NSLHD News February 13

Getting the Chop for a good cause For 18 months Mun Yoke Kum waits patiently for her hair to reach waist length, or about 35.5cms long.

Once it has reached her desired length, she chops it off, only to start the process again. Mun, an Executive Assistant to the NSLHD Planning & Performance Department, donates her hair to charity so other people who have lost their hair due to illness, can have luscious locks. Her hair is made into a wig that is granted to people who may have lost their hair from cancer or through alopecia. While her hair is growing, Mun is unable to dye or chemically treat it and must have it chopped neatly in a ponytail to give to the charity organisation Variety. “Hair gives you confidence so you can imagine how someone who doesn’t have

Before and after of Mun Yoke Kum’s hair donation to Variety.

hair feels,” Mun said.

mind growing it again for the cause.” For more information on donating hair through Variety please visit www. variety.org.au/get-involved/ hair-donation or email hairwithheart@variety.org.au

It takes between 10-20 ponytails to make one wig. Next month Mun will have her hair cut, but plans on immediately growing it. “I don’t know what I want to do with my hair so I wouldn’t occasion of service. The hospital will always contact person to contact 1 first, and if they are unavailable they will use person to contact 2. Person to contact will not be used for seeking consent on behalf of the patient for a medical or dental procedure or if the patient has lost the capacity to consent. Ryde Hospital General Manager Heather Gough said these changes were a step

Changes being made to patient contacts Changes are being made in the Patient Administration System and electronic

forward in continuing to meet the needs of patients, their families and carers. “It is always complex to establish the difference between the Person to Contact for a patient and the patient’s Next of Kin or Person Responsible while wanting to deliver the best outcome for the patient,” she said. “This is a great opportunity to improve and get it right for the benefit of our patients and clients.”

Medical Record to identify a patient’s best contact person during their episode of care. In eMR the terms ‘Next of Kin’ and ‘Emergency Contact’ will be removed, and replaced with ‘Person to Contact 1 and 2.’ The person to contact is the person that the patient has nominated to liaise with the hospital on their behalf for the current admission or

8 NSLHDNEWS | ISSUE 2| 14 FEBRUARY 2020

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