After 30 years of supporting patients, families and clinicians at Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital mortuary, NSW Health Pathology postmortem technician Michael Hadlow is stepping into retirement and closing the door on a role that few see, but many rely on.

Michael has spent the past three decades as a post­mortem tech­ni­cian at John Hunter Hos­pi­tal, becom­ing just the sixth per­son to hold the role since the hos­pi­tal opened.

Over that time, he has played a vital role in sup­port­ing clin­i­cal teams, research projects and car­ing for fam­i­lies dur­ing some of their most dif­fi­cult moments.

Michael says the work can be com­plex and challenging.

“It’s hard to say what a typ­i­cal day looks like, as the work­flow changes from day to day,” he said.

“It includes every­thing from ensur­ing medico-legal doc­u­men­ta­tion is in place, to sup­port­ing organ dona­tion and research pro­grams, and work­ing close­ly with fam­i­lies and funer­al directors.”

Much of his work hap­pens behind the scenes but Michael has built strong part­ner­ships, includ­ing with pae­di­atric pal­lia­tive care teams, help­ing deliv­er sen­si­tive and coor­di­nat­ed care across the hospital.

“What I love about my work is the con­nec­tion with staff across the cam­pus,” he said.

“I might be locat­ed in the mor­tu­ary, but the job has allowed me to fos­ter friend­ships and net­works with peo­ple through­out the whole hospital.”

Michael says the most chal­leng­ing moments are the ones that will stay with him.

“A hand­shake from a father ask­ing me to take care of his boy or the embrace of a moth­er want­i­ng to meet the per­son car­ing for her loved one. Those are the hard­est days but also the most reward­ing,” he said.

Col­leagues say Michael’s influ­ence has been felt by many.

“In his time with us he has ensured dig­ni­ty and com­pas­sion for all patients, sup­port­ing fam­i­lies and ensur­ing deceased people’s wish­es are met through organ retrieval for both dona­tion and med­ical research sup­port,” said Trisha Lus­by, NSW Health Pathology’s Unit Super­vi­sor for Anatom­i­cal Pathology.

“He has trained hun­dreds of wardsper­sons and worked close­ly with clin­i­cal teams to sup­port fam­i­lies on the worst days.

“Michael’s knowl­edge, warmth and com­pas­sion will be sore­ly missed at John Hunter Hospital.”

Michael is also quick to recog­nise the team around him.

Hav­ing worked close­ly with col­leagues Her­bert Woot­ton and Leigh Reed for more than 20 years, he describes them as high­ly skilled, ded­i­cat­ed pro­fes­sion­als who pro­vide crit­i­cal 24/7 sup­port to the hospital.

“You wouldn’t find two more capa­ble indi­vid­u­als,” he said.

“We are all like-mind­ed when it comes to work and play and I have been lucky to have had their sup­port over the years.

“If I need­ed to debrief or get a view from a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive, I knew I could rely on them and when the oppor­tu­ni­ty arose, we would catch up for a surf or motor­bike ride.”

As he pre­pares for retire­ment, Michael is look­ing for­ward to a slow­er pace of life.

“I’m look­ing for­ward to not being on call 24/7, hav­ing the time to choose how my day will unfold and of course trav­el­ling this great coun­try of ours,” he said.

We wish you all the best for a long and hap­py retire­ment Michael!

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