staff at the helm: mona vale palliative care unit Jodie Wason, Nurse Unit Manager
“As cliché as it sounds we want to work as a family and care for each other.” Jodie said the future-proofed unit was exciting not just for the community, but for staff as well. “The end of life stage is such a stressful time so having something close by at Mona Vale will be really important for the community,” she said. “There’s a lot of new, modern technology which is really exciting. All of our PCs have cameras so hopefully in the future we can do a lot more virtual care consults for our patients out in the community. “We will also be able to have multidisciplinary consults with other hospitals, and we will be able to do that from here, rather than taking the patient there which when it comes to aged care, is really important.” While palliative care can be an emotional journey for northern Sydney, having trained at the district during his junior years, while more recently working at Hornsby Hospital and HammondCare Palliative Care at Mona Vale. Now he has turned his focus to heading up the new unit, which opened last week, and helping those in the northern beaches community get the help they need closer to home. “I’m really excited, I’ve been walking around in a bit of a daze – I don’t know that you would find a better place for this unit,” he said. “I’ve never been part of a service where there’s been a new palliative care unit that is purpose built. It shows a prioritising of palliative care that’s not common in most health services. “Having a local place where people can come, receive the help they need, be welcomed and still be in their local area
The chance to build a new team and shape the culture of palliative care at Mona Vale Hospital was too important to pass up for new Nurse Unit Manager Jodie Wason. The former acting deputy director of nursing takes on the new role with a clear aim: providing the best environment possible for patients. “One of the things that really attracted me to this role was building a team and bringing a positive culture into a new environment. It’s fun and exciting, being involved in something so new,” she said. “We’re aiming for a really caring, nurturing environment, not just for the patients but for each other, that we’re really listening to each other and valuing opinions.
all involved, Jodie said it was also a special time for staff who can make such an incredible impact on patients and their loved ones. “It’s a privilege to be involved with the family and being able to share those intimate moments with them, while making sure that you provide the care that they want, putting the wishes of patient and family in place,” Jodie said. “I’m looking forward to making a positive impact for our community and I think that the whole facility is looking forward to that too.”
Dr Peter Roach, Staff Specialist
From Dr Peter Roach’s first rotation through palliative care as a junior doctor, he knew he had found his calling. The recently appointed inaugural staff specialist of Mona Vale Hospital’s Palliative Care Unit said it was the words of a wise JMO manager that changed the course of his career in medicine. “She sent me to the palliative care units in Northern Sydney for six months and I loved it – it was a model of care I’d never even thought about,” he said. “I thought ‘this is the way medicine should be practised.’ It was ideal for me and it suited my temperament – I’ve loved it from then.” Peter is no stranger to
will be fantastic.” Peter said quality palliative care was as much about the people in it as the set up or location, and he is confident they have the right team to help those in their time of need. “I’ve been here for five hours and I’m just so impressed by the warmth of the hospital. It’s a beautiful building, but with palliative care, it is about the people,” he said. “The staff that I’ve met aren’t going to just make this a beautiful physical place but a caring place as well.”
NSLHDNEWS | ISSUE 2 | 12 FEBRUARY 2021
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