Western Health

👏Celebrating our allied health team! 🎉 At Western Health, our allied health team is made up of 27 diverse professions, each bringing unique skills and expertise. From dietitians and occupational therapists to psychologists and sonographers, they all share a common purpose: enhancing the quality of life in our community. 🚴♂️🏃♀️ 🏊♂️ 🏀 This incredible team plays a critical role in disease diagnosis, management, and patient care. To honour their hard work and commitment, we are excited to host a special event this week for our team focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in healthcare. Please join us in celebrating their dedication and ongoing contributions to improving lives across the west! 🙏

Today, we celebrated three exceptional Western Health staff members who were awarded the prestigious 2024 Arlene Wake Chronic Disease Fellowships at the Research Week Closing and Awards Ceremony! 🎉 Congratulations to: • Dr. Hannah Wallace - Future Health Today Implementation Trial • Dr. Kimberley Chan - Beating for Two: Myocardial remodelling and exercise during pregnancy and postpartum • Katherine Baudinette - Data-driven healthcare: Using frailty and function measures to improve chronic disease outcomes. These and the many other grants awarded at Research Week are thanks to our incredible philanthropic and corporate partners, including, Ian Rollo Currie Foundation, Telematics Australia Trust, Rotary Footscray, and Victorian Medical Research Acceleration Fund, as well as our sponsors Medtronic, Plenary Group, BankVic, Maxxia Pty Ltd, and Victoria University. A special thanks to the Western Health Office of Research and Western Health Foundation for your efforts behind the scenes. #ResearchWeek #ChronicDisease #HealthcareInnovation #Philanthropy

⭐ We are celebrating a major milestone marking three continuous decades of cancer research. Clinical trials can change the course of a patient’s disease trajectory or lead to breakthroughs that have global significance. They also provide our patients with hope of a better future. 🔬 In the past 30 years we have conducted 375 clinical trials, countless lives have been improved. 🤩 We love hearing from our patients and their families and treasure their messages of support, like this one: “As we faced our toughest year yet, we were very lucky to have had you hold our hand. You inspired us and made the impossible possible!” A special mention to our staff who support clinical trials, including clinicians, researchers and administrative staff. The combined workforce of the Cancer Services team has more have 250 years' experience and our study coordinators have more than 100 years combined experience in oncology clinical trials coordination. 🙏 Of course, without our patients, we could not be part of global efforts to improve cancer detection, prevention and treatment. Thank you to our staff, patients and research partners! 👉 Read more on our website: https://bit.ly/3BzVmnM VCCC Alliance, Cancer Council Victoria, Deakin University, Victoria University, University of Melbourne, Dishan Herath, Heike Raunow, Andrea Jones, Breast Cancer Trials.

👨🌾 At Grant Lodge Residential Aged Care in Bacchus Marsh, every day is a new chance to connect, create and engage in meaningful lifestyle activities. 🧶 Favourites like bingo and knitting are always popular, while innovative tools like the magic table (Tovertafel) encourage social interaction and mental stimulation through interactive light projection. Residents can also enjoy growing their own herbs and vegetables in our outdoor pods. We also offer an innovative nutrition program. ⭐ Recently our 30-bed unit that provides a wide variety of lifestyle enhancement programs seven days a week, 24-hour nursing care and a safe home-like environment, received a 5-star aged care rating. We are proud of our staff who do a fantastic job caring for our residents!

🔬 Research Week 2024 kicked off today with a keynote address from Professor Bianca Brijnath from the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI) on the importance of ethnic diversity in clinical trials.   Ethnic diversity in clinical trials helps, Professor Brijnath says, promote health equity and access to care and improves applicability to real-world populations. Having consulted widely across Australia, she said that ethnically diverse communities want to be involved in medical research and understand the benefits for individuals as well as for society and humanity more broadly.    Professor Brijnath offered suggestions on recruitment, consent, data collection mechanisms and retention. She ended by saying that Australia is well placed to be at the cutting edge of medical research because of our population diversity. Research Week runs from 7-11 October, showcasing excellence in research and innovation. Sessions throughout the week feature leading experts from a wide range of disciplines, delivering life-changing medical research with real-world benefits to patients.     Pictured (L/R): A/Prof Harin Karunajeewa, Director Clinical Research; Chief Medical Officer Abi Arul; Prof Bianca Brijnath; Western Health CEO Prof. Russell Harrison; Board Director A/Prof Elizabeth Kennedy; Bill Karanatsios Research Program Director.

Today we recognised some of the wonderful people we have working here at Western Health at our annual INSPIRE Awards. 👏 There were so many wonderful individuals, volunteers and teams recognised for their hard work and dedication. 🙏 You truly foster a positive workplace and inspire others to live our values of compassion, accountability, respect, excellence and safety. 👏 We are so proud of you all! ❤️ #inspireawards #positiveworkplace

Western Health is a finalist in five categories in the 2024 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards🏆!   We're incredibly proud of this achievement, which is a testament to the hard work, dedication, and innovation of our staff. Our finalist entries are for: ➡ Excellence in Mental Health and Wellbeing: ‘Ascending Wellness – A Tiered Approach to Mental Health Care’ (Mental Health & Wellbeing) ➡ Excellence in Public Sector Residential Aged Care Services – ‘Piloting a Powershift through Food’ (Grant Lodge) ➡ Excellence in Women’s Health: POPPY: ‘The Advanced Practice Physiotherapy Led Pessary Clinic’ (Allied Health) ➡ Excellence in Multi-Cultural Community Health: ‘Speaking Your Language – Giving Our Kids the Best Start in Life’ – INFANT Program (WPHU) West Metro Health Service Partnership: ➡ Excellence in Value-Based Healthcare – A Regional Approach to Enhanced Recovery After Surgery and Prehabilitation – ERAS The awards are a celebration of excellence in public healthcare and acknowledge the achievements of Victoria’s healthcare workers, volunteers, and public health services.   We know that our projects have had a significant and positive impact on our health service and the community we serve. We look forward to sharing more about these entries soon.   The winners will be announced at the 18th Victorian Public Healthcare Awards Gala Night on Tuesday 19 November.   👏 Congratulations and good luck to all Awards finalists across the public healthcare sector!   #WesternHealth #WestIsBest #VPHAwards

We are thrilled to be shortlisted for the Public Sector: Digital Transformation Team of the Year award. The award is presented by Women In Digital and recognises the most successful transformation of a government organisation or its service delivery through digital technology. Western Health has been named as a finalist for the Electronic Medical Records (EMR) project which has continued to advance since it was launched in 2018. Led by Lily Liu and involving many Western Health staff, the EMR project consolidated more than 25 different systems and paper-based processes to: ✔️ improve patient safety ✔️ streamline clinical decision-making ✔️ consolidate data workflows ✔️ reduce operational costs. Western Health was recently awarded by the Healthcare Asia Awards 2024 as the ICT initiative of the year in the Australian category for the same project. 👏 Congratulations to all staff who have contributed to this hugely important transformational project which has led to a more cohesive and efficient public healthcare system in Melbourne’s West. #WIDAwards2024 #Finalists

We had a wonderful evening on Thursday 12 September at the Women+ for Western Health Pitch Night 🌟 This event celebrates healthcare innovation and progress in Melbourne’s west, by awarding a Western Health staff project with the Women+ for Western Health Giving Circle grant. Western Health executives, staff, philanthropists, corporate partners, and community members gathered to hear five inspiring pitches from the finalists. Although all five projects were deserving of support, we’d like to congratulate Marcelle Ghaly, whose project ECLIPS – Elderly Complex Long Stay Inpatient Prediction System, was awarded this year’s $50,000 grant! Marcelle’s innovative system seeks to improve hospital efficiency by leveraging artificial intelligence to predict and prevent long hospital stays for elderly patients. The ECLIPS project aims to get patients home faster, freeing up hospital beds, reducing preventable illness, and enhancing patient flow. Thank you to all the finalists, Lea Foo, Harriet Downing, Dina Pogrebnoy, Kate Kerrisk and Lucy Webster - your continual striving for best care is vitally important to our community and demonstrates the passion and dedication of our staff at Western Health. Thank you also to the members of the Women+ for Western Health Giving Circle. Your generosity has immediate impact through your support of staff-led initiatives like these. And finally, thank you to our corporate partner Plenary Group for your ongoing support. We look forward to following Marcelle’s journey and keeping you up to date with the project’s progress. #Wplus4WH #WesternHealth #Philanthropy #innovation #givingcircle #healthcare

🐶Therapy dogs Leo, Sally, Pippa, Olivia and Sterling brought their expressive eyes, wagging tails and all-round adorableness to our Footscray, Sunshine, Bacchus Marsh and Willy hospitals today, helping us mark R U OK? Day. 🐕These doggos never fail to put a smile on our dial, even on tough days, bringing warmth and affection and helping reduce stress levels. They’re a lovely reminder that the small act of taking a moment to check in on someone – showing support and empathy – can have a big impact. ❤️ 🙏Thank you to Leo, Sally. Pippa, Olivia and Sterling and their human companions from the Lort Smith Pet Therapy Program. 🐾 🐾 #pettherapyprogram #lortsmith #RUOKDay!