Meet Annalise, one of our highly skilled collectors at Mudgee Hospital, who says helping young children and their carers get through a blood collection is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job.

Annalise Read­ing has been a col­lec­tor with NSW Health Pathol­o­gy for almost three years and says it’s a priv­i­lege to meet peo­ple dur­ing some of the most sig­nif­i­cant times of their lives. Whether they are expe­ri­enc­ing the joy of preg­nan­cy or the chal­lenges of can­cer treatment.

“We turn into some­what of a coun­selling room at times for patients who need to cry, laugh or even sim­ply just vent and get it off their chest,” she says.

“We are often the first peo­ple patients see after learn­ing about a new ill­ness or dis­abil­i­ty, so you need to be the calm in their storm or the ‘hype girl’ dur­ing their excit­ing moments.

“I have learnt it is not always about being pos­i­tive but being present and lis­ten­ing as a professional.”

Putting patients at ease

As a par­ent, Annalise has devel­oped a deep under­stand­ing of how chil­dren react to unfa­mil­iar, uncom­fort­able or fright­en­ing sit­u­a­tions, espe­cial­ly in health­care settings.

“I try to tune into the child’s emo­tion­al and phys­i­cal cues to deter­mine the best approach. Some­thing as sim­ple as talk­ing about their favourite char­ac­ter or tv show works won­ders. It helps build trust.”

Her col­lec­tion room is dec­o­rat­ed with art­works made by her own chil­dren, includ­ing draw­ings of famil­iar char­ac­ters that help to cre­ate com­fort and connection.

One draw­ing in par­tic­u­lar gets a lot of atten­tion from her younger patients.

“It’s a draw­ing of ‘Bluey’, but she is NOT coloured blue! It’s a huge con­ver­sa­tion starter because of course, Bluey NEEDS to be BLUE!”

Oth­er strate­gies she uses to help reduce anx­i­ety include dim­ming the lights, tak­ing time to learn about the child’s inter­ests, and using the Dis­trac­tion Box, filled with toys, books and gadgets.

“We also have a lit­tle out­door gar­den area which we have dec­o­rat­ed with dinosaurs, fairies and gnomes. These also change depend­ing on the sea­sons and celebrations.”

Strong regional connections

Orig­i­nal­ly from the Tamworth/North West region, Annalise has lived in Mudgee for nine years and says the region­al set­ting cre­ates a spe­cial kind of connection.

Work­ing in a small­er com­mu­ni­ty means she and the Mudgee Lab­o­ra­to­ry team real­ly get to know their reg­u­lar patients, and see­ing a famil­iar col­lec­tor can make all the dif­fer­ence, espe­cial­ly for peo­ple who feel anx­ious about blood collection.

“The Mudgee team works togeth­er to make sure our com­mu­ni­ty and vis­i­tors to our beau­ti­ful region feel well cared for,” she says.

“Our lab is high­ly regard­ed in the com­mu­ni­ty. Patients and health­care pro­fes­sion­als often send peo­ple our way, and we reg­u­lar­ly receive love­ly com­ments on local social media pages.”

For Annalise, that sense of com­mu­ni­ty is what makes region­al health­care so special.

“Com­mu­ni­ty spir­it is just some­thing else out here. We’re all here to help when needed.”

Our Mudgee col­lec­tion ser­vice is open Mon­day to Fri­day 8:30am to 4:00pm at Mudgee Dis­trict Hos­pi­tal, 30 Mearse St, Mudgee.

Find a col­lec­tion ser­vice near you on our web­site.

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