Louise Oriti

Winter is often a busy time for hospitals, but this winter has been exceptional. Our hospital has risen to the challenge in the last three months and managed a combination of gastro outbreaks, surges in clinical demand, flu and COVID vaccination campaigns, and escalations in our COVID-19 response.

With spring now here, and with RUOk? Day this month, there’s never been a better time for all of us to consider our own physical and mental health.  Our Wellness Working Group has plenty of good resources available to assist here. Our Peer Responders are also available, and all staff have access to professional services through Benestar.

It’s also not too early to think and plan what leave you may like to take over the summer months. Leave is not a luxury. Time away from work is something we all need to take to keep ourselves healthy and well.

Your NUM or Team Leader will also want to talk to you soon about your work unit’s Have Your Say Staff Survey results. After sharing some of the outcomes with you, they’ll need your help in coming up with a positive plan for maintaining what’s working well and addressing the things that could be better.

The arrival of September also means it’s time again for our hospital’s Research Symposium. The Symposium will be held on Thursday 16 September, and it gets bigger and better each year. Once again this year, Dr Joel Dulhunty and his team have prepared a program that showcases the depth of research underway at Redcliffe Hospital.

Make sure you read the article in this edition about Joel’s latest ride too, as he continues to Raise it for Redcliffe.

In this edition, you can also read more about this year’s Redcliffe Hospital Staff Excellence Awards. With so many quality nominations this year, the judging committee had little option but to present several joint awards this year. That included the Executive Director’s Award, which went to both Security and Switchboard. Congratulations again to all those winners and all those nominated for these awards.

Finally, a word about our COVID-19 vaccination clinic: as you’ve probably heard, after successfully delivering more than 20,000 COVID-19 vaccination doses, our hospital’s COVID-19 clinic has been consolidated with the new vaccination hub at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Boondall.

We should all be very proud of our clinic. I’m particularly proud of how we supported our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, with dedicated vaccination clinics on Saturdays continuing until the end of September.

Winter may be behind us, but COVID-19 isn’t yet. Vaccinations and continued vigilance to things like physical distancing, PPE use, and hand hygiene are going to be just as important for the summer months.

Let’s continue to bring our A-game and inspire others to do the same in our community.

Louise