Michelle works at our collection centre located at Providence Medical Centre in Belmont. In January 2026, she will notch up 17 years of dedicated service! Michelle has exceptional customer service skills and many patients often write in to compliment on her care!  

What do you do and why does it matter?

I’m a phle­botomist (pathol­o­gy col­lec­tor) and I love putting peo­ple at ease and help­ing them through the process of hav­ing their blood or spec­i­mens tak­en. The job allows me not only to per­form tests and take blood, but also inter­act with patients and reas­sure them, espe­cial­ly when they need ongo­ing blood tests.

You would be sur­prised how much patients appre­ci­ate the per­son­al con­nec­tion. It warms the cock­les when they come back and give you kind words or come back with home-made cook­ies to show their appre­ci­a­tion of our service!

Tell us about your career path and what inspired you to work in pathology

When I was 21 years old, I saw a news­pa­per adver­tise­ment for a 3‑day course in pathol­o­gy col­lec­tion, but it was real­ly a test to check if you could cope with tak­ing blood and oth­er bod­i­ly spec­i­mens! So, I gave it a go!

About six months lat­er I start­ed work­ing at Sul­li­van & Nico­laides Pathol­o­gy in the Coffs Harbour/Bellingen Val­ley area. While on the job, I obtained my Cer­tifi­cate III in Phle­boto­my and did fur­ther train­ing at Greenslopes Hos­pi­tal. I then moved to New­cas­tle and worked at Hunter Area Pathol­o­gy Ser­vice, which has now become NSW Health Pathol­o­gy and I’ve been here ever since!

A proud moment or inter­est­ing case?

Work­ing here for 17 years is a great per­son­al achieve­ment, and I always try to do pro­vide the best ser­vice to patients, espe­cial­ly those who are vul­ner­a­ble and expe­ri­enc­ing adversities.

I pride myself on build­ing con­nec­tions with peo­ple, and one patient and his fam­i­ly stand out for me – George, and I want­ed to tell his sto­ry and hon­our his memory.

George would come in for reg­u­lar blood tests, and one day the results came back and it was dev­as­tat­ing – it was pan­cre­at­ic can­cer. Over time I got to know George, his wife and daugh­ter as they became reg­u­lars as he under­took can­cer treat­ment. One day, George saw how busy I was and got me a cof­fee to keep me fuelled, and I was so touched by his kind­ness and thoughtfulness.

I’ll nev­er for­get the day his love­ly wife came in and broke down in my arms. George wasn’t com­ing home from hos­pi­tal. A few days lat­er I vis­it­ed him in hos­pi­tal after work.  We were informed that George was to have no vis­i­tors, as he was in a lot of pain and very tired. The recep­tion told us to take the gift bas­ket to the ward desk and that we could leave it there for him. When we arrived, a doc­tor ush­ered us in.

I walked in and his daugh­ter ran into my arms, we held each oth­er tight for a moment. There was George in bed, a lit­tle beanie on his head, his skin was yel­low and he was very thin.

It was hard to believe I had seen him two weeks pri­or and he looked fine. I regret­ted that he’d popped his head in to say hel­lo and I was on the phone with a patient. It was the last time he’d come in for a col­lec­tion, and I’d missed him.

I walked over to the side of George’s bed and his eyes opened and a big smile appeared on his face. We held each other’s hands for around 20 min­utes, and recalled the good mem­o­ries for his many vis­its to have his blood taken. 

We would joke of how pet­ri­fied he was of the blood tests, but always saw the fun­ny side of it. As usu­al, George asked me how my fam­i­ly was, and how the kids were going. In the final stages of his life, he was think­ing of oth­ers, which does not sur­prise me at all.

For some­one who was so sick, his hand grip was very firm, it was a feel­ing of not want­i­ng to let go, and I did not want to let George go. I went to his daugh­ter and we both hugged and cried. We held each oth­er for a minute, and when we let go, I went and touched George’s hand one last time, and looked at him as I walked out the door.

He was only 50 years old. I miss you, my friend George (not his real name).

What do you do out­side of work to unwind? 

My kids keep me busy. My 10 year old is Mr Sporty, so there is always foot­ball hap­pen­ing.  My 11 year old is Mr Tech­nol­o­gy, and he loves draw­ing Ani­me and Man­ga. Sad­ly, he did not inher­it any­thing cre­ative off me! My 28 year old jets around the world and fol­low­ing her dream career. I love receiv­ing pho­tos of all the dif­fer­ent places she goes for work. There is also noth­ing as good as a super cold crispy beer on a hot day, now that I real­ly enjoy!

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