Adj. Prof. Alanna Geary
As you know last week I walked to celebrate and acknowledge the work and commitment of the Nurses and Midwives in Metro North. While it was a tiring week, I would absolutely do it again and to that end I have been working with the two Foundations and the Metro North Communications team to think about what it will look like next year. It was exceptionally fun, and I met so many people that I often do not get to see and talk to.
Every facility had something wonderful in store for me and thank you to everyone who plied me full of sweets, coffee, and water. To those who walked for me to enable breaks… thank you! The days ended with be having walked 197 km, equating to 257 000 steps! In addition, we raised about $8000 to go towards nursing and midwifery research and education. While we still need significantly more money to seed some programs of work or enable opportunity to expend funds, we have to start somewhere and that is so exciting.
Early this week we acknowledged some of our amazing nurses and midwives. I love it when we can really celebrate the wonderful individuals who contribute so significantly in our health service. Jackie Hanson, our Chief Executive, joined me in the announcement of the Awards. For those of you who don’t know, Jackie was a Registered Nurse prior to her career trajectory change into Health Service Executive roles, commencing her health career in 1979 (don’t tell her I told you when she started) as an Assistant in Nursing. What that demonstrates to me is that nurses and midwives have an outstanding skillset and when you see career pathways and you understand the number of senior executives who started their journey as nurses and/or midwives we clearly have much to contribute. Well done to every award finalist and a hearty congratulations to our winners.
2022 Metro North Nursing and Midwifery Award Winners
- Metro North Registered Nurse of the Year Winners – Francesca Boyte, RBWH and Natasha Edwards, Redcliffe Hospital
- Metro North Registered Midwife of the Year Winner – Sue Hampton, CSDS MN
- Metro North Graduate of the Year Winner – Danny Jovanovic, TPCH and Tylah Dowker, RBWH
- Metro North Enrolled Nurse/Enrolled Nurse Advanced Skills of the Year Winner – Veronica McDonald, RBWH
- Metro North Assistant in Nursing of the Year Winner – Jasmyne Turnbull, Caboolture, Kilcoy & Woodford Clinical Directorate
- Metro North Nurse/Midwife Leader of the Year Winner – Jason Dalla Lana, Metro North Mental Health
- Metro North Dr Lesley Fleming OAM Professional Practice and Clinical Excellence Award Winner – Christine Burridge, Office of Nursing and Midwifery Services MN
Finally, can I just remind every nurse and midwife to upload their COVID-19 booster shot details into the Queensland Vaccination Hub. The current data suggests that many staff have not had their booster, when in reality we anecdotally understand that a great proportion of our staff have had the three-injection requirement for COVID-19.
And finally, while I was walking I lost count of the number of people who asked me about Dave, the Groodle. Dave turned two yesterday. He is much loved, extremely pampered and I do tell my human children that he is my favourite child. So here is a recent photo of this very cute 40kg ball of fluff!
Regards,
Alanna