Today, we continued our executive visits to Community and Oral Health facilities at Chermside Community Health Centre, and it was nice to spend some time with the team and enjoy a bit of sun in the courtyard.

I am continually grateful for the work that you all do and the way you work to support your colleagues.

As part of the Chermside morning tea, we acknowledged quite a few deserving shining star winners.

Our Chermside Shining Star Winners

Jodie Blaik, Administrative Officer, Post Acute Care Service: For being a never-ending source of knowledge, help and kindness.

Kerry Parker, Administrative Officer, Post Acute Care Service: For being a joy to work with and making life so much easier for staff.

Danielle McGovern, Speech Pathologist, Community Based Rehabilitation Team: For showing compassion, respect and kindness to her patients and colleagues over many years.

Helen Perryer, Administrative Officer, Chermside Community Health Centre: For a hands-on approach and an ability to deliver noticeable improvements around the facility.

Finally, the last winner was a team that continues to demonstrate exceptional teamwork and compassion to their patients and patient’s families and carers.

Post Acute Care Service

“On behalf of myself and my brother as full-time carers for our mother I would like to express our appreciation and sincere thanks to all the members of the Post Acute Care Service who helped in the care and wellbeing of our mother after her stroke and her subsequent hospitalisation and discharge.

“It was wonderful to see the respect, compassion and dignity for our mother which was shown by each member of the team who visited our home and those who followed up by telephone.

“I am very happy to provide this positive feedback to the members of the PACS team who provided all the services to my mother and who helped me immensely in my full-time carer duties. All the staff displayed wonderful caring attributes.

“To the physiotherapist, thank you for your home program of simple exercises for my mum to do. I persist and encourage mum to do them at her own pace as much as possible.

“To the occupational therapist, thank you for your suggestions and information I have de-cluttered our home to decrease the falls risk for mum. To the social worker, thank you for listening to all my concerns and the information you have provided.

“To the nursing staff your visit and your reassurance about bed sores and pressure points were most helpful and informative.

“To the speech pathologist – thank you so much! Once again thank you very much for all that you did. Blessings and best wishes to each and everyone of you.”

More detail about all of these nominations will be provided in the Voice of Chermside publication which will be released next week.

Our broader COH Shining Stars

This month we also received some additional Shining Star Award nominations, please take the time to congratulate:

• Karen McGlone, Administration Officer, Hospital in the Home
• Hailan Zang, Assistant in Nursing, Halwyn Centre
• Jodie Brandt, Administration Officer, Hospital in the Home
• Amy Wolfendon, Administration Officer, Hospital in the Home
• Maddyson Hall, Administration Officer, Hospital in the Home

The winner of the COH-wide Shining Star award will be announced later in the month when we make a special visit to present the award.

The COH Rainbow Room opening!

I am very pleased to see, among everything else going on at the moment, the establishment of a fabulous new initiative that will help support diversity, inclusiveness and health outcomes across our service.

The COH Rainbow Room will provide staff, patients, residents and families access to peers with lived experience from the LGBTIQA+ community, and provide support for our staff and everyone in our care.

This Friday, May 26, between 2.00 – 3.00 pm, the COH Rainbow Room launch will be held at three locations.

• Brighton Wellness Hub
• North Lakes Health Precinct, Ground Floor B03 Meeting Room
• Zillmere Residential Transition Care Program, Meeting Room.

If you can’t attend in person there is also a Microsoft Teams link (below) for everyone who wants to participate.

Join the launch on Teams.

Glynis.