of those months.

February results were impacted by:

• Higher than budgeted productivity

• More specialists taking leave than we have historically experienced

• Closure of two endoscopy procedure rooms due to expansion works

On a positive note, we exceeded our budget target for ‘overnight inpatient activity’ and are tracking well in terms of ‘same day activity’.

While missing our budget target the upturn in February activity gives me optimism that our financial results will continue to improve.

Endoscopy Works

The Endoscopy unit is undergoing some significant works, which is not only affecting our financial performance but also having a significant impact on our caregivers and doctors working in that Unit. Thank you to our caregivers and

Reflection

doctors working under these difficult conditions and assure you all it will be a case of some shortterm pain for long-term gain.

Housekeeping Name badges

Name badges are part of our uniform, so please wear yours. It is a simple and effective way for us all to build rapport with our patients and each other.

Mobile phones

Do not use your mobile phones while walking in the Hospital. It is not safe and just not a good look. We should be giving our patients and visitors a welcoming smile, so no heads buried in phones. If you do need to use your phone, pull over and be stationary while using it.

Patient confidentiality and Privacy

We have an obligation to protect our patients’ personal information. It is everyone’s responsibility so please remember that only authorised caregivers may access Webpas or patient records.

St John of God Day – Wednesday 8 March

This is a day when we reflect on the life of St John of God and draw inspiration from the compassion and care that he provided to so many, despite his own adversities. Our theme for this year’s celebration is ‘Connecting through heads, hearts and hands’ and

this is what every single Murdoch caregiver does in every department, in every interaction, in every moment of service.

Celebrations will include:

• Free coffee and juice by The Lake

• Portuguese lunch and dinner in the Caregiver Dining Room (gold coin donation – all funds going to Djaalinj Waakinj)

• Night staff will also be delivered some sweet treats

• Caregiver of the Year announced

Feast day focus

Our Feast Days are a wonderful opportunity to learn something new about the Patron Saints of our various wards and departments and to reflect on the values they lived. See the page over for the list of Feast Days for 2023 and page 8 for our celebrations so far.

Lent

We are also now in the period of Lent, which is 40 days of reflection and preparation for Easter, culminating with the resurrection of Jesus on Easter Sunday. Many people around the world elect to give up a certain food or luxury during Lent so if you are doing this, good on you and good luck!

Take care,

Michael

Do you know your ?

Every department or team within our hospital is allocated a feast day celebration throughout the year. These

days are opportunities for us to be reminded of our Catholic heritage and mission. They Link us to our history and remind us that we follow in the footsteps of many, many people who have transformed the lives of

others through their service and compassionate care.

Feast days correspond to the Saints birth or death, and are celebrated so we can remember the qualities and attributes that these significant people possessed. In remembering, we are encouraged to embody their

Feast Day Celebrations 2023

qualities of service, dedication, and care for others.

Feast days are celebrated in various ways all around the world, but for us at Murdoch we celebrate by gathering caregivers together for a few moments of reflection and offering our

appreciation for the way in which our caregivers bear witness to our mission. Just as the Saints contributed to making their communities a better place, we too improve the lives of our patients and their families by living our values of compassion, respect, hospitality, justice and

excellence in all that we do.

See page 8 our first feast days of the year.

Hello,

I would like to pass on some feedback to the Nurse Unit Manager at St Mary’s Ward. I recently had a baby in January this year.

I had some amazing interactions with some of the midwives and nurses and would love to share my experience about some of the particular team members.

Firstly, Ming is such a fantastic midwife! I was so grateful for her care. I was lucky enough to have her for three days towards the end of my stay. She had very good attention to detail, efficient, provided patient (and family) centred care. She addressed all of my questions, especially about my baby and discussed with the paediatrician when needed. Thank you so much Ming, I felt very safe in your hands! She also included my husband in care, for which he is also very grateful.

Lindsay the lactation consultant was also another care provider I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to be cared for by. I was feeling very vulnerable and emotional on the second day of my stay as my baby had an unexpected special care nursery stay. She was so kind and gentle and developed a plan for me. It was a real turning point of my stay as I previously breastfed so easily with my first and was very anxious about what the nursery stay would mean for my feeding journey.

Kris is a fantastic senior midwife who I believe is an asset to your team. She provided me with adequate pain relief so I was comfortable post C-section and provided excellent patient education about how to get out of bed etc.

Emma from the special care nursery was so kind to me and provided excellent care to my baby on the first day. I really appreciated her time explaining what was going on and the emotional support she provided.

Meg in the special care nursery was so kind and took the time to speak to my husband and I about our questions and generally developed very good rapport. She will be an excellent midwife one day.

Thank you again for the stay. I hope if we have another baby that we will be cared for again by the amazing staff you have on your ward.

ind regards,

Andrea and Dan x

Caregiver of the Month

Paula Gourgaude: November 2022

Nominated by Ben Edwards and Sarah-Jayne Powell

trolley going. Paula does this in her own time and has been a driving force in the concept. Sarah-Jayne agreed and stated that Paula was a great example of how subsidiarity and the principle of the Thrive Councils can empower a caregiver to become a leading champion of change.

Managers comment by Jessica Wirrell:

drinks

Paula is a natural leader and a valued member of our Hospice team. Paula is motivated and driven and has done an amazing job of taking the reins of the

Sharna Roy-Plecas: December 2022

Nominated by multiple patients

The compassionate care, attention and communication that Sharna gave me was amazing. The professional and caring way she treated not only my wife and I, but also our family and friends is beyond compare.

Managers comment by Jessica Wirrell:

Sharna is a relatively new Registered Nurse who

Values awards

Jodi Albuquerque

Nominated by patient and family member

Jody exemplifiers all the values of St John of God Health Care. She has been amazing for Emma in showing her practical ways of breastfeeding and sharing

stories and experiences to help put our mind at ease. She has been supportive of Dad and showing him how to be a dad. Jodi is a wonderful midwife and embodies the excellence and compassion that make patients and visitors feel safe, comfortable and cared for. We will never forget you.

Hospice Thrive Council. Paula has been instrumental in various Thrive projects but the Hospice Happy Hour is really to be commended. Not only did Paula work tirelessly to ensure that this service could be set up for our patients, Paula also gives up her own free time volunteering to run the Happy hour trolley on a weekly basis. Paula has really gone above and beyond what is expected of a caregiver. I know her fellow colleagues will all agree Paula is very deserving of this award!

just shines! Sharna is so compassionate and caring, and has a very gentle nature about her. Sharna is well-respected amongst the team and we are so lucky to have her within the Hospice. I am not surprised at this nomination at all, well done Sharna.

Ben nominated Paula because of her dedication in getting the Hospice Happy Hour

The MURTEC team celebrated their Feast Day of St Thomas Aquinas on 28 January. This awesome team is made up of a number of teams including Learning & Development, Quality & Risk, Infection Control, Research, and Medical Admin & Credentialing.

Our Admin 2 team celebrated their Feast Day of St Brigid’s on 1 February. This wonderful group is made up of our Health Information Services, Clinical Documentation Specialists, Library and Allied health teams.

Welcoming Tanya to the Cancer Centre

We are excited to have welcomed Tanya O’Connor as the Nurse Manager of the Murdoch Cancer Centre in late 2022.

Tanya brings an abundance of experience and knowledge to the role having been an oncology nurse at Murdoch from 2013 to 2019.

Tanya most recently played an instrumental role in establishing the Health Care at Home Chemotherapy and Supportive Infusion service for St John of God Health Care, while also practicing as a Clinical Nurse Specialist.

With her passion for patient experience and quality improvement, we are thrilled to have Tanya leading the Cancer Centre team!

Murdoch Red Cross Soup Patrol

This month Sarah-Jayne, Tracey Gracewood and Hannah Clements went out on SJG Murdoch’s first volunteer Soup Patrol with the Red Cross. They said, “it was shocking to see how many hungry people including children there are out there”.

In 2023, we are looking forward to growing our St John of God Murdoch team!

If you have not signed up yet, sign up via the QR code on the poster below.

To supplement the soup and bread that is given out, we are hoping to come together as we always do, to provide a little

Around 9000 West Aussie’s will experience homelessness tonight

extra. There are boxes set up in the dining room for donations. We would also love to take out some fresh fruit so if you can, please bring it in on Monday 27 February and leave it with the other donated items. Thank you to everyone who has kindly donated items so far.

If we all give a little it will mean such a lot.

In a world where you can be anything, be kind.

Volunteer with the Murdoch team at RED CROSS

Rangevolunteering

services

Flexible hours

How groovy are Toni and Rachelle looking in their funky scrubs for Fun Scrub Friday?!

Fun Scrub Friday was originally introduced as a Fundraiser for Djaalinj Waakinj and the ICU team loved it so much that they have continued wearing them every Friday. It's a great moral booster not only for our caregivers, but our patients and visitors too.

Valentine’s Day

Our Surgicentre caregivers got into the spirit of Valentine’s Day this year! Check those matching heart sunnies and scrub caps...

World Day of the Sick

February 11th was World Day of the Sick, the day the Catholic Church sets aside for specific prayers for the sick and dying. It is also a time to recognise the contribution of caregivers in tending to the needs of those who are hospitalised.

Every year Pope Francis offers a special message highlighting the importance of the role the church plays, in supporting those who are unwell, and in need of care. This year he reminds us that illness is part of our human condition, but if illness is experienced in isolation and abandonment, unaccompanied by care and compassion, it can become inhumane.

He writes, “When we go on a journey with others, it is not unusual for someone to feel sick, to have to stop because of fatigue or of some mishap along the way. It is precisely in such moments that we see how we are walking together. We are all fragile and vulnerable, and need the kind of compassion which knows how to pause, approach, heal, and raise up.”

Pope Francis reminds us of the story of the Good Samaritan, a parable that is deeply entrenched in the heritage in St John of God Health Care. In this parable the Samaritan asks the innkeeper to “take care of the injured man” and Jesus in his teaching challenges us to “go and do likewise” (Lk 10:37). On this World Day of the Sick, we are invited to reflect on the fact that it is through the experience

of vulnerability and illness that we can learn to walk alongside others with closeness, compassion, and tenderness.

Thank you for the work you do every day in walking alongside and supporting the many patients who seek our care. Thank you for being Good Samaritans who see the needs of our patients and meet those needs with hospitality, respect, compassion, justice and excellence.

St John of God Day

Connecting through heads, hearts and hands

Wednesday,

6am 3pm11.30am5pm 7pm1.30pm

FREE Coffee & Juice Van, down by the lake

GOLD COIN lunch or dinner

Donation for Charity of the Year (EFTPOS facilities available)

1 Peter 3:8

Finally, all of you, be like minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble

Happy Birthday Prof Bremner!

Professor Bremner celebrated his birthday with Andrew Wesseldine and the St Emilie’s ward team!

Wishing Prof Bremner all the best for the year ahead.

New Grads Feb 2023

We are excited to welcome 16 new Graduate Nurses to Murdoch, where they will begin their healthcare careers. Over the next year, each nurse will complete rotations across a range of specialties and be mentored by our Learning & Development team, Hospital Leadership and the nursing team on the floor.

A big welcome to our 2023 Grads, we can't wait to watch you thrive!

Enrolled Nurses

Jason Soriente, St Rose

Jessica Sladen, Bridget Clancy

NA ZHU, St Joe

Jo’Anne Soudom, Thomas Furlong

Danielle Westaway, St Elizabeth

Amber O’Donoghue, St Francis

Registered Nurses

Caitlin Liron, St Catherine

Gabriele Patricia Tagg, St Elizabeth

Imogen Kingsmill, St Rose

Jessica Guy, St Francis

Kaylea Piotrowski, St Emilie

Nirisha Kanda, TF

Sarah Kasongole, St Joe

Sarah McLeod, St Francis

Sylvia Poe, St Catherine

Melinda Evaes, St Luke

Welcome to the Hospice video

Check out the promotional video that was created for the Hospice, after the refurbishment was completed late 2021. This video captures the range of facilities and services available at our Murdoch Community Hospice as well as the wonderful caregivers.

Click here to check out the video!

Random Acts of Kindness Day in the Cancer Centre

The Cancer Centre team celebrated Random Acts of Kindness day, donned head to toe in bright colours. Kindness is a very strong theme in our Cancer Centre (and all throughout our Hospital) and this was simply a day to recognise this!

CDS corner

Valentine’s Day Raffle success

Sanjay’s trolley

Dr Sanjay was very excited to receive his new documentation trolley from the CDS team. The team gifts trolleys to our oncologists and haematologists as a thank you for their excellent documentation.

The trolley assists them and their RMO’s with writing their progress notes whilst rounding, so they don’t have to try and carry a whole stack of notes for their rounds!

In classic CDS fashion, the team already have the ball well and truly rolling on their 2023 Djaalinj Waakinj fundraising. Their first project of the year was the Valentine’s Day raffle where they raised a whopping $1,305.

Joyce was the winner of the big first prize!

The other worthy winners were:

•Josh from OSH

•Caleb Orshott - St Elizabeth’s

•Sue Adams - St Michaels

•Sandy Knight - Q&R

Health Information services have a goal of $5,000 for 2023 and are thankful to everyone who has supported them so far.

"Kindness is the universal language that can be spoken by everyone."

Music Therapy students

We love having Music Therapy students Mat and Eliza at Murdoch, who are here completing a number of practical hours with our Registered Music Therapist Giuseppe.

Mat and Eliza are both studying a Master of Music Therapy at The University of Melbourne where they are based in Perth and head over to Melbourne for intensive study periods throughout the year.

Music Therapy is an integral part of our Allied Health team and provides a range of benefits for our patients with the aim to improve pain management, elevate mood and reduce anxiety symptoms, promote relaxation, improve sleep and provide companionship.

Some comments on Facebook about Mat and Eliza:

Eliza you sound amazing and what a difference you made for the lady's last chemo last week! tears all round you were fantastic!! And made the day very memorable for her she was so grateful

It's the best!

Cheers everyone up and even gets a couple of us singing along

Eliza has such a beautiful voice and nature. Also helped our chemo patient with his song

Officially, scrub scouts!

Congratulations to Kate, Naomi, Leah and Nina who have completed their Scrub Scout Discovery Program in our Theatre Department, which is a 12-month course to upskill and be equipped with the tools and knowledge to take on a role in our Perioperative team.

All four nurses have been offered and accepted roles as Scrub Scout nurses in our team and we can't wait to keep watching them grow!

If you're keen to find out more about career development opportunities like our Discovery Programs, check them out here: https://bit.ly/caregiverdevelopment

requests this week! Thanks so much we really appreciate you

Voice of an angel. So lovely hearing them in the department.

Midwife Sarah welcomes bub on St Mary’s ward

Congratulations to our very own midwife Sarah and her husband Thomas who had their first baby, gorgeous Poppy, on St Mary's ward in January. "Being on the other side of midwifery and giving birth on the ward you work on was certainly an experience -but an amazing one! We were lucky enough to be surrounded by our friends and colleagues that treated us like royalty. Thank you to everyone, especially our incredible birth suite midwifery team and Dr Chris Gunnell. The experience could not have been better and we will be forever grateful!"

Pastoral Care’s Christmas superhero votes are in!

You may remember that the Pastoral Services team put a ballot outside the Staff Dining Room and asked people to vote for their top three real Christmas Superheroes.

Well, the results are in!

The sheep topped the ballot, the angels came second and the donkey came third.

St John of God Murdoch Hospital equipped for state-ofthe-art breastcare surgery

Patients undergoing breast cancer surgery at St John of God Murdoch Hospital are receiving first-class care, thanks to cutting edge technology and techniques.

The Faxitron Trident HD portable mammogram machine has been commissioned at St John of God Murdoch Hospital.

"The Trident HD allows surgeons to get sharp and detailed images of the breast cancer spot during surgery, which equips us to perform more accurate excisions and means patients spend less time in surgery under anaesthetic. Both factors lead to better recovery," Breast Surgeon, Dr Saud Hamza said.

St John of God Murdoch Hospital's Trident HD was one of just four dispatched to Australia in November 2022.

"We are very fortunate to have secured this prized technology, given the recent overseas freight

challenges due to COVID," Dr Hamza said.

The arrival of the Trident HD to St John of God Murdoch Hospital complements cutting edge breast cancer removal techniques being performed by the hospital’s breast surgical team.

One such technique is the use of Magseeds technology. Tiny magnetic 'seeds' are implanted into the breast cancer spot under radiology guidance at the precise location of the tumour. During surgery, the surgeon runs a magnetic probe along the outside of the body, which 'detects' the seeds.

Dr Hamza likened the technology to a "metal detector."

"Using Magseeds, we are performing extremely precise, minimally invasive tumour removal - the best possible outcome for patients."

Angela Reyniers, 52, underwent breast cancer removal surgery

at St John of God Murdoch Hospital, using the Magseeds technique. Almost three months post procedure, Ms Reyniers is part way through follow-up chemotherapy treatment.

“The Magseeds implant was really straightforward – no discomfort at all – and postsurgery recovery has been great. All things considered, I’m feeling really good,” Ms Reyniers said.

A nurse herself, Ms Reyniers, was highly conscious that a repeat excision may have been required if the entire tumour was not removed the first time – an experience she was very much hoping to avoid.

“The precision of the Magseeds technology, paired with Dr Hamza’s expertise and good judgement, ultimately resulted in clear margins (and no need for further surgery) – which is all that I could have hoped for. I’m feeling very grateful and positive about the road ahead.”

Our Murdoch caregivers are bound for stardom…

We have been working on ongoing recruitment projects over the past couple of years, including a national and international campaign last year, a TV commercial this year and lots of content marketing across our

online channels. Thanks to everyone that has been and will be involved in our fun filming projects over the past couple of years; you are all fantastic and natural onscreen stars!

If you would love to be included in upcoming recruitment campaign opportunities, email our marketing department at murdoch.marketing@sjog.org.au, they’d love to hear from you.