Local Aboriginal Arst Pam Luke and Aboriginal Liaison Officer Joyce Saunders at the artwork unveiling on CTG Day at Bowral & District Hospital. New graduate nurse Melvin Kingston Supporting families to Close the Gap April 2016 South Western Sydney Local Health District Leading care, healthier communities When he began working at Liverpool Hospital as a Ward Orderly in 2008, Melvin Kingston hoped to one day play a bigger part in paent care. While working at the hospital during the day, he enrolled in university and aended night classes to gain his nursing qualificaons. Melvin is one of the 71 new graduate nurses and midwives to begin at Liverpool Hospital this year. Melvin joins 149 new nurses and midwives who have started across the District (35 at Bankstown Lidcombe, 25 at Camden and Campbelltown, 7 at Fairfield, 5 at Bowral and 6 in Mental Health). Welcome to SWSLHD! Local Aboriginal families will have more support for their children’s transion to kindergarten, with the 2 to School program, launched by the District to mark Close the Gap Day last month. The program involves a muldisciplinary team working with families and follows on from the Aboriginal sustained home vising programs that engage with families up unl baby turns two. A number of other events were held across the District to mark the 10th anniversary of Close the Gap Day. Campbelltown Hospital opened their Reconciliaon Garden, featuring nave plants and murals designed by local Aboriginal community members, supporng the theme of reconciliaon. Bowral & District Hospital unveiled an artwork at the entrance to the Milton Park Ward, which was a joint effort between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community members, symbolising the goal to build stronger bridges of understanding between the two. The District also launched its Closing the Gap Report Card (see Chairman’s Message on p2 for details). SWSLHD Aboriginal Health Director Nathan Jones congratulated everyone on their efforts. New nurses get to work To submit a story contact the Media Unit on 8738 6848 or [email protected]District news
Transcript
Local Aboriginal Artist Pam Luke and Aboriginal Liaison Officer Joyce Saunders at the artwork unveiling on CTG Day at Bowral & District Hospital.
New graduate nurse Melvin Kingston
Supporting families to Close the Gap
April 2016
South Western Sydney Local Health District
Leading care, healthier communities
When he began working at Liverpool Hospital as a Ward Orderly in 2008, Melvin Kingston hoped to one day play a bigger part in patient care.While working at the hospital during the day, he enrolled in university and attended night classes to gain his nursing qualifications.Melvin is one of the 71 new graduate
nurses and midwives to begin at Liverpool Hospital this year. Melvin joins 149 new nurses and midwives who have started across the District (35 at Bankstown Lidcombe, 25 at Camden and Campbelltown, 7 at Fairfield, 5 at Bowral and 6 in Mental Health).Welcome to SWSLHD!
Local Aboriginal families will have more support for their children’s transition to kindergarten, with the 2 to School program, launched by the District to mark Close the Gap Day last month.The program involves a multidisciplinary team working with families and follows on from the Aboriginal sustained home visiting programs that engage with families up until baby turns two.A number of other events were held across the District to mark the 10th anniversary of Close the Gap Day. Campbelltown Hospital opened their Reconciliation Garden, featuring native plants and murals designed by local Aboriginal community members, supporting the theme of reconciliation.Bowral & District Hospital unveiled an artwork at the entrance to the Milton Park Ward, which was a joint effort between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community members, symbolising
the goal to build stronger bridges of understanding between the two.The District also launched its Closing the Gap Report Card (see Chairman’s
Message on p2 for details). SWSLHD Aboriginal Health Director Nathan Jones congratulated everyone on their efforts.
New nurses get to work
To submit a story contact the Media Unit on 8738 6848 or [email protected]
District news
This year’s National Close the Gap Day is historic, marking 10 years of the nation’s largest public movement for health equality.Close the Gap was launched in 2006 and since then we’ve worked with the Aboriginal community and local
organisations to form long-term and sustainable partnerships.Last month the District launched the Closing the Gap Report Card, a health snapshot that identifies physical and lifestyle health risks within south western Sydney’s Aboriginal population.This an important piece of work that helps the health service target programs to address these areas.The report shows that positive change is occurring, with the rate of Aboriginal children fully immunised at 12 months almost on par with that of non-Aboriginal children.The rate of Aboriginal children fully immunised at age five is higher than non-Aboriginal children and sits at over 95 per cent.
While these results are encouraging, there’s still work to be done. The Report Card tells us that Aboriginal people are twice as likely to die from heart disease and also twice as likely to be hospitalised for endocrine diseases. For a copy of the report card visit: www.swslhd.nsw.gov.au
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April 2016
Chairman's message
Prof Phillip Harris
Elaine’s our womanSWSLHD Community Consumer Council member Elaine Crockett was recognised in the NSW Women of the Year Awards Honour Roll for a lifetime of service to the community and District. Ms Crockett has been involved in many committees and community organisations over the past three decades, including the Bankstown Women’s Cancer Support Group. As a cancer survivor herself, she knows first-hand the importance of a strong support network for sufferers and we’d like to congratulate and acknowledge her on being part of the honour roll and for her hard work.
Elaine Crockett with former Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital Community Participation Manager Kerry Parsons.
Campbelltown Hospital can boast having one of the state’s top doctors in their midst, with Thalaiyasingam Suganthan topping the state in the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine exam recently. Dr Suganthan, an Advanced Trainee in Emergency Medicine at Campbelltown Hospital, came first in the state in the primary exam, which is an amazing achievement – well done!
Number one in NSW
April 2016
A community with heart
Bankstown Hospital School held a big birthday bash to celebrate 50 years of educating sick children in hospital. Festivities included balloons, cake and speeches to commemorate the golden jubilee.The Bankstown Hospital School, located in the Paediatric Ward, opened in January 1966 for hospitalised students from kindergarten to Year 12.Students are able to connect to with their enrolled school through online portals and email, and the Hospital School can provide access to all Board of Studies exams including NAPLAN and HSC examinations which can be conducted in the ward.
Hip hip hooray happy 50th birthday
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Midwife applauded
Career kickstartFormer Bowral High School student Mitchell Brummell has launched himself into his university studies with less of a financial burden thanks to a $4000 scholarship.Mitchell has taken out the 2016 Bowral & District Hospital Centenary Scholarship, which will help him through his Bachelor of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Wollongong.The annual scholarship is given out to recently graduated high school students who are enrolled in a health related course at university.For information on the scholarship contact Rebecca Reid on 4861 0288 or email [email protected].
Fairfield Hospital has enjoyed an incredible amount of community generosity recently, receiving donations of more than $200,000 from a number of different local groups. The Lugroup, ABC Tissues, Janbay Hardware and the Vietnamese community are all to thank for the incredible generosity.
Maternity Midwifery Unit Manager Catherine Niec, Jenny and Henry Ngai from ABC tissues and Fairfield Hospital General Manager Arnold Tammekand.
Current and previous staff celebrated 50 years of providing education for sick children at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital.
Student midwife Krystal-Anne Chesterfield from Fairfield Hospital is part of the largest cohort of Aboriginal student midwives to start work in NSW public hospitals. Health Minister Jillian Skinner congratulated the midwives at NSW Parliament House. The student midwives successfully applied for the training positions via the Midwifery Student Application for Recruitment and Training (MidStART) webpage. NSW has the highest number of Aboriginal midwives, at 79.For information on the MidStART program, visit: bit.ly/1MRQaXa
President of Bowral Hospital Auxiliary Joan Lowe with Mitchell Brummel and Bowral & District Hospital General Manager Valerie Jovanovic.
NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner (left) with the new cohort of Aboriginal student midwives.
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Ringing in...
Bells are ringing at the Liverpool Cancer Therapy Centre, and each triumphant ring marks the end of one patient’s physical and emotional journey through radiation therapy.
An official bell has been installed at the Centre so patients can commemorate the end of their treatment, a wide spread tradition around the world.
Mrs Lynette Cassapi, Director Radiation Therapy Liverpool and Macarthur Cancer Therapy Centres said completing radiation therapy treatment was a monumental feat for patients.
“Whether they have completed a course of five treatments or 39, reaching the end is a huge milestone in what often is the toughest time of their life,” Mrs Cassapi said.
On a normal day the Radiation Therapy Department can treat over 100 patients for different cancers such as breast, prostate, lung, head and neck as well as skin cancers. Watch the video of the bell ringing here: http://bit.ly/1WguQlJ
Identity projectA new eHealth NSW project aims to make staff identity details consistent across Stafflink, Outlook Address Book, and the Staff Directory. The Identity Project is also a precursor to the proposed implementation of and migration to, the whole of eHealth NSW messaging (eMail) and archiving solution.This project is called State-Wide Infrastructure Services (SWIS) Identity Management, and will run over the next 10 – 14 months. Over the coming months, the SWIS project team members may be in contact by email or phone where assistance is required to check your details are correct in the systems.
Salary packagingStaff from our new salary packaging provider Maxxia have been visiting staff at facilities across the District.If you have any questions you can chat to them in person or call Maxxia on 1300 123 123 Monday to Friday from 8am to 7pm.For more information visit: maxxia.com.au/my-hub/swslhd
Nick Collins scholarshipA memorial fund has been established in honour of Dr Nick Collins, who tragically passed away in August 2014.The fund will provide a scholarship to send one Western Sydney University medical student to the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Annual Conference each year.Nick was a Senior Lecturer with the Campbelltown School of Medicine’s Department of General Practice. As an active member of the RACGP, Nick was pleased to see students engaged in RACGP activities.For more information visit: bit.ly/1R9X8xK
More than 250 community members, doctors and scientists attended the Ingham Institute’s Women in Science luncheon recently.The day was a huge success with the south western Sydney community getting behind local doctors and researchers in their fight against the most prevalent diseases affecting the community. The event honoured International Women’s Day and recognised the contribution of the extraordinary women working at the Ingham Institute. The focus for this year’s luncheon was the Institute’s research into Diabetes, in response to the epidemic in south western Sydney.
Women in science celebrated
SWSLHD Chief Executive Amanda Larkin (far right) joined women from across south western Sydney at the luncheon.
