Did you catch the Metro North vidcast yesterday with Incident Controller Louise O’Riordan and Acting Chief Digital Health Officer Dr Jason Brown? It included some very encouraging news.

There has been a significant drop in the number of Metro North Health patients with COVID-19. It’s great news that we’re trending in the right direction at present, but we can’t afford to take our eye of the ball just yet, particularly with the Ekka starting tomorrow.

Louise also talked about a change in direction from patients having ‘long COVID’ to ‘your COVID recovery’. Metro North Health is working with the Department of Health on this change of focus, with more information over coming weeks.

Have your COVID 19 vaccines?

In his message last week, Queensland Health Acting Director-General Shaun Drummond talked about the Health Employment Directive requiring staff to be up to date with their vaccinations. For most of us, this means having a third and fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses.

There are several community options to have a booster, particularly GPS and pharmacies, but we’re all busy so it can be hard to find the time or being booked out at present.

That’s why Metro North Health has decided to host an intensive staff booster clinic over a few days later this month. More information to come soon.

Once you’ve had your third and/or fourth dose, please register it online asap. It’s easy to do:

1. Download a COVID digital certificate from your myGov account
2. Go to the COVID-19 Vaccination Hub
3. Choose the +Booster Vaccination option
4. Add your booster details
5. Upload or drag and drop your certificate
6. Save.

If you’re unsure whether you have already updated your information, you can check under the personal profile section of myHR.

IEMR coming soon

Acting Chief Digital Health Officer Jason Brown also had good news on the vidcast yesterday.

The recent State Budget included five years of funding to re-start the Integrated Electronic Medical Record (IEMR) rollout across Queensland.

Metro North Health will be the first to tap into the rollout funds, which will be a phased approach integrated with our infrastructure program.

This means the new satellite hospitals at Caboolture, Bribie Island and Kallangur will likely be first, followed by Caboolture Hospital. That’s great news but means we have a lot of work to do as well.

Stay tuned for more on this topic!

‘Chat with the Chief’ Jackie Hanson on Tuesday

Metro North Health Chief Executive Jackie Hanson will host a ‘Chat with the Chief’ session at Caboolture Hospital on Tuesday (9 August).

This is your chance to have an informal one-on-one chat with the Chief Executive to provide your feedback and ask questions, perhaps pitch an innovate idea or two!

She will be available at the Caboolture Hospital Education Centre Seminar Room 6 from 1.30pm – 2pm.

CKW All Staff Forum next week as well

I will host a CKW All Staff Forum from 10.30am to 11am on Wednesday (10 August). It will be available on Microsoft Teams. Please tune in if you can.

Register a team in our annual Indigenous Touch Football Carnival

Register a team today in the annual Caboolture Hospital Indigenous Mixed Touch Football Carnival. Registration is free and players of all cultural backgrounds are welcome.

It will also be a fun day for the family with entertainment, food stalls, face painting and a jumping castle for children.

The touch football carnival is designed to improve engagement with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, break down the barriers and build positive relationships between hospital staff and community members.

This popular annual event will be held at St Columban’s College on Saturday 17 September from 8am to 5pm. Enter via Pettigrew Street.

For more details, contact Rachel Bailey via email or phone 5316 5470.

What a compliment!

Robyn left this Google Review recently on her experience in the Caboolture Hospital Emergency Department:

“Caboolture Hospital Emergency Department should be very proud of their staff. They were all amazing even under pressure.

“They showed professionalism, respect compassion and cared for my father-in-law with dignity.

“A special thanks and recognition to Victoria in the resus area. I hope you get recognised for your great work. You and your colleagues made a very difficult and sad journey bearable.

“Thanks for looking after him. His final moments were precious for our family.”

Finally,

Talk about a game-changer! Did you see this great ABC News story about a world-first breast implant trial?

Metro North Health Endocrine surgeon and Comprehensive Breast Cancer Institute Director Dr Owen Ung is leading a trial of new dissolvable breast scaffold technology that he hopes will provide a safer and more natural alternative to silicone implants for women dealing with breast cancer.

What a wonderful and compassionate initiative.

Take Care,

Angie.