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Pride of Workmanship Award for Nepean mortuary technician

Pride of Workmanship Award for Nepean mortuary technician

Dave Humphries has worked as a mortuary technician for 10 of his 30 years with NSW Health. His skills and dedication have not gone unnoticed!

He was one of six award win­ners at a recent Rotary Pride of Work­man­ship Awards event held at Katoomba.

Dave says he’s proud to have worked for NSW Health Pathol­o­gy for 10 years, and before then 23 years for Nepean Blue Moun­tains Local Health District.

He was nom­i­nat­ed by local funer­al direc­tors Tom and Louise Brown­john who described Dave as a plea­sure to deal with, prais­ing his excel­lent work eth­ic, effi­cien­cy and pleas­ant nature.

So, what is involved in being a mor­tu­ary tech­ni­cian at Nepean Hospital?

“A typ­i­cal day for me involves man­ag­ing the admis­sions and dis­charge of peo­ple who have passed away at Nepean Hos­pi­tal,” Dave explains.

“I help guide and sup­port griev­ing fam­i­ly mem­bers through the process and arrange­ments for their loved ones, as well as sup­port­ing our social work­ers through the view­ing ser­vice we pro­vide for families.

The role also involves work­ing along­side med­ical staff and funer­al direc­tors, ensur­ing the required paper­work is com­plete and that patients who have died are looked after in a time­ly and car­ing manner.

“There is so much I like about my career, but I get the most sat­is­fac­tion in know­ing that the patients in my care have been treat­ed with the dig­ni­ty and respect they deserve,” Dave said.

“I feel hon­oured and proud to have received this award, to know peo­ple who have encoun­tered me over the years have been greet­ed with kind­ness, care and dedication.”

NSW Health Pathology’s Nepean Lab­o­ra­to­ry Man­ag­er Stephen Park­er said Dave’s expe­ri­ence and skills have made him an inte­gral part of the team at Nepean.

“We are so thrilled that Dave’s work has been recog­nised in this way,” Stephen said.

“His atten­tion to detail and abil­i­ty to help fam­i­lies through an extreme­ly dif­fi­cult time is appre­ci­at­ed by every­one at here at Nepean.”

(Pho­to L‑R: Stephen Park­er, Nepean lab­o­ra­to­ry man­ag­er, Tom and Louise Brown­john, Dave Humphries (hold­ing his award) and Stephanie Humphries.)

King’s Birthday Honour for Newcastle Anatomical Pathologist

Associate Professor Jim Scurry has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours list, for significant service to anatomical pathology, women’s health and professional societies.

Jim Scur­ry has been a Senior Staff Spe­cial­ist in anatom­i­cal pathol­o­gy at NSW Health Pathology’s John Hunter Hos­pi­tal lab­o­ra­to­ry in New­cas­tle since 2010, and before that worked as an anatom­i­cal pathol­o­gist at Melbourne’s Mer­cy Hos­pi­tal for Women.

He became Con­joint Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor at the School of Med­i­cine and Pub­lic Health at the Uni­ver­si­ty of New­cas­tle in 2011.

“I’ve always liked the idea of teach­ing and pass­ing on the knowl­edge that I’ve gained in gynae­co­log­i­cal and der­ma­to­log­i­cal pathol­o­gy,” he said.

“I’ve also always done research, all clin­i­cal­ly based and work­ing with clinicians.

“I find hav­ing that bal­ance between being in the lab and work­ing with stu­dents and col­leagues extreme­ly satisfying.”

Jim has pub­lished over 190 research papers and is a for­mer Board mem­ber and found­ing mem­ber of the Aus­tralian and New Zealand Vul­vo­vagi­nal Soci­ety (ANZVS).

He was also Co-Chair of the Inter­na­tion­al Soci­ety for Vul­vo­vagi­nal Disease’s Dif­fi­cult Pathol­o­gy Diag­nos­tic Com­mit­tee from 2019 to 2021.

He was very sur­prised to hear he’d been nom­i­nat­ed for an Order of Australia.

“I’m very hon­oured to be receiv­ing the award, but I don’t think I’ve done any­thing more than my job,” he said.

“I would have achieved noth­ing with­out the tal­ent­ed team of peo­ple I work with every day.

“We have a very good lab­o­ra­to­ry here at John Hunter Hos­pi­tal and a great team of excep­tion­al peo­ple. I couldn’t do the job with­out them.”

“Most impor­tant­ly, has been my part­ner Susan­na, who also works in the area of women’s health. She has been a huge influ­ence on me and my work.”

Con­grat­u­la­tions Jim, from all of us here at NSW Health Pathology!

 

Welcome to our newest trainees!

This week NSW Health Pathology welcomed a special group of 21 trainees – the first ever intake targeting marginalised and disadvantaged groups.

The new trainees attend­ed an ori­en­ta­tion ses­sion at West­mead on Mon­day and are now head­ing off to our col­lec­tion cen­tres, labs and admin­is­tra­tion offices across Syd­ney and region­al NSW.

NSW Health Pathol­o­gy Chief Exec­u­tive Vanes­sa Janis­sen said she was thrilled to wel­come the 21 new trainees to the organisation.

“It’s excep­tion­al­ly excit­ing for us to be part of this project, pro­vid­ing a vital first step into a reward­ing career in the health sec­tor for these young peo­ple,” Ms Janis­sen said.

“I’m also proud to be sign­ing a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing with Real Futures, a First Nations employ­ment and train­ing firm, that will be pro­vid­ing the sup­port need­ed to ensure these trainee­ships are a suc­cess and con­tin­ue into the future.”

One of our new trainees, Kevin McMaugh, will work in spec­i­men reception.

“It’s going to be very excit­ing; I can’t wait to see what comes of it,” he said.

“It’s going to give me some­thing to look for­ward to every day. I can go to work think­ing about ‘what can I learn today’. It’s going to give me a career.”

For Mari­am Wadie, the trainee­ship rep­re­sents a new start in the fas­ci­nat­ing world of forensics.

“I think that this will lead me into a new career, and it will give me a lot of per­son­al growth,” she said.

“I see myself work­ing in this field and stay­ing in forensics.”

Tia Peachey-Gay­lor said she was look­ing for­ward to the oppor­tu­ni­ties the trainee­ship will provide.

“When I heard that I got the trainee­ship, I was excit­ed, hap­py and proud of myself,” she said.

“It’s some­thing I can get more expe­ri­ence from and move forward.”

The trainee pro­gram is fund­ed as part of the NSW Government’s com­mit­ment to employ an addi­tion­al 1000 appren­tices and trainees across the state.

NSW Health Pathol­o­gy recog­nis­es the chal­lenges that job­seek­ers from Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander com­mu­ni­ties or those liv­ing with a dis­abil­i­ty face. The trainee­ships aim to assist those from mar­gin­alised and dis­ad­van­taged com­mu­ni­ties into a path­way towards long-term careers with NSW Health Pathology.

We’ll be ensur­ing our trainees have the social and cul­tur­al sup­port they need, togeth­er with the for­mal train­ing and edu­ca­tion required to com­plete their traineeships.

 

A new partnership supporting First Nations careers

NSW Health Pathology this week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with First Nations training and jobs provider, Real Futures, to foster career opportunities and improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

NSW Health Pathol­o­gy Chief Exec­u­tive Vanes­sa Janis­sen joined Real Futures Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer Chris­tian­na Cartwright to sign the MOU, for­mal­is­ing the part­ner­ship between the two organisations.

“It’s about forg­ing stronger con­nec­tions with Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peo­ples,” Vanes­sa Janis­sen said at the signing.

“We will com­mit to iden­ti­fy­ing poten­tial employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties with­in NSW Health Pathol­o­gy and encour­age First Nations peo­ple to apply.

“I’m excit­ed that with­in our newest cohort of NSW Health Pathol­o­gy trainees, 10 per cent iden­ti­fy as Aboriginal.”

Ms Janis­sen said the MOU was also about improv­ing NSW Health Pathology’s ser­vices for First Nations people.

“We will lis­ten to Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peo­ples to bet­ter under­stand their needs and work to adapt our prac­tices to deliv­er bet­ter health outcomes.

“We will put Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander peo­ple at the cen­tre of all that we do,” Ms Janis­sen said.

Real Futures is cer­ti­fied as a major­i­ty Abo­rig­i­nal owned, con­trolled, and man­aged train­ing and employ­ment company.

CEO Chris­tian­na Cartwright said her organ­i­sa­tion looks for­ward to work­ing with NSW Health Pathol­o­gy to ensure job can­di­dates get the sup­port they need.

“We will pro­vide men­tor­ing and assis­tance for suc­cess­ful can­di­dates for the first six months of their employ­ment with NSW Health Pathol­o­gy,” she said.

“That includes sup­port for ongo­ing atten­dance and to help them over­come any bar­ri­ers to per­form­ing their job.

“Our aim is to upskill and empow­er First Nations peo­ple to gain mean­ing­ful work, become an asset to their work­place and role mod­els for others.”

NSW Health Pathology’s Asso­ciate Direc­tor, Abo­rig­i­nal Part­ner­ships and Inclu­sion, Kevin Stan­ley wel­comed the new part­ner­ship with Real Futures.

“Our MoU and for­malised part­ner­ship with Real Futures solid­i­fies our com­mit­ment to con­tin­ue work that has been under­way for more than six months,” he said.

“Con­nect­ing with com­mu­ni­ty at a grass roots lev­el is a key fac­tor in the suc­cess of any Abo­rig­i­nal works and our part­ner­ship with Real Futures is an amaz­ing start to estab­lish­ing such valu­able connections.”

A group of men and women smiling and holding two documents.
(Pho­to L‑R) Real Futures Spe­cial Projects, Steve Clarke, Real Futures CEO Chris­tian­na Cartwright, NSWHP Direc­tor Abo­rig­i­nal Part­ner­ships and Inclu­sion Kevin Stan­ley, NSWHP CE Vanes­sa Janis­sen and NSWHP Deputy Direc­tor Strate­gic HR and Projects, Jes­si­ca Lee.

Jo farewells pathology after 43 years of service

Jo Putra has been a mainstay around Hunter pathology labs for 43 years, and last week she hung up the gown for the last time.

Jo is retir­ing from her role as a Tech­ni­cal Offi­cer in the Bio­chem­istry depart­ment at our John Hunter pathol­o­gy lab.

The world of pathol­o­gy has seen mas­sive changes since Jo’s first day on the job in 1980.

“Those years includ­ed after-hours call work with tests being assayed on indi­vid­ual analy­sers and where all results were hand­writ­ten in ledgers, not like nowa­days!” Jo explained.

Dur­ing her career, Jo has been part of her fair share of major events that have helped shape the Hunter community.

From par­tic­i­pat­ing in the NBN telethon that fund­ed the New Med build­ing at John Hunter Hos­pi­tal, to being evac­u­at­ed dur­ing the New­cas­tle earth­quake, all the way to work­ing in the lab dur­ing the tur­bu­lent years of the COVID pandemic.

Jo quick­ly devel­oped a rep­u­ta­tion as a hard work­er who was nev­er afraid to go above and beyond.

“I can gen­uine­ly say I have put 100 per­cent into every day of those 43 years with a work eth­ic learned in those first “hard but fair” years,” Jo said.

“With pride, I can say I have helped pass that work eth­ic on to our three, now adult children.”

Through­out her years in the lab, Jo was an inte­gral mem­ber of the tight-knit team at the John Hunter pathol­o­gy lab­o­ra­to­ries – a bond that will continue.

“I will miss the cama­raderie and ban­ter with my col­leagues but have built friend­ships that will last into retirement.”

Being a New­cas­tle Knights die-hard sup­port­er, a fre­quent fly­er to Bali, and hav­ing a close, lov­ing fam­i­ly, Jo has her retire­ment plans sorted.

“I look for­ward to a future that involves more time with my hus­band, fam­i­ly, friends, spend­ing qual­i­ty time at our home here and in Bali, more trav­el, fol­low­ing my beloved Knights team and a life devoid of ros­ters!” she said.

“I also hold onto hope of a career as a grand­moth­er rel­a­tive­ly soon!”

Jo, thank you for all your years of ded­i­cat­ed ser­vice, you will be dear­ly missed.

 

Showcasing careers in pathology

Our stall at the Central Coast Careers Pathway Expo earlier this year was a hit for high school students from around the region.

Dynam­ic duo Claire Pad­gett and Lara Bas­sell from our Gos­ford lab­o­ra­to­ry and col­lec­tion cen­tre worked the NSW Health Pathol­o­gy stall at the April event which attract­ed 3,000 stu­dents from 22 schools.

For many stu­dents pon­der­ing life after high school, the lure of a career in pathol­o­gy was an entic­ing prospect with Lara and Claire field­ing ques­tions from stu­dents all day.

“Many stu­dents were inter­est­ed to find out what we did in the lab­o­ra­to­ry in gen­er­al, as well as what dif­fer­ent depart­ments we had,” said Lara, who works in Haema­tol­ogy at the Gos­ford lab.

“The stu­dents were also very inter­est­ed to watch Claire’s demon­stra­tion on col­lec­tion tech­niques and were amazed with how it all worked.”

Stu­dents were keen to learn about the dif­fer­ent path­ways to get into a career in lab­o­ra­to­ry science.

Lara’s path to pathol­o­gy is just one exam­ple of the many ways to pur­sue a career in the lab.

“I stud­ied a Bach­e­lor of Med­ical Sci­ence Pathol­o­gy, part-time by dis­tance through Charles Sturt Uni­ver­si­ty, while rais­ing 3 young chil­dren and work­ing part-time.”

And for those stu­dents con­sid­er­ing tak­ing the leap into life in pathol­o­gy, her advice is simple.

“I would say go for it!” she said.

“Soci­ety will always need pathol­o­gy services.

“A career in sci­ence and pathol­o­gy is so reward­ing as we are help­ing to save lives, and every day is interesting.”

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