Newsroom

In honour of her late nanna, TPCH Registered Nurse Maddy has recently returned from swimming the English Channel in just 10 hours and 26 minutes! 🏊❤️‍🩹

Maddy`s desire to pursue nursing was born out of wanting to care her for nanna in her last years - with the swim an added dedication to her special relative, having undertaken the gruelling challenge on her late nanna`s birthday.

"I stopped competitive swimming when I started nursing in 2021 just because it was quite hard to do shift work and do competitive swimming. So when my nanna passed away, I wanted to do something her for which was to swim the channel and also raise money for Dementia Australia," Maddy said.

"I had a window from the 21st to the 28th and her birthday was the 22nd. They were going to send me on the first day but decided the second day was looking way better - it was pretty special to do it this day.

"My nanna always wanted everyone around her to be a nurse as she wanted to be a nurse herself. I wanted to learn how to help my nanna with her Alzheimer`s Disease because she had it for 20 years before she died at 94, it progressively got worse and I wanted to help her out as best I can."

#ShoutoutSaturday to Maddy and her dedication to helping her nanna, and others at TPCH. ...

From prosthetic legs to spinal braces, this team gets creative when it comes to helping patients get back on their feet. 🦿

Prosthetist Orthotists Rachel and Alyssa work with patients to find their perfect fit of a prosthetic or orthotic device to help them kick goals on their recovery journey.

"It is a pretty niche profession, and each day is different. We see outpatients where we assess them and make something custom, but we are also on the wards fitting off the shelf devices and we also do specialty clinics," Alyssa said.

"There is a lot more to orthotics than just foot orthotics which is what people think of firstly, orthotics is any externally applied supportive device so that could be a knee brace, or an abdominal binder or a halo," Rachel said.

"One of my favourite parts of the job is that we do our assessment, make the patient a device and typically the patient feels the effects of our work instantly, someone could come in in a wheelchair not being able to walk, you give them a prosthesis or an orthosis and they can walk that day," Rachel added. 🤍 ...

Did you know that not every stroke looks the same? Whilst you may think you know what a stroke looks like, it can present differently in different people.

Claire who is a Senior Staff Specialist (Stroke) at the RBWH says that whilst there are common symptoms that are well recognised as a stroke, patient demographics like age or gender may play a part in a diagnosis.

"The most common and recognisable symptoms of a stroke is that weakness on one side, heavy bruises, slurring your words or having trouble speaking, words coming out as nonsense words and facial droop is also probably a common and recognisable one," Claire said.

"To a certain degree, symptoms in younger people can present a little bit differently, so when we`re talking someone under the age of 40, doctors aren`t always expecting to see a stroke. However, younger people may also compensate better for the symptoms, such as milder weakness whereas in the older population it is clearer."

Because of the difference in presentation, Claire and her colleagues are skilled at detecting strokes in any age group. ...