COH Response to the Flood Emergency
Our Shining Star Winners – March 2022
Gratitude Box: Community and Oral Health’s Overall Severe Weather Response
“I would like to acknowledge the following staff:
- DNMs Lorelle Rynne and Susan Cawley who covered most of the sick leave and facilitated meals during the event.
- A big thank you to Glynis Shultz , Michelle Kane and Trish Turner for checking in with us we really appreciate your support.
“And a host of people that did extraordinary things on the weekend:
- Penny Forster
- Laxmi Achanya
- A Northwood
- Tracey Cresdee
- William McIntosh
- Doris Chuma
- Chongsoon Ryu
- Jacki Mackinnnon
- Sandra Monterio
- Heidi Owen
- Tim Preston
- Gillian Cowell
- Angie Hearps
- Vincent Teleron
- Del Herrington
- Letitia Gimblett
- Cathy Riley
- Catherine Recto
- Swari Shrestha
- Pricilla Chetty
- Chloe Maibach
- Ruku Poudel
- Ajeshni Chand
- Ganesh Poudel
- Ambika Pradhan
- Emi Ford
- Anju KC
- Pam Beran
- Antionette Brzezinski
- Pat Kusena Muhle
- Lincy Thomas
- K Hilton
- Wanda Russell
- Usha Chand
- Shrijana Parajuli
- Halwyn Vinod Sharma.
COH Emergency Operations Centre Duty Manager – Oliver Walker, A/Safety and Quality Facilitator – Casey McCoist, and Duty Manager Jodi Dwyer
“Their approach to supporting staff through this COVID period and the recent flood event demonstrates all our organisational values.
“It amazes me the patience, respect and responsiveness they are showing to our staff and teams to make sure everyone gets the information they need to provide safe and high-quality care.
“They appear so cool, calm and collected. And it helps! Thank you team.”
Oral Health Services Assistant Business Manager Peter Duffy
“Peter has displayed tremendous initiative and versatility over the duration of this wet weather event. For example, upon realising that the MNOH fleet vehicles were at risk, Peter quickly made arrangements to attempt to secure the vehicles.
“Peter did this over the weekend when he was officially “off duty”. Since then, in addition to his regular duties, Peter has performed a range of activities to assist with maintaining activities occurring at the Oral Health Directorate while other staff have been unable to attend the workplace.”
Patient Support Services Supervisor Peter Lee
“Due to the constant stream of water experienced here at the Brighton Health Campus with a lot of that water coming inside various buildings, our Patient Support Services Supervisor Peter Lee was on the wet/dry vacuum for most of the weekend and again today.
“Peter had to still keep the daily operations running across all the COH sites with the increased challenges of staff absences and the extra requests for assistance due to the weather event, but Peter still managed to do it all with a smile.
“So just wanted to give Peter a big shout out for a job well done.”
Duty Nurse Managers – Lorelle Rynne and Susan Cawley
“The Duty Nurse Managers were amazing over the weekend (as always). They have been absolutely smashed with the floods and COVID response over the past few months.
“This team carries a huge workload and particularly over the weekend (everything happens after hours) doing the job of many. They deserve to be awarded the team of the year!”
In Addition
“Over the weekend these ladies were confronted with continuous critical situations from every aspect including building and infrastructure issues, workforce issues, patient safety concerns, etc.
“Their clear ability to communicate issues and priorities across the weekend allowed a strategic BEMS response to ensure a safe environment was maintained. Absolute superhuman effort by these ladies and I for one was very grateful of their support!”
“Both ladies showed incredible expertise, professionalism and calmness under a great deal of pressure of having to respond and communicate with not only staff across all services but also to executives.
“Along with this, they maintained good humour and teamwork to complete an incredible job in ensuring not only the ongoing safety of residents but also the safety of staff.”
Brighton Brain Injury Service
“All the nursing staff in BBIS who did overtime to ensure that patients were safe when other staff were unable to safely get to work. Also, the Allied Health team who were flexible in helping out in other areas where needed to cover staff shortages.”
Clinical Nurse Suzanne Preston
“I would like to compliment and thank the nurse in charge along with the night staff at Zillmere. Yesterday, I had a shift for concierge and when leaving realised I was cut off from home.
“After 1.5 hours of trying to get there I turned around and came back. Suzette was absolutely amazing. Not only taking me in for the night also my sister who was working at the RBWH who also became stranded. Her quick thinking helped us in a really tricky and stressful situation. We were given food, hot showers, dry clothes and a bed.
“I don’t think she realised just how much she helped us. We both have young children at home and a family that we couldn’t get to. By her being so open and kind to us it made a very stressful situation so much better.”
COH Gardener and SES Volunteer Ronni Aquilina
“The staff who are volunteers for SES, VMR, ADF Reserve and other volunteers who put their life and limb at risk to keep people safe in disaster events.
“One notable COH staff member who has done this on the weekend of the “rain bombs” was Ronni Aquilina.
“He put his own safety aside to use a boat to rescue people who were trapped and in danger during the flooding.”
Allied Health A/Director, Ansuyah Padayachee
“I would like to emphasis the work of some key staff, including Ansuyah Padayachee for her stewardship as the executive on call over the weekend to ensure that care continued as best as possible given the wet weather circumstances.
“Her leadership was exceptional in a time of crisis, and she took on the major responsibility with a friendly, relaxed and compassionate manner.
“Ann is an exceptional colleague who always puts others first including our patients and staff and is a credit to Community and Oral Health and the whole of Metro North Health.”
Nursing Workforce Team
“Our nursing workforce is a team that responds consistently behind the scenes to not only the infrastructure challenges, but the numerous staff replacements when staff can’t get to work because of road conditions and so much more.
“Our workforce team play such an important role and we are so grateful for their continued efforts and commitment.”
The Cooinda House Team
“The Cooinda House team went above and beyond over the weekend with many staff working overtime to cover deficits and put the resident’s welfare and care before their own families.
“Staff were offering safe places of refuge within their own homes so staff did not have to be put in danger.”
Building, Engineering and Maintenance Service Manager Matt Smith
“Matt is a complete professional in all his communication and steers a tight ship to just get jobs done!
“Matt and his team kicked into high gear to manage the numerous infrastructure issues and challenges that arose during a very difficult and demanding period.
“Matt and the crew are a truly selfless asset to the whole directorate.”
Metro North Oral Health Services Corporate Services Manager Roslyn Hollett
“Roslyn has been another one of our MNOHS staff who has consistently gone ‘above and beyond’ during this difficult period.
Roslyn has assisted with rapidly convening meetings with staff, liaising with appropriate departments and authorities to arrange repairs to MNOHS assets and infrastructure.
Roslyn has also assisted by performing duties outside her customary role in order to maintain business continuity in the absence of staff unable to attend the workplace.”
Community Palliative Care Team
“Our Palliative Care team are always there for their patients, and their families to care for their loved ones in home even when confronted with road closures and delays to services due to the recent extreme weather event.”
Hospital in The Home
“A big thank you to our Hospital in the Home team who have had to go to extreme lengths to problem solve many episodes of care and in particular, how to deliver critical care to a gentleman on Bribie Island.
“This involved lots of agencies and included dialysis and medication runs to Bribie Island by the Redcliffe Coast Guard.”
Hospital in the Home Team Leader Varun Sharma and Registered Nurse Maria Christensen
“I would like to nominate the HITH team for their exceptional contribution in continuing to provide high standards of care during very difficult times.
“Each and every staff member who worked over the weekend deserves a stand up applause for the feat that was done to continue care.
“I would also like to highlight the staff members Varun Sharma and Maria Christensen – staff who live on Bribie and who kindly continued to care for a patient who was isolated on the island.”
MNOHS Patient Access and Call Centre Teams
“These teams have provided a proactive and agile response during the recent weather event.
“They were called upon to reschedule appointment times/locations and respond to an extremely large volume of calls over the past five days.
“Many staff have volunteered to work longer shifts and altered roster patterns to assist with this spike in demand and in order to help keep our staff and patients safe.”
Virtual Ward
“The Virtual Ward team continued to deliver care to those at home with COVID-19 even after they were relocated due to flooding.
“They also managed to put processes in place to ensure patients in Kilcoy could get assistance.”
Food Service Supervisors, Catherine Walsh and Russell Troughton
Catherine for a huge effort in rearranging weekend rosters and allocating shifts to staff who could attend work in place of those who were unable to get into work.
Russell for assisting with rearranging rosters and re-allocation of shifts and organising meals for staff that were working double shifts or staying overnight Sunday.
At the Halwyn Centre
Cook/ Supervisor Karen Cordery agreed to work a double shift to cover staff that were unable to get to the centre due to rain and flooding. Then found that she too was unable to travel home as her suburb was flooded, therefore opted to stay at the Halwyn centre o/night.
Karen then very kindly provided for other Halwyn staff that stayed overnight, offering dinner and breakfast the next morning as well as working another eight hour shift.
At Cooinda House
Food Service Officer Arisha Matterson-Lindsay who worked back on Sunday evening to cover other staff that could not get to work due to flooding. ArIsha then backed up the following morning with a five hour shift.
Both Arisha and Cook/Supervisor Ryan Wilkins were very helpful in liaising with nursing staff (CN Erin) regarding staff meals for dinner and breakfast.
At Zillmere RTCP
Mary Raukete (Cook/Supervisor)/ Cindy Hayes (Nutrition Assistant) and Cindy Aguit and Susan Skeleton (Food Service Officers) all who were unable to travel home on Sunday evening and stayed overnight at Zillmere.
All three assisted with organising staff meals for dinner Sunday and breakfast Monday, blankets and hygiene packs, as well as backing up shifts!
Additional stars shine as part of Australia Day
What a great outcome with six Community and Oral health staff receiving Metro North Australia Day Awards recently. Here are the winning nominations for the 2022 Metro North Australia Day Awards:
Service Operations and Performance Team – Tim Moran, Evon Greener, Terry Whalley, Justin Vandermaat, Kelly Lemke and Karen Wellings (High Performance – Team Work)
John Walters, Principal Communications Advisor, Metro North Communication (Respect)