In The Loop- June 2023

Page 5

MILESTONE FOR MARVELLOUS MIDWIFE MALLEY WITH 45 YEARS OF BIRTHING BABIES UNDER HER BELT

#HELLOMYNAMEIS INITIATIVE ADOPTED ACROSS ALL SEM HOSPITALS

LOOP IN THE

COVETED AWARD FOR COMPASSIONATE CAREGIVER

JUNE 2023
SJOG.ORG.AU/SEM
Jeni Whitefield honoured with state-wide award for excellence in palliative care nursing

Welcome

LISA NORMAN

General Manager, South East Melbourne Hospitals

Recently Group Chief Executive Officer, Bryan Pyne, emailed all caregivers across St John of God Health Care advising that, as we continue to emerge from the COVID pandemic, an organisation-wide review of all parts of the organisation is underway. The aim of the review initiative is to make sure St John of God Health Care is in the best possible shape to meet the evolving health care needs of our communities.

Here across our South East Melbourne hospitals, our HMC and leadership teams are managing our inputs to this review.

During the course of this review some hard decisions may be taken. This may result in changes to services, a reduction in caregiver numbers in some areas, and increases in others to support services that have growth potential.

You have my commitment that all decisions will have the best interests of our community, our patients and our caregivers at heart.

In the immediate term, it is most important that we all continue to be disciplined financial stewards and maintain a high degree of rigour around budgets and tracking.

As Bryan mentioned, we are not in this alone. Many organisations (including other healthcare providers) are in the same boat, working hard to regain their pre-COVID position.

As an organisation, we are focussing on this now, so we are well prepared for the new financial year and can be back to the financial position we need to be in 12 months’ time.

The past few years have been tough, and this next period brings a new set of challenges. The commitment and professionalism that you all demonstrated during the pandemic gives me every confidence that we will successfully push through this period as well. We are truly grateful for the work you do.

Forums have been held recently at each site, providing caregivers with the chance to hear from from HMC members. They were also given an opportunity to ask questions.

Naturally, if you have more questions about any of the above, please reach out to your Manager or contact me directly via email on lisa.norman@sjog.org.au. I will be on leave until the end June, so during this time please contact Linda Allen Acting General Manager South East Melbourne. Linda.allen@sjog.org.au

Patient-centred initiative rolls out across SEM hospitals

Despite spending many years refining her own bedside manner, geriatrician Kate Granger had the opportunity to experience first-hand how it feels to be on the opposite side of the bedsheets when she was admitted to hospital in 2013 with post-operative sepsis.

Described by Kate as being the first rung on a ladder in providing truly compassionate person-centred care — the lack of introduction she received from caregivers prompted Kate to launch a global campaign to make the simple act of saying, “hello my name is,” the first thing caregivers do as part of standard hospital care.

For Kate, receiving news that her cancer (an aggressive form of sarcoma) had spread from a doctor whom she’d never met, nor had taken the time to even introduce himself, left her feeling deep psychological distress and a permanent scar on her psyche.

Determined to save other patients from a similar pain and experience, Kate launched a Twitter campaign with the hashtag #hellomynameis to encourage and remind healthcare workers of the importance the gesture of introduction is to patients in their care.

Since its launch in 2013, that tweet has appeared over 2.5 billion times and within 18 months of its inception, had seen this approach to providing care endorsed by more than 400,000 caregivers across 90 organisations.

Why is this campaign important to us?

The success of the global #hellomynameis movement highlighted a simple course of action that significantly improved person-centred care — a major focus that underpins the quality of care being delivered across all St John of God Health Care hospitals.

“Our 3Cs Program aims to support all of our caregivers in both clinical and non-clinical roles to deliver personcentred care in every encounter, at every moment, with every person every day,” explains St John of God Berwick Hospital Director of Nursing Allison Merrigan.

“And we do that through communication, connection and compassion which forms the basis of our 3Cs strategy.”

The 3Cs of St John of God Health Care

Introduced at our Murdoch Hospital in 2016, the 3Cs Program was reviewed and standardised for adoption across all SJGHC facilities and services with the aim of developing a team-based approach to implementing quality improvement projects that fit the following three criteria:

Connection

• We see and treat the whole person by including our patients in the handover process and any other discussions and decisions surrounding their care.

• Our patients know how to make complaints and provide feedback.

Compassion

• Our patients are our ‘partners’ in their care and we feel ‘with’ them in their discomfort or suffering.

Communication

• We make eye contact and introduce ourselves.

• We confirm the identity of the patient.

• We encourage two way sharing of information about a patient’s condition and treatment.

“The 3Cs is the ethos we subscribe to that covers our commitment to the way we deliver care to our patients,” says St John of God Health Care General Manager South East Melbourne Hospitals, Lisa Norman.

“It’s all about recognising that every patient is a person with individual needs and wants about the way they’d like to be cared for. Not introducing ourselves can leave patients feeling disconnected, unsure and confused. By taking the time to say, ‘hello my name is …’ we can deliver the connection, communication and compassion to our patients that we continuously strive to provide.”

Doctor-turned-patient, Kate Granger, spent her last few years of life not only battling terminal cancer but leading the fight for compassionate care with her global awareness campaign, #hellomynameis…

Celebration for compassionate caregiver

Noala Flynn was a passionate nurse who devoted her life to caring for people at the end of theirs. Having been made the Member of the Order of Australia in 2005 for her services to palliative care, and in recognition of the difference she made to improving the quality of life of her patients and their loved ones, her family chose to establish an annual award in her honour after she passed away in 2020.

Named the Noala Flynn AM Award for Excellence in Palliative Care Nursing, this acknowledgement aims to highlight the passion and leadership of one Victorian palliative care nurse each year.

And the 2023 winner is... our very own Frankston hospital caregiver and ANUM Jeni Whitefield

For Jeni, who grew up wanting to be a midwife, she sees the connection between birth and death and the holistic spiritual care needed for people experiencing these life events as both similar and indeed, equally special. It’s this perception that helps Jeni explain why she was drawn to the field of palliative care in the first place.

“It was challenging to be opening palliative care beds alongside a rehabilitation ward,” says Jeni who was tasked with establishing the new unit when Frankston hospital diversified its services to meet local demand last year.

“In a rehabilitation hospital we encourage independence to help our patients get back on their feet and fit enough to go home,” offers Jeni. “Whereas our work with palliative patients requires a change in focus, with us supporting them as much as we can to retain quality of life for as long as possible — unlike rehab where the main goal is to improve it.”

Nominated by fellow caregiver and ANUM Leah Ebanks, Jeni was recognised for displaying exceptional dedication and perseverance as lead nurse in the establishment of the new palliative care service.

“This was a significant shift for our hospital and our caregivers,” admits Leah. “But Jeni played a pivotal role in educating and supporting staff in providing high quality care for our community. I nominated Jeni because she worked tirelessly setting up policies and protocols and is always a joy to work with.”

Leah continues, “Regardless of what is happening on the ward, Jeni greets everyone with a smile and her genuine passion for caring for others and reducing suffering shines through in everything she does,” says Leah, adding that, “Jeni is the kindest, most knowledgeable, empathetic and compassionate nurse I have ever worked with. I feel very blessed to work alongside her. None of what we have achieved with this new unit would have been possible without her.”

St John of God Frankston Rehabilitation Hospital Director of Clinical Services Karen Ward agrees, “Jeni is a credit to our organisation. At the time of establishing our new palliative care unit we had no other trained palliative care nurses at Frankston, so Jeni applied to transfer from Berwick to help support our team. She’s a well-deserving recipient and we are delighted to see that she has been recognised through this award for all the amazing work she does.”

While Jeni was not short of people wanting to praise her as a result of this award, she was quick to point out that the success of the new unit was a result of the team she works with.

“I work with amazingly supportive colleagues so although I was overwhelmed when I’d learned I’d been nominated, I wasn’t surprised that they would go to those lengths to champion me. I’m really proud of what we have achieved in the past year. I love working in palliative care and receiving feedback in the way of these kind of awards and from families thanking us for our care, is truly a gift that I am forever grateful for. It makes me proud to be a palliative care nurse and proud of the service we provide to people at the most vulnerable time of their lives.”

St John of God South East Melbourne Hospitals
Jeni Whitefield pictured with Noala Flynn’s husband Gerald and children Rachel, Allison and Anthony at the award presentation held during Palliative Care Week in May.

Department in the spotlight: Palliative Care – Frankston

“Our unit is getting busier,” declares Leah Ebanks who shares ANUM responsibilities with fellow colleague Jeni Whitefield. “Word-of-mouth is seeing lots of patients being referred from Peninsula Home Hospice and we even had a patient transferred recently from Cabrini so they could be closer to their home and family in Dromana.”

Recognising the challenges the new unit faced having caregivers with limited experience in delivering end-of-life care, Jeni spent countless hours setting up policies and protocols and educating the team on how to provide physical and emotional support — not only to their patients and their loved ones, but also to each other.

“Having open conversations about death and dying has been important and we encourage each other to debrief whenever we have found something to be distressing, which happens sometimes when you have a patient who might be a similar age to you, or you see children the same age as yours with a loved one in palliative care.”

Leah adds that these experiences and the approach they take to managing them leads to a stronger team bond and worth ethic. “We are really fortunate to have a group of people willing to learn so they can work towards the ultimate goal of helping people die with dignity, as comfortably as possible, and with our help and support, exactly as they wish to.”

This is evident particularly in cases where a patient has deteriorated faster than expected or their case has become more complex. “Sometimes we have to work very quickly and collaboratively to ensure a patient gets the end-of-life experience they want and deserve,” shares Jeni.

“It’s very humbling to see our team work alongside allied health, community palliative care and other specialists to get a patient home so they can spend quality time with loved ones before dying peacefully surrounded by them.”

“After building therapeutic relationships with these people, it’s heartwarming to learn that through doing our job well, we’ve been able to make a positive impact on the lives of our patients and those who love them.”

IN THE LOOP - June 2023 5
It’s been a year since our Frankston hospital opened its doors to palliative care patients and despite being known (and named) as a rehabilitation hospital, word is getting out about the exceptional care being provided to patients entering end-of-life care or have a life-limiting illness.
L to R: Monique Sverdvik (NUM), Jeni Whitefield, Jacob Goodingham (rehab nurse), Therese Kandetzki and Kathryn Lomak

Caregiver wellbeing focus

Caregiver wellbeing has always been a focus for the South East Melbourne Occupational Health and Safety Team, but has recently come under renewed spotlight with the current challenges facing the health care industry. Learn about some of the initiatives we are working on to improve workplace wellbeing.

Fitness Passport

We recently invited caregivers to take part in a survey asking them to nominate which fitness facilities they’d like to attend as part of a corporate health and fitness program called Fitness Passport. Response to the online questionnaire was strong and the feedback received is helping Fitness Passport collate the information and prepare a membership program that will provide access to 100s of gyms, pools and recreation centres across the locations selected by caregivers in the results.

Individual memberships to the program will cost less than $15 a week and family memberships (which include partners and dependent children under 18) will cost $25 or less per week. Caregivers who sign up to the program will have access to all facilities listed and with no limitation on which ones they visit or how often they attend them. Thank you for all who responded. We have heard that you see fitness as a priority in your lives.

MOVE challenge

Through our EAP provider Converge International, the OHS team has been able to promote the MOVE challenge — a virtual step around the world exercise aimed at encouraging physical activity and enhancing overall wellbeing.

Workplace Wellbeing

Converge also has an app that caregivers can download to your phone that promotes better physical and psychological wellbeing strategies. Access to EAP services is available 24 hours a day for caregivers and their immediate family members.

Divisional committees

Divisional wellbeing committees have now been set up and are run by caregivers, for caregivers. All departments are represented by a wellbeing group member who will raise ideas for potential activities or initiatives to be discussed and implemented. Caregivers with suggestions to be considered are encouraged to share them with your department wellbeing group member. If you’re not sure who that is please ask your manager.

Wellness massages

As part of our SEM Wellbeing strategy, Frankston and Langmore caregivers have been enjoying 15 minute onsite massages over the past few weeks, with Berwick caregivers next in line for the relaxing treat. Keep an eye out for emails with available times. Bookings can be made easily via QR code found on hardcopy posters around hospitals or through digital versions delivered to your inbox.

Wellbeing activities at work

Frankston recently initiated Harmony Day where they celebrated their multicultural backgrounds by wearing a touch of orange and sharing foods of origin. It was pleasing to see Berwick and Langmore enthusiastically adopt this initiative once hearing what Frankston had already planned.

St John of God South East Melbourne Hospitals
The Day Onoclogy team at Berwick get together to enjoy hand massages. Frankston hospital caregivers also share food in celebration of Harmony Day. Berwick’s Pre-Admissions team share food from their country of origin for Harmony Day.

Helping Hands

Introducing the inaugural Going GREEN section to our caregiver newsletter.

As part of the SEM Sustainability Committee’s goal to reduce waste and improve sustainability across our hospitals we will be featuring a new and regular Going GREEN feature within In The Loop to discuss plans, objectives and provide progress updates to our caregivers.

What is the SEM Sustainability Committee?

The SEM Sustainability Committee meets once a month with representatives from all three hospitals and from a variety of clinical and non-clinical departments to discuss issues and opportunities to reduce waste and improve on sustainable processes including:

• Reducing energy consumption

• Encouraging appropriate recycling of plastics, batteries, paper, confidential waste, uniforms expired medical consumables, plastic pockets etc.

• Appropriate disposal of organic waste

• Reducing food waste

• Electric car charging.

If you have any suggestions about how to reduce waste and improve on recycling within your department or within our hospitals, please email sara.crees@sjog.org.au.

St John of God Health Care is committed to maintaining a workplace culture that is safe and inclusive for all caregivers, patients and visitors. The organisation’s official policy states: Inclusion and Diversity is the practice of acceptance, respect and recognition of individual differences such as background, skills, talents and perspectives, as well as characteristics that are protected under equal opportunity legislation.

To uphold this, Director of Mission Integration Rhonda O’Connor and Director of Clinical Services Mental Health Shelley Cooper are calling on caregivers to form a culture, inclusion and diversity committee that would also incorporate the Reconciliation Working Party which engages in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues.

If you are interested or passionate about making a contribution in this area and can commit to attending a bi-monthly meeting register your interest by getting in touch with either:

Rhonda or Shelley

Rhonda.O’Connor@sjog.org.au

87845026 or 0451 001 304

Shelley.Cooper@sjog.org.au

9773 7011

Want to see more culture, inclusion and diversity at work? Join the club! Group Workforce is making it easier to get help when you need it

A dedicated telephone line has been launched to help caregivers quickly and easily get answers to questions around recruitment, contracts, HR services and compliance.

While caregivers can still submit enquiries through the Caregiver Employment Services Portal (CES) on ZENworks or through the quick links icon on Cora, the new number is being introduced to provide more options, as well as improve Group Workforce’s level of service.

Group Workforce can be contacted on 1300 629 079 with direct access available for specific enquiries:

• Press #1 for recruitment — current vacancies and applications

• Press #2 for contracts — new caregivers contracts of employment

• Press #3 for HR services — current caregiver contracts, allowances, transferring or ending employment

• Press #4 for compliance — caregiver licenses, WWCC, registrations or a request for employment verifications, including statements of service

This service is available Monday to Friday from (9am to 7pm EST) excluding public holidays.

Please note:

• For pay related queries please call Payroll directly on 1800 666 554

• For MAXXIA queries please call MAXXIA directly on 1300 123 123.

IN THE
- June 2023 7
LOOP

SEMSCOOP In The Loop

Let’s look at Langmore

Caregiver comings and goings

Much loved Langmore team member Meg Evans was bid farewell last month after more than six years at SJGHC working her way up from Pinelodge Clinic ANUM to her most recent role as NUM of Langmore Centre’s Brighton Unit. Her energy, enthusiasm and clinical skills will be missed by all as she takes on a new role closer to home.

Van Gogh brings beauty and awareness to World Bipolar Day

Assumed to have bipolar disorder, Vincent Van Gogh was used to inspire the creation of a stunning 3D mixed media art piece in recognition of World Bipolar Day earlier this year.

Meg’s departure inevitably left a gap to fill and in the interim Chapa Herath has been appointed Acting NUM until a permanent replacement can be found.

In other team member news, Ash Francis has accepted the role of mental health educator starting at Langmore last month. According to Director of Clinical Services Shelley Cooper, “Ash brings a wealth of mental health and general nursing skills to the role and has vast experience working across public and private settings, along with previous education experience.”

One last visit for Sister Florence before her move to Perth.

Langmore Centre was honoured recently to have Sisters of St John of God, Sister Florence prioritise a visit to our mental health facility before moving to Perth earlier this year. Instrumental in establishing music therapy programs at St John of God Psychiatric Hospital in Brighton, Sister Florence holds a special tie to Langmore and the work it does in supporting patients with mental health conditions. Sister Florence was invited to tour the facility and share morning tea with our caregivers. We wish her well on her new adventure.

A collaboration between Langmore Centre art therapists and patients resulted in a variety of materials, from pipe cleaners and buttons to paper and wool used to recreate Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers artwork.

It’s now proudly hanging on the wall at our Gibb Street location for all to see.

St John of God South East Melbourne Hospitals

What’s the buzz around Berwick

Malley Martin celebrates 45 years as a midwife

You know you’ve been a midwife for a long time when you start delivering the babies of the babies you delivered many decades ago. And while most jobs come with their ups and downs, you know you really love yours when after 45 years you can still find something rewarding about it even on a bad day. “There’s always good and bad days,” shares Malley. “But even on the not-so-good days, I still find them fulfilling as well.”

Malley recalls wanting to be a nurse from the tender age of 10 and even considered it to be a good prospect if there were ever a chance she had to move to the country. “A midwifery certificate would make it easier

to get a job,” she mused before admitting that she never did move to the country. “But I knew that’s where my passion would really lie.”

You see a lot of changes when you’ve been in a profession for four and a half decades and for Malley, witnessing the evolution of a father’s role in the birth of his child has been the greatest transition to witness. “When I registered in 1978 it was very rare that they (fathers) were in the birth suite. And 100 times rarer that they’d be allowed to go into theatre to be with their partners in delivery. But now they can stay with them the whole time — of course they need to be, because they are a part of it all.”

A career highlight for Malley was being given the opportunity to teach the antenatal classes when she joined St John of God Berwick Hospital in 2015. “I’ve really been so passionate about teaching everyone to be hands on and being empowered to make decisions that are right for them.”

Congratulations Malley! Here’s to many more marvellous years in midwifery.

Time flies: last Gibb Street baby’s first day of prep

And just like that five years has passed. Sadie had the double honour of being the very last baby born at Berwick Hospital’s Gibb Street location and the first baby to stay at our new Kangan Drive site when she was transported by ambulance to our newly opened hospital in 2018. Coincidentally, Sadie’s father Shane was also born at the old Berwick Bush Nursing hospital in 1989.

Berwick caregivers awarded inaugural St John of God Health Care Scholarship

Josephine Johnston (surgical nurse) and Priscilla Singh (Clinical nurse consultant Infection Control and Prevention) were two of the 18 recipients to receive The St John of God Health Care Scholarship which was introduced in 2022 to reward and recognise performance excellence, support caregiver development and enable caregivers to make strong and positive contributions to the life of St John of God Health Care. This scholarship supports clinical caregivers in pursuing further education, contributing to SJGHC’s goal to be the best performing healthcare provider in Australia by 2025.

Birth beats

Did you know that our SJGHC midwives have curated a playlist based on some of the more popular choices made by expectant parents, as well as some that are a little ‘off the charts’ (pardon the pun)?

Of which begs the next question: how many times has ‘I want to break free’ or Salt-N-Pepper’s ‘Push it’ actually been requested and by who? If you’d like to check out the 37 songs that made the list search up St John of God Health Care on Spotify. Given the average time it takes to deliver a baby it might be a little ‘premature’ or ambitious to keep it to 2.5 hours.

IN THE LOOP - February 2023 9

Focus on Frankston

Caregivers take a walk for Parkinson’s

Avid supporters of the annual Walk in the Park event held in Melbourne and across Australia, Frankston Rehabilitation Hospital caregivers headed to Fed Square in March this year to take part in either a two or a four kilometre walk to raise awareness for Parkinson’s.

Over 1500 people attended the event raising more than $168,000 for Parkinson’s disease. Well done team.

Therapists delight guests with art and music showcase

In an effort to communicate how important creative therapies are to health, wellbeing and recovery, art therapist Lorin Randall and music therapist Stephanie Whyte hosted an evening to showcase local talent and patient artwork, as well as promote our services.

Approximately 35 people attended the exhibition with feedback indicating that the event was a great success. Lorin describes the evening as having a wonderful energy in the air with a number of guests excited to have their work on display and the opportunity to discuss their creative process with family, friends and visitors to the event.

“There were numerous conversations about the positive experiences and interactions had at our hospital by both patients and guests. As well as sharing feelings of appreciation over the effort taken to promote and celebrate our arts and health programs. Many talked about the enormous benefits they experienced as a result.”

Lorin notes that many family members and carers were in awe of the creative works their loved ones had produced as part of the art therapy program they participated in during their hospital stay.

In order to put on this exhibition the art therapy team were required to submit a proposal to SJGHC’s National Arts and Health team in order to access 50 per cent of the funding needed to run the event.

LSVT programs welcome patients back

Research was undertaken to establish what the patient benefits would be, what would be needed to hold the exhibition and how much it would cost overall.

The therapy team was successful in obtaining the grant after outlining its intention to promote and enhance the hospital’s art therapies programs and demonstrate the significance and importance of creative therapies in the rehabilitation process.

According to Lorin, this holistic approach assisted both the rehabilitation and palliative care patients by supporting the psychological aspects of a patient’s recovery journey. The opportunity to unconditionally express thoughts and feelings that are often hard to verbalise is backed up by evidence and supports best practice outcomes for patients and staff.

“I feel a great sense of achievement with our outcomes and goals attained,” shares Lorin. “The satisfaction expressed by all who attended was an honest reflection of the gratitude and appreciation felt by all participants.”

Guests were treated to light refreshments and enjoyed live music throughout the evening.

Forced to close during COVID-19, Frankston is excited to be re-opening and welcoming back patients to its very popular LSVT programs. Watch this space for further announcements of new programs and initiatives planned for SJGFRH.

St John of God South East Melbourne Hospitals

Caregiver profile

ALAN BRYAN

Catering Manager — SEM

If you think Alan looks familiar and you’ve seen him around one of our hospitals before but just can’t quite put your finger on which one... it’s probably because he’s worked at a few of them.

Having been employed with St John of God Health Care’s Hotel Services division on three separate occasions over the past 12 years, Alan returned once again at the end of 2022 to take on the role of catering manager for our South East Melbourne hospitals.

Alan has a steeped history working in food services within the private healthcare sector after starting as an apprentice chef and working his way up the leadership ladder. When Alan isn’t working he spends his time maintaining his property, playing golf or walking his dog (Hungarian Vizsla) Lexi.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

At an early age I always was in the kitchen with my mum. There were lots of school fetes so always lots of baking to be done. I really wanted to be a pastry chef or chef.

What’s your favourite thing to do on a weekend?

Take it easy, play golf if possible and during football season I love to go watch my team Melbourne demons play.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert?

I would say introvert, but on occasions can be a little extrovert.

Do you play an instrument? If not, what would you like to learn to play?

Unfortunately I don’t play anything, but would have love to have learned how to play the saxophone.

What has been your favourite holiday?

I have been lucky enough to do a couple of trips to Europe.

The last time was to England for my son’s wedding a couple of years ago, I just love the history and the scenery. Always good to have locals who can show you the sights.

If you could pick anywhere else in the world to go, where would it be?

I’d like to go back to Dubai and stay in one of the top hotels there.

What’s your favourite season? Summer. I like the warmer weather and being able to get into shorts and a t-shirt — also the longer days.

Have you ever met anyone famous? A few celebrity chefs — famous to me anyway, for example Ainsley Harriot.

What show are you currently bingewatching or book you are reading? Ted Lasso. And any book by Bernard Cornwell.

What skill do you think you could improve on? Excel!

What’s something you’re really bad at? Singing.

If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be? Nothing, I am grateful for the experiences I have had so far.

Who do you look up to?

There is a CEO who just sets out to achieve great things and lucky for me I have had the opportunity to work with them and be a part of some of those achievements.

Morning person or night-owl?

Morning – get up and make the most of the day.

What was your first paying job? Storeman at Woolworths.

Did you learn a new skill or did anything positive happen to you during Covid?

The positive that we had, as a family, was my son and his wife moved from England back to live in Australia. They got stuck and had to stay with us before they could move onto their final destination which was Brisbane. Each weekend during their stay we had themed dinner nights. From formal dinners and murder mystery dinners to a Tour de French theme. In the end I think it was 32 of these we had. Each week one, or a couple, would be responsible for organising meals, dress ups, games, invitations etc.

It was a great distraction and it gave us all something to look forward to. It was really very special during a time that could be quite frustrating.

What do you love most about your job/workplace?

The culture, people/caregivers all have the same focus and that is the patient’s wellbeing.

This is my third time back with SJG so that must say something for the workplace.

IN THE LOOP - June 2023 11
SJGHC Board Visit IN THE LOOP - JUNE 2023 St John of God Health Care South East Melbourne Hospitals Aust rali a’s Biggest Morning Tea

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