September 2016

Important dates to remember

WCHN Volunteers Christmas Luncheon

12.00 for 12.30 pm, Friday 2 December 2016

Auditorium, Lower Ground Floor

Samuel Way Building, WCH

International Volunteers Day

Monday 5 December 2016

Manager’s Note

wonderful people as you to assist them.

It doesn’t matter where you volunteer or

what you do, you make a difference. I hear

many of your stories and read much

feedback from consumers and staff about

how much you are appreciated and the

impact you make.

It takes more than a physical and mental

act to volunteer; it takes a decision of the

heart. Thank you.

Thank you too, to Cynthia and Linda for all

their hard work that contributed to a

successful awards event and to their

commitment to support all the volunteers

every day.

Lis Brittan

Manager, WCHN Volunteers

On Friday 26 August we

celebrated the WCHN

Volunteers Service Awards

with 22 out of the 39 award

recipients present to accept

their award from Jenny Fereday,

Executive Director, Nursing & Midwifery,

WCHN.

The awards ranged from 100 hours to

26,000 hours of service and 5 years to 25

years of service. What an amazing

achievement!

The Women’s and Children’s Health

Network is a special organisation at which

to volunteer and work. I think we are all

privileged to be part of people’s lives at an

often significant time and our consumers

are especially lucky to have such

2

Welcome to New Volunteers

The following volunteers have commenced with the Volunteer Unit since June 2016. We give you a warm

welcome and thank you for your commitment to volunteering with the WCHN.

Mary-Anne Bartolo

Kate Nisbet

Jaimie Thompson

Miranda Willet

Diane Young

Guide Team

Cassia Ward Family Support

My Time

My Time

Volunteer Unit

In 2015, Quoc Nguyen (pictured) was selected as the TeamKids Staff Exhibition Award Winner which provided the opportunity for the artist to have his own solo exhibition in 2016 at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Quoc was a member of the Digital Media team in the Centre for Educa-tion and Training at the Women’s and Children’s Health Network and now works as a graphic designer in the New Royal Adelaide Hospital Project Office as part of the Central Adelaide Local Health Net-work. For his solo exhibition, Quoc has produced a stunning set of watercol-our and ink paintings.

Quoc left his home in the Mekong Delta in 1990 and came to Australia as a refugee. After viewing some of Quoc’s artwork, an Australian offi-cial suggested Quoc live in South Australia to foster his evident love of art as he believed Quoc was definitely a ‘good fit’ with Adelaide’s strong art culture. In 1998, Quoc completed his Year 12 at Thebarton High School and graduated in graphic design in 2001.

Quoc’s exquisite paintings clearly show his skills in combining ink and watercolour painting and linking traditional Vietnamese watercolour techniques with Australian content. Quoc loves the rich subject matter offered in Australia, including birds, animals and trees. While his graph-ic design work and visual art complement each other, his art provides the opportunity to relax, whereas his graphic design work is quite exact-ing.

“Painting is very important to my life because when I come home after work and sit down to look at my paintings I feel happy and not useless,” Quoc said. “I am alive and I see some things that are beautiful around me. I feel life has changed a lot for me since I was in Vietnam. When I was there, I couldn’t do what I wanted to do, and what I wanted to do was paint.”

Quoc’s work is now on display in Gallery C at the WCH.

Reprinted from Around Our Region

Quoc’s delicate brushwork depicts beauty of changing seasons

3

This article and photo is reprinted from the local Barossa paper and acknowledges new volunteers Margaret Lewis and Wendy Wigan with long term volunteer Johanna Hahn and parents from an Early

Parent Group.

4

A world-class ensemble of performers from the Adelaide Guitar Festival recently gave two concerts for patients

at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Part of the Festival’s Resonance Program, the initiative aims to bring the festival experience to those who

otherwise cannot attend. Performers at the hospital included the Guitar Festival Director and classical guitar

virtuoso Slava Grigoryan, Australian String Quartet cellist Sharon Draper, blues guitarist Cal Williams Jr; and

flamenco artists Aloysius Leeson and Kristy Manuel.

The concerts took place in the Starlight Express Room and in the Day of Surgery Admissions area of the

hospital and provided several hours of entertainment for both patients and staff.

The concerts were arranged by TeamKids/Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation as part of the TeamKids

Arts in Health program.

Reprinted from Around Our Region

Guitar Festival visit

Sharon Draper (Cello) and Slava Grigoryan (guitar) performing in the Starlight Express Room.

5

A Guide’s story

The Guide Team Role

Coming to hospital as a consumer or visitor, can

sometimes be stressful and confusing. The Women’s

and Children’s Hospital Guide Team provides volun-

teer support to welcome and assist consumers, their

families, and visitors to the hospital. The Guide Team

plays an important part in helping people to confident-

ly navigate the hospital and to find the right clinical or

support service.

The Guide Services Team operates from a base in the hospital entrance foyer in Kermode Street.

Working as a Volunteer Guide

In 2014 and 2015 there were several events that

changed my busy life leaving me lost and in need to

offer myself in a caring role somewhere in the com-

munity. My niece suggested the Women’s & Chil-

dren’s Hospital.

Applying on-line to become a volunteer was challeng-

ing as I hadn’t needed a resume for a long time but

thankfully Lis and Cynthia gave me the opportunity to

join the newly formed Guide Team set to commence

May 2016. During March and April I joined around 40

others for some training sessions, plus group and

personal interviews. Negotiating myself around the

hospital prior to commencing as a guide using Cyn-

thia’s directions was a challenge in itself and left me

wondering how I would ever be able to get consum-

ers from A to B, or B to C, etc.

May 11 was my first initiation along with two other

hard working guides Isabella and David. We were all

quite overwhelmed with the number of inquiries and

queries that we were not prepared for on that day. I

managed to guide people around the hospital with-

out too many hitches, except for the last query.

Thankfully the family were understanding as it took

me around fifteen minutes to get them from A to E

zones.

As a guide we assist many consumers as they enter

from Kermode Street. We may either direct them to

a specified location, or physically walk with them to

their destination. Walking with the consumer is my

favourite part of being a guide as I can chat to them

and know when they reach their destination they

are often more relaxed. Every shift gives us guides

many unexpected challenges as there are many

requests we don’t always have the answer for, such

as some consumers who lose or forget their ap-

pointment paperwork. But after being in the role for

three months the questions are now less daunting.

The opportunity to help a stressed family member

feel a little more relaxed being in a large hospital

complex is rewarding and I personally feel very

blessed to be in this position. Working with the other

guides is enjoyable as they are a friendly, intelligent

and hard-working team, always willing to assist. Al-

so, having the support of Lis, Cynthia, Allan and

Linda makes the role more enjoyable and very man-

ageable. I look around the hospital and only ever

see happy volunteers whether it be in the café or

elsewhere and know the management team have

contributed to making the environment a happier

place for all who enter this hospital..

Marilyn Foran

6

Researching creepy crawlies

High up in lofty perch of the seventh floor in the Samuel Way Building you can look right and squint to find a door with a plain piece of paper blue-tacked with the an inscription simply reading ‘Toxinology Department’. Yes, the Women’s and Children’s Hospital has one. Inside that door is a staff of three dedicated doctors who spend their days making sure that suspicious spider bite you attained won’t cause you too much distress or perhaps prevent that dodgy mushroom you found making you swear off soup for life. If you have ever been unfortunate enough to have been bitten by something nasty or have eaten something a bit suspect you have probably met either Dr. Julian White or Dr. Scott Weinstein in your medical journey. For those who don’t know, these are the guys that make sure your experience is more comfortable. In my volunteering experience in this department I was under the supervision of the final member of the team - Dr. David Bates. While Julian and Scott are clinical doctors, David is the Medical Scientist who runs the information systems in the department and keeps the electronics in the Toxinology Department running ship-shape. In the year and a half I volunteered I spent on average 10 hours a week under the loose supervision of David who I don’t believe ever stopped working. My role as a volunteer involved me researching medical information on the various poisonous plants and venomous animals so that I could provide information for their specialist website. It was time consuming and occasionally confusing with the medical jargon but as evidenced by my lengthy stay I found it very rewarding and I learnt many new things. Some of those things were less pleasant than others but interesting nonetheless. My favourite part though of the whole experience was the fact that I was able to constantly have a cup of tea sitting next to me as I worked. I spent many days peacefully scrolling through medical journals looking for information with tunes in my ears and a mug by my side. It almost felt like a holiday from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and I loved every moment. As of December 2015 I finished my studies at university and relocated from the city so I had to sadly say goodbye to the Toxinology Department. In March this year though, I was lucky enough to be invited back for a week to help out in their biannual Clinical Toxinology short course. This allowed me to meet some of the international authors of the many research papers I had worked with! The week was jam-packed with interesting tidbits of information and a thrilling live snake demonstration. I felt very fortunate to be associated with the Toxinology Department and was so glad I decided to choose to volunteer at the hospital. I highly recommend anyone with the right skills to seek out positions such as this one as they are so rewarding and give you an insight into a world that takes years of education and experience to enter professionally.

Evie Catt

7

Toxinology at the Women’s

and Children’s Hospital - the quiet

achievers

Many people are unaware that the WCHN has a Toxinology Department tucked away in the Samuel Way Building that provides a service to all South Australians, young and old. It has been operating since 1990 and is the only clinical toxinology department in any Australian teaching hospital.

Clinical Toxinology deals with cases of envenoming or poisoning from animals, particularly snakebite, spiderbite and marine envenoming and poisoning. It also covers the treatment of the clinical effects of poisonous plants and mushrooms. Commonly our medical staff are called in by the Emergency Department at the WCH to treat Red-back spider bites and poisoning by mushrooms accidently ingested by children.

The Department also delivers a consultant clinical toxinology service to doctors, hospitals, poisons information centres and antivenom producers nationwide (and beyond). For example, when an adult is bitten by a Brown snake and presents to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, our doctors are involved in guiding the treatment to ensure complete recovery.

Continuing education is a vital part of the Department’s functions, with regular lectures to medical students, medical graduates, nurses and other health professionals, particularly those attending the University of Adelaide, University of South Australia and Flinders University. The Department, in conjunction with the University of Adelaide, runs a Clinical Toxinology Short Course every two years. This internationally recognised course is the only one of its type and attracts doctors and other health professionals from around the world.

We also run a number of websites offering extensive information about clinical toxinology. In particular the Clinical Toxinology Resources website (www.toxinology.com) is a major reference source used by health professionals throughout Australia and the world.

The Department currently has only three staff; Dr Julian White (Head of Toxinology and Consultant Clinical Toxinologist), Dr Scott Weinstein (Clinical Toxinologist) and Dr David Bates (Medical Scientist - Information Systems). We have been fortunate over the years to have enlisted the help of several volunteers who contributed towards to building our information resources for clinical toxinology, and assisted with department activities.

Work performed by these volunteers has principally involved researching medical and biological information on poisonous plants and venomous creatures such as snakes, spiders and jellyfish, then writing concise summaries of clinical aspects, adding descriptions and constructing distribution maps for inclusion on our websites. Their input has enabled us to keep more of this information updated than could have been achieved by our staff alone.

We wish to acknowledge the following who have worked in this capacity as volunteers at various times:

As well as supplying invaluable assistance to our department, these people have also benefited from volunteering in a number of ways. They have developed their skills in research, information systems and application of computers. Many have gone on to pursue successful careers in which these skills have afforded them with a considerable advantage. We believe also that all our volunteers have found their time spent with us to be a rewarding and enjoyable experience (see for example the accompanying piece written by Evie Catt, our most recent volunteer).

Dr David Bates

Medical Scientist - Information Systems, Toxinology

Belinda Baker Veronika Bandara Josh Bizilis Evie Catt Jocelyn Ho

Rebecca Korossy-Horwood Genaya Misso Baz khanum Safdari Joanna Thabthiang

8

WCHN Volunteers

Awards

Presentation

9

WCHN Volunteers

Awards

Presentation

Contact us

Lis Brittan

Manager WCHN Volunteers

Tel: 8161 8475

lis.brittan@sa.gov.au

Cynthia Baldwin

Coordinator WCHN Volunteers

Tel: 8161 6437

cynthia.baldwin@sa.gov.au

Linda Dyett

Administration Officer WCHN Volunteers

Tel: 8161 7471

linda.dyett@sa.gov.au

Centre for Robotics and Innovation Robotic technology is being used to aid the rehabilitation of children with serious neurological disorders

and injuries thanks to a purpose-built gym at the Women's and Children's Hospital.

Known as the Little Heroes Foundation Centre for Robotics and Innovation, the new facility houses

equipment that provides tailored therapies to aid in walking, arm movement and coordination.

Rehabilitation clinicians believe the more therapy a child with neurological dysfunction can access, the

greater the benefits are likely to be.

Robotic technology is a way of giving children a greater amount of therapy without necessarily involving

a lot more cost in terms of therapist time. The robotic equipment is also useful for developing

cardiovascular fitness for those children who may not do much physical exercise due to their disability.

This technology helps children with a range of neurological disabilities caused by brain tumours, brain

injury, cerebral palsy, spina bifida and neuromuscular disorders. Young people who are current

inpatients or day patients of the Paediatric Rehabilitation program are able to access the technology.

Two robotic machines have been installed - a Lokomat designed to improve walking pattern and

function - and an Armeo, which assists with developing muscle strength, power and range of

movement in the arm. Both pieces of equipment are very precise in the way they generate

movement of a child’s limbs and allow for more efficient and effective therapy.

Reprinted from Around Our Region

Tanna Saunders

demonstrates the

Lokomat machine

with WCH Senior

Physiotherapist

Marianne Spizzo

at the launch of

the Centre for

Robotics and

Innovation .