I started in 3A when the hospital opened in 1993.

There was a small estate starting to be built in what is now Central Lakes but the area between the hospital and there was swamp and bush.

I worked permanent part-time nights and we had a dedicated nights-only team with a CN and a team on the floor.

Other staff rotated on nights but less frequently as we did most of them.

It was certainly a lot less busy on nights then and we would enjoy having time to talk and eat.

We all knew each other and were quite a close-knit group.

In this photo of our team back in those days, I’m in the middle row, far left.

Back then all the corridors in all the wards were carpeted, which is crazy to think about now.

I worked on 3A for nine years before moving to CCU here at Caboolture for six years.

I left for six years to work in community at North Lakes doing Cardiac Rehab and chronic disease management.

In August 2015, I came back in an Advance Care Planning (ACP) Facilitator project role and after five years we were all grateful to have the positions
appointed permanently.

During the past eight years I have had several thousand ACP conversations, which have turned into more than 2000 home or clinic visits to facilitate the completion of ACP documents (Enduring Power of Attorney, Advance Health Directives or Statement of Choices).

The result is 2400-plus facilitated document completions, with around two-thirds of those being returned and filed in charts.

Knowing I have helped over 1600 people in our community ensure their most important health information is ready and on hand in our hospitals when they need it most is really rewarding.

Throughout the eight years, I have also enjoyed doing medical, nursing, and allied health education.

Community groups and aged care facilities invite me to speak at their events and it’s an awesome privilege to engage with our local community, like in this photo (right) at the Caboolture Neighbourhood Centre Open Day.

It is very gratifying that our health service has prioritised a service to support our hospital to be able to care for vulnerable people at a time when they are unable to share their own voice.

Hubby finds my job disconcerting as he finds it hard to discuss end-of-life issues but I’m all about living well. Every weekend will find me in a yoga class then at the beach or hiking in the hinterland.

I also enjoy travelling to Melbourne to visit and annoy my youngest son and my eldest son is a teacher in one of our
local primary schools, so it’s nice to have him nearby.

Have you got a story to share? Email ckw-engage@health.qld.gov.au.