WA Country Health Service

How’s the serenity? For National Safety Month, our Kimberley staff got together for a short 10-minute walk from Streeter’s Jetty to Roebuck Bay Lookout. The initiative was all in the name of promoting physical and mental health in the workplace.

This past financial year was one of the biggest years we’ve ever seen. We: ✔️ Performed nearly 33,000 surgeries. ✔️ Attended almost half a million emergency department presentations. ✔️ Delivered more than 4,100 country babies. ✔️ Recruited hundreds of new doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals. ✔️ Advanced key infrastructure projects like the Geraldton Health Campus redevelopment and the $451 million Bunbury Regional Hospital redevelopment – the biggest ever undertaken in country WA. And that only scratches the surface. Read more: bit.ly/3zQaEVd

This International Rural Women’s Day we want to give a big shout out to all of the remarkable women working to support the health and wellbeing of country communities.

Senior Pharmacy Technician, Vicqi Johnson, has been named the winner of the 2024 Advanced Pharmacy Australia WA Pharmacy Technician of the Year Award. Vicqi was recognised for her leadership, innovation and commitment to transforming medicines management across WA. In recent years, she has played a vital role in establishing pharmacy departments at Karratha, Northam, and Esperance hospitals. Congratulations Vicqi!

Congratulations to Great Southern cancer services nurse practitioner Kerin Young for being named a finalist in the WA Health Excellence Awards ‘Health Hero’ category. A key member of our Albany Health Campus cancer services team, Kerin said she was honoured and humbled by the recognition. Read more: bit.ly/4dO0XED

Today is Allied Health Professions Day – an opportunity to celebrate the people that play a huge role in maintaining the health and wellbeing of country communities. To all our allied health professionals, thanks for all that you do to help patients live full lives. Read more: bit.ly/3NqRh8m

Last month, our Research and Innovation team attended the 2024 National Rural Health Conference. Alongside the WA Regional Clinical Trial Coordinating Centre, they joined the PARTNER Network to showcase the many research and clinical trial projects happening across country WA. Clinical Trial Coordinator Dr Vincent Pang told us he felt privileged to connect with like-minded organisations working towards improving access of care for people living in rural and remote areas. #17NRHC #RuralHealthConf

Congratulations are in order for our inaugural WA Excellence in Allied Health Award winner 🎉 Last night, Senior Podiatrist Denise Lou was named Allied Health Professional of the Year (Rural) – recognised for going above and beyond for patients in the Kununurra high risk foot clinic. We’d also like to give a shoutout to Suzanne Spitz, nominee for the Lifetime Achievement Honour, and Dimple Bathla, a finalist in the Allied Health Professional of the Year (Rural) category. Read more: bit.ly/3Nme6Kk

We know hospital emergency departments can be stressful for neurodivergent people. But we’re working hard to change that. Read about how our team at Broome Health Campus recently tailor-made the sensory experience for a young neurodivergent patient. The patient’s mum said the local team was re-writing what her son thought of hospitals and that he now knows “the hospital is a safe space where people will understand and help him.” Read more: bit.ly/3NaP3tp

We know a visit to hospital can be overwhelming at the best of times. That’s why we’ve installed wayfinding paths at Northam Health Campus to help patients and their families find their way. Looking good ✅