Adj Prof Jackie Hanson, Chief Executive

With a cyclone in the north and heatwave conditions continuing across a lot of the state, it’s a good time ahead of the long weekend to make sure we’re prepared. If you’re working over the long weekend, please keep in contact with your line manager and monitor weather and road conditions as there is a possibility of rain and storms. Don’t forget we have our Metro North emergency and disaster response extranet site where we provide updates for staff in the event of severe weather.

Community visiting

On Tuesday I spent half the day driving around with Greta, a nurse in the Post Acute Care team, to visit patients in the community. It’s been many years since I was clinical and it was good to experience some time in the life of our home visiting staff. It was very rewarding to see how passionate and dedicated the staff are who spend their days visiting people in their homes to deliver care. Thank you, Greta, for sharing your day with me.

Care Collective Redcliffe

Last Wednesday we launched the expansion of the Health Alliance Care Collective into Redcliffe. Already nine GP clinics in the Redcliffe region are participating in the program to support people living with COPD, congestive heart failure, and other conditions which would otherwise require emergency department presentations.

We have seen success from the Care Collective Caboolture, and the expansion into Redcliffe will provide the Moreton Bay community with even more complex case coordination closer to home.

The Care Collective Redcliffe is supported with funding from the Queensland Health Reform Office and the Commonwealth Primary Care Pilots Program. The Health Alliance is a partnership between Metro North and Brisbane North PHN.

Women’s Health Expo

Earlier this week I was very pleased to attend the first Health Women’s Health Expo at Brighton Health Campus. The expo was a partnership between the Women’s Business Shared Pathway team and Community and Oral Health and provided education and opportunistic screening for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women who attended. This is one of the many important things we’re doing to improve health outcomes on our journey to health equity.

26 January

The 26th January means different things to people who live in Australia. For people not born in Australia it can mean appreciating opportunities that are on offer. For a lot of people born Australian, it is pride in our beautiful country. However, I respectfully acknowledge our Metro North Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and workforce as tomorrow may be a difficult date in history, and acknowledge the hurt and pain they may be experiencing. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, 26 January is a reminder of what their ancestors endured and the intergenerational trauma that comes with that history.

As part of the health equity journey, we support ongoing truth telling alongside our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees, respected Elders, and community. There is a movement across Australia of truth-telling to ask us to tell a different story and to remember differently. It asks all of us to consider what is the history of this country? What are the languages, places, stories, and sovereignties that defined this place over 60,000 years ago? I encourage a deep reflection on our shared history and to continually educate on the voices shared from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities we serve.

I encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees who may require extra support at this time to reach out to the Social and Emotional Wellbeing Program and to utilise the resources available to you. Please know you have our full support at Metro North Health.

Compliment

Our Clinical Skills Development Service received a compliment this week from a participant in the new waterbirth training course.

The participant is a midwifery educator from a regional health service and said:

“I also did the CSDS waterbirth online training package yesterday and it was honestly the best online training course I’ve ever completed.”

Since the course was introduced in May last year, there have been more than 1000 enrolments and more than 630 people have already completed the course. Well done to the CSDS Queensland Maternity Education team.

Good news stories

Last week I shared some of the positive stories that we’ve published on the new Metro North Newsroom. If you have some interesting research, a good patient outcome story, a new program, or would like to profile your team or a staff member, contact the Communication team.

Kind regards,

Jackie.