We have honoured some of our longest-serving colleagues and volunteers at the 2021 Length of Service Awards.
Split over four nights, the virtual ceremonies honoured our dedicated employees and volunteers, who have been with Monash Health from five (for volunteers) and ten years (for employees) through to an extraordinary 55 years.
Each ceremony highlighted remarkable milestones, and recipients received their certificates of acknowledgement and Length of Service badges.
We congratulated 101 employees who were celebrating between 30- and 55-years’ service at Monash Health.
Tomorrow we will run another story about two people who have reached 55 years of service. In the meantime, read a bit more about our longest-serving colleagues:
50 years of service
Charlie Edwards – Nurse in charge (three nights a week), Dandenong Emergency Department
From a very young age, Charlie Edwards knew she wanted to look after people – she was helping in the kitchen at the Berwick Bush Nursing Hospital from the age of 12.
In 1966, when she was just 17, she started on a nursing bursary at the Royal Children’s Hospital, before joining Dandenong and District Hospital in the Rotary Ward in 1970.
Charlie spent time working with child and surgical patients before moving into the Emergency Department, and 35 years later she is still there as Nurse in Charge three nights a week.
Along the journey, Charlie had four children, has also managed a nursing home, and survived a serious car accident.
Charlie says Dandenong ED in the 1970s and 1980s was very different to today.
For a start, there was a day theatre, where operations would be performed in the morning, and the ED nurses would care for recovering patients in the afternoon.
Casualty would be running as usual, of course, and Charlie points out limited preventative medicine at that time meant patients coming to ED were often very, very sick.
Dandenong Hospital had a huge catchment, from the Peninsula to Gippsland, and many of the cases were trauma, especially road and industrial accidents.
As well as building deep friendships and professional relationships over the years, Charlie continues to gain great satisfaction from mentoring and training nurses and being an advocate for her patients, especially the elderly.
45 years of service
Linda Santamaria – Manager, Chief Orthoptist, Monash Health Ophthalmology Department
Linda Santamaria started her career at Queen Victoria Hospital in 1976, working part-time while she lectured at the School of Orthoptists.
For those of you who don’t know, orthoptists were traditionally experts in the assessment, diagnosis and non-surgical management of eye movement disorders and amblyopia (lazy eye).
At Monash Health, their role has expanded to caring for patients with eye disease, including cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, systemic or neurological vision disorders and low vision.
They work closely with ophthalmologists in the investigation and monitoring of those eye conditions, caring for patients of all ages.
From her early years when data analysis was presented using bar charts with pencil and paper, Linda now manages our Ophthalmology Department. Monash Health is the second largest provider of eye care and surgery in Victoria, after the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.
She manages 23 sessional consultants, eight registrars, and six orthoptists. The department works across all our emergency hospitals, with surgery at Cranbourne Centre and Clayton.
Linda has a Masters in Health Science Research and has received various accolades, including as part of the team that won a Victorian Public Health Award and holds several honorary roles in the profession.
Miriam Balaban – Midwife, Maternity, Dandenong Hospital
Miriam Balaban started her career at the Royal Melbourne Hospital before joining Dandenong Hospital for her midwifery training in 1975.
She remembers “pestering” the sister in charge for a place in the small intake.
Still in maternity today, Miriam has worked both part-time and full-time over the years, as well as an obstetrician and as a vaccination nurse.
Miriam came to Australia as an eight-year-old from Croatia and without knowing a word of English. She loves learning about patients, and their backgrounds and her language skills in Croatian, Italian, Serbian and French have been very helpful over the years in communicating with our patients and families from diverse backgrounds.
Miriam had her own three children at Dandenong Hospital, and three of her four grandchildren have also been born there.
40 years of service
Angela Zarafa – Overseas Patient Liaison, Finance, Dandenong Hospital
Angela spends her days working with our overseas students or visitors to help with their insurance, admittance and discharge paperwork.
Angela started as Junior Clerk in Accounts Receivable when she was 17. There she learned everything about working in an office, which was very manual in those days. Every document was typed by hand, and they used ink machines.
After she had the first of her three children, Angela moved to Reception, as this allowed her to leave work at work at the end of the day. Angela enjoys the collegial culture at Monash Health and stays in touch with many of her former colleagues.
Angela has personally been a patient at Monash Health, as have both her parents, who were both immigrants to Australia, and she’s very grateful for the high standard of care they’ve all received.
Beth Graham, Medical Scientist, Pathology, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton
Beth is a Medical Scientist who started work in the Dandenong pathology department in 1975 and has also worked in the Angliss, Moorabbin and Clayton pathology departments, providing test results and emergency patient support.
From 1978 to 1980 Beth took maternity leave whilst studying part-time, upgrading her RMIT Diploma to a Degree, a Bachelor of Applied Science Medical Technology. Returning part-time in 1981 to out-of-hours shifts, required multiple skills. All disciplines were covered from haematology, coagulation, blood bank, biochemistry, and microbiology, as well as specimen reception. On some shifts, Beth was the only medical scientist, performing all the pathology tests for every patient request, which she found extremely interesting and satisfying work.
Reflecting on her years as a medical scientist, Beth’s impressed by the continual improvements in both pathology techniques and the analysers. Monash Health has many patients with serious illnesses, ensuring medical scientists gain broad experience.
Over the years, Beth’s made many firm friends among her colleagues and is so impressed with the wonderful group of bright medical scientists across all Monash Health pathology sites.
Carmel Kelleher – Breast Care Nurse and Clinical Nurse Consultant, Monash Breast Care, Moorabbin Hospital
Carmel joined what became Monash Health when she relocated from Mordialloc/Cheltenham Community Hospital in 1996. She started as a nurse on Ward One (Women’s Health) at our Moorabbin Campus.
Carmel’s day-to-day role involves providing information, physical and psychological care and ongoing support to patients recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
The support and reassurance Carmel provides, help her patients manage their treatment journey. An important part of her role is to exercise empathy and compassion. Building a trusting relationship with patients helps them to relax and stay calm, particularly during treatments.
In 1999 Carmel completed the Breast Cancer Nurse Practicum, all while raising four children. Carmel describes working with the Monash Breast Care team during the past 20 years as an absolute privilege and has made many great friends during her time with Monash Health.
Carmel is proud that the level of care patients receive at Monash Health is of a high standard regardless of whether they are public or private.
Carmel gains professional satisfaction from explaining the treatment process to families and friends of patients, reassuring them of the excellent care she knows they’ll receive at Monash Health.
Carole Gardner – Enrolled Nurse, West 2, Dandenong Hospital
As an Enrolled Nurse at Dandenong Hospital, Carole cares for a huge range of people from very diverse backgrounds. She sees herself as an advocate for her patients, particularly the elderly and frail.
One of the highlights in the time Carole has been with us was her completion of the Medication Administration Course for Enrolled Nurses in 2009. This increased her understanding of patients’ medical issues and treatment and gave her a more holistic approach to care.
In January 1981, Carmel interviewed for the School for Enrolled Nurses in South Yarra and met another young woman, Sue. They talked at length and discovered they were both married with young children. In their interviews, they were both questioned at length about how they would cope with being parents and studying full-time. They both got through the course, and Sue has been one of Carole’s closest friends ever since. They were on the same Monash Health ward for 17 years before Sue retired in 2017.
Carole is particularly fond of patients who battle their illnesses with determination. One patient, Cyril, was so determined to live and fought so hard to gain weight, he was strong enough for the surgery that saved his life. Cyril survived and has visited every Christmas and Easter with chocolates.
Denise Bruce – Clinical Midwife Specialist, Dandenong Hospital
Denise commenced her general nursing training at the Repatriation General Hospital in Heidelberg in 1976. She moved to Dandenong in 1981 and worked in the general wards, commencing midwifery in 1982 as a hospital-based course.
Denise’s role involves caring for women who present for ante-natal, intrapartum, and postpartum care. Her role is also to mentor and support students, graduates, and other colleagues in caring for women during pregnancy, labour, and birth. Dandenong has a multicultural clientele, and Denise has the privilege of sharing in the birthing experience of all women.
As well as her technical skills, Denise needs to exercise significant levels of emotional intelligence.
Denise says, ‘every time you help a woman deliver their baby is special, and the looks on the parents’ faces and their appreciation once the baby is on their tummy is wonderful.’
Denise has enjoyed many professional highlights over the years, one of which was delivering twins vaginally, not something we see at Monash Health these days.
Denise has enjoyed meeting, working, and developing many friendships, skills, and teamwork at Monash Health.
Glenda Bawden – Principal Strategic Advisor, Family Violence, Monash Medical Centre Clayton
Glenda has been with Monash Health for over 40 years and is currently the Principal Strategic Advisor, Family Violence. Her first role was at the Queen Victoria Medical Centre, in their Department of Family Psychiatry.
Glenda values many things about working at Monash Health. She enjoys the flexibility, the freedom to implement systems, and great teamwork. Glenda has done some interesting work, including establishing and sustaining the Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Service. In a career with many professional highlights, two, in particular, stand out.
The first is the current project Strengthening Hospital Responses to Family Violence at Monash Health. Glenda has been part of the team that trained Monash Health employees on how to respond when patients or colleagues disclose family violence or if there are signs of violence or emotional distress. More than 7,000 Monash Health employees have now participated in the training, which helps them to be better equipped to respond when faced with this challenging issue.
The second highlight is when she was part of a team that established a joint academic position of Associate Professor of Social Work at Monash University and Monash Health. This fostered a more evidence-based approach to practice, as well as research and publications.
Glenda has always found social work in health care very interesting and appreciates the diverse opportunities she’s been given at Monash Health.
Jill Shineberg – Executive Assistant, Monash Medical Centre Clayton
Jill was one of the first four employees at Monash Medical Centre, alongside Chief Executive Officer Just Stoelwinder, Ian Forster and Jan Martorana. Jill was named as one of the ’20 Legends of Monash Health’ during our 20th-anniversary celebrations.
Jill says her role is to provide administrative assistance to managers so they can focus on their roles, including running Monash Health and providing the best possible health care to our community.
Jill has had many professional highlights, including working with Dr Syd Allen to achieve Monash Medical Centre’s first accreditation.
Jill’s younger sister Kaye was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 39 and passed away a few months before her 50th birthday. Jill is grateful Kaye received such excellent treatment at Moorabbin. Her family will always appreciate the love and care they felt during Kaye’s final week, from Sharon Wood and Trish Dito arranging a bed quickly to the wonderful team on Ward 2, the food services and cleaning teams, Peter in security, and her manager, who allowed her to take leave at short notice so she could spend much of the week with Kaye.
Jill Wilson – Registered Nurse, Infection Prevention, Dandenong Hospital
Jill started as a part-time registered nurse in 1981, and after a few months, her matron Patsy Lyons asked her to take charge of the ward. It was the beginning of a long association with Monash Health.
Jill moved to infection control in 1997, and following the discovery of high numbers of strong Mantoux tests for Tuberculosis among the staff, it was identified that there were no single rooms with negative pressure to manage our TB patients.
After many meetings with the head of Infectious Diseases, Lindsay Grayson, the Health Department and Dandenong managers, single rooms with appropriate airflow were established to prevent droplet infection. Jill considers this a significant achievement in her time in infection control and a very topical one.
Jill has presented at national and international conferences over the course of her career, including winning the prize for Best Presentation at the Australian Association for Infection Prevention National Conference.
There have been some firsts, such as looking after the first woman in Australia to die from AIDS contracted via blood transfusion.
Jill retired earlier this year but is quite certain she will be kept very busy on her farm looking after the cattle and sheep.
Jill has an identical twin sister, Jan Leighton, who has worked for a number of years in the role of Volunteer Pastoral Care Worker at Monash Health. This has caused some confusion on more than one occasion.
John McDonald – Senior Manager, Engineering and Infrastructure, Engineering Services, Monash Medical Centre Clayton
John works on the infrastructure services Monash Health needs, so the clinicians can focus on their work.
His first role was a plumber at the Queen Vic Hospital. Plumbing was pretty complex in such an old building, which still had patient balconies on a couple of the wards when John started in the 1980s.
After three years at QVWH, he was sent out to Monash Health, and on his first visit to Clayton, there was just a hole in the ground. He said it was great to be there at the start of construction so he could see how everything was built from the ground up.
He’s practical, likes to help others and is pretty easygoing until he needs not to be. John’s had many highlights over his 40 years with Monash Health. He says the best thing about Monash Health is when the pressure is on, everyone is willing to pitch in and do whatever it takes to get the job done. The team commitment and camaraderie are second to none.
John loves the fact he has been able to regularly learn new things at Monash Health – both technically and in relation to procedures and systems, and describes his time with Monash Health as a life-long lesson in people.
Katrina Vincent – Associate Midwife Manager, Dandenong Hospital
Katrina Vincent has been an employee at Dandenong Hospital for 40 years, working in our Maternity Services.
For the past 30-plus years, she has worked as an Associate Midwife Manager, predominately in the Birth Suite.
Katrina maintains this role and also rotates through all facets of the service, including fetal surveillance. Katrina is a strong promoter of midwife-led care models, caseload and is a valued advocate for birthing women and their families.
She is an internationally accredited lactation consultant and has previously worked in our lactation service.
Katrina enjoys sewing, cooking, beach time with family and her new grandson. Katrina is a passionate midwife and role model.
Lesleigh Baker – Associate Nurse Midwife Unit Manager, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton
Lesleigh started out at Queen Victoria Women’s Hospital, moving to Clayton in 1987 and working in foetal surveillance.
Lesleigh loves her job and always has. She has a huge interest in caring for mothers and babies and also enjoys teaching. Monash Medical Centre is a very large hospital with many patients from culturally diverse backgrounds, and she has found it very rewarding helping so many of them.
Lesleigh says she has been privileged to educate many midwives and doctors regarding foetal heart monitoring. She particularly enjoyed learning and teaching with Professor Euan Wallace AM and Professor Ryan Hodges.
One of Lesleigh’s many highlights is a world-first Lancet paper on foetal blood flows in relation to steroids.
Lesleigh enjoys the fact that Monash Health continues to strive for the best possible care for high-risk women.
She has worked with so many midwives over the years and appreciates the support of her colleagues. Through good times and traumatic times, they all support each other.
Leslie Jay – Registered Nurse, Cardiac Preadmission Clinic Coordinator, Cardiac Care Unit, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton
Leslie started at Prince Henry’s in 1976 when she did her Coronary Care course and is a nurse in the Cardiac Care Unit.
She looks after acutely ill heart attack patients and those who’ve had very complex and invasive heart procedures.
Cardiac care is an increasingly complex area of medicine, largely due to our ageing population. Leslie feels privileged to work in such a multi-faceted specialty and have witnessed so many technological and clinical advances since she started nursing. This year also marks 50 years in nursing.
She enjoys her role as Cardiac Pre Admission Clinic Coordinator as this offers another area of cardiology on an outpatient level where her love of cardiac rehabilitation is utilised.
Leslie has had many professional highlights over the years, but she values above all the camaraderie of the team at Monash Health. Many friendships stretch back to her time at Prince Henry’s.
She appreciates the opportunity Monash Health provides all employees to work with very culturally diverse colleagues and patients and is proud to work for an organisation with such a positive role in the community.
Linda Cassidy – Allocations Assistant, Monash Health Bureau, Kingston Centre
Linda started work at Monash Health in 1981 at the Kingston Centre as an Enrolled Nurse before moving to Monash Health Bureau in early 2010.
Linda plays a vital role in the allocation of our casual and pool employees and liaises with wards and agencies to ensure as many shifts as possible are filled.
Linda’s communication skills are excellent, and over the years has developed a strong rapport with all her colleagues, both at Kingston Centre and across sites.
Linda is a hard worker who has a get-up and go attitude. Outside of work, Linda enjoys spending time with family, is an avid reader and is looking to travel very shortly as she has missed a few holidays over the past two years.
Marian Hempenstall – Bed Manager, Bed Access, All sites
Marian’s first role with Monash Health was as a nurse in Coronary Care at Dandenong Hospital. She is now a Bed Manager working across the entire health service, finding beds for patients in every specialist area.
It’s a logistics role that can be high-pressure, particularly with increased demand for COVID-19 patients.
Day-to-day there is a lot of negotiation involved, with nurses, other coordinators, and a lot of doctors who wanted their patients ‘in yesterday’. Luckily, Marian has what she describes as ‘an amazing manager’, and she gets enormous satisfaction from her work.
There are many highlights over the years, but in the 1980s, when she was in charge of ICU, the VFL Umpires Association did a fundraising run from Warrigal to Dandenong and donated a ventilator to the hospital.
Marian found Intensive Care very interesting, and there was no trauma centre at The Alfred when she started, so she saw a lot of interesting work on patients who had been involved in car accidents. One of many aspects of the job Marian likes is the personal connection with colleagues, and from a career point of view, has appreciated the many opportunities available with Monash Health.
Paik Chuah – Registered Nurse, Day Treatment Centre, Monash Medical Centre
Paik is a nurse in the Day Treatment Centre who helps patients prepare for theatre and medical procedures such as bone marrow transplants.
Paik started at the Queen Victoria Women’s Hospital, where she worked for 17 years. Her first role was in the Emergency Department. She moved to Monash Medical Centre in 1987.
Paik has had many professional highlights over the years and particularly enjoyed her time in triage in Emergency. She finds the diversity of both patients and their medical conditions very interesting and professionally challenging. She particularly enjoys following up with patients after a successful operation.
In her time at Monash Health, Paik has worked with some terrific people and made many good friends. All the nurses in Emergency and Day Treatment are wonderful colleagues and support each other. She is proud of the exemplary care people get at Monash Health.
Dr Peter Cowen – Former Head of Dermatology, Monash Medical Centre Clayton
Peter is a well-known face at Monash Health, having been with us since 1975.
Peter started at Prince Henry’s Hospital, then went to the Queen Victoria Medical Centre, which later merged to become Monash Health. Apart from training in dermatology at Royal Melbourne and a year in the UK at Oxford and Durham, he has been with Monash Health and its predecessors his whole career.
Peter was one of the first people to move to the new Monash Medical Centre in 1988 and was head of dermatology for a number of years.
He finds dermatology a very satisfying and exciting specialty as it has the ability to transform individuals’ lives.
Peter still enjoys coming to work every day and feels privileged to be able to have a positive impact on his patients’ lives. He appreciates the camaraderie of the team, and the wonderful friendships and working relationships he has made during his time.
Rowena Ferguson – Former PA to the Medical Director, Monash Newborn
Rowena Ferguson joined the Queen Victoria Medical Centre in April 1981 as assistant to the Director of Neonatal Intensive Care, Professor Victor Yu.
By the time she retired in May 2021, Rowena had worked for another four directors and had seen huge changes in the care and treatment of premature and ill newborns.
Rowena moved to the new hospital at Clayton in 1987, and then into the Monash Children’s Hospital.
Known as the ‘go‐to person’ of the Monash Newborn unit, Rowena is grateful for the privilege of being able to support worried parents, especially before there were many social workers in the team.
Rowena remains close friends with many of her colleagues and is not venturing far from the hospital in retirement. During lockdown, Rowena trained to be a Very Special Kids volunteer and will regularly be at Monash Health to help in the hospice. She is also going to volunteer with charity St Kilda Mums and is looking forward to regular gym visits and walks.
Sally Musster – Registered Nurse, Pathology Collector, Moorabbin Hospital
Sally is a registered nurse who works in pathology. She started at the Queen Victoria Women’s Hospital in May 1981, went to Monash Medical Centre when it first opened, and had her first child in August of that year.
Sally always found pathology a fascinating area to work in as it has so many branches.
Sally tries to make the patients’ stay a little bit brighter, give them a laugh and help them when they’re feeling vulnerable.
In her time at Monash Health, Sally is grateful she has had the opportunity to teach so many, and she has enjoyed watching her students develop confidence and become a part of the team.
It can be hard watching people close to her age who are suffering from cancer, particularly patients with problematic veins. For their last chemo session, she always likes to cheer and celebrate with them.
Sandra Akerman – Registered Nurse and Midwife, Monash Children’s Hospital
Sandra completed her general training at Prince Henry’s, then onto the Queen Victoria Women’s Hospital, before moving to Monash Medical Centre in Clayton. She works in midwifery and neo-natal intensive care.
Working with mothers and babies, much of Sandra’s time each day involves reassuring families as Monash Health takes a very family-centred care approach.
She finds reassuring someone that it’s OK to cry and looking after the whole family is very professionally rewarding. It involves a big effort from the entire team – from the Medical Director down.
Sandra believes moving to Clayton was a great initiative, as there was a pressing need for a large intensive care centre in the southeast of Melbourne.
Sandra has made many friends through Monash Health over the years, some right back to her days at Prince Henry’s. In addition to the friendships forged, she has enjoyed seeing the professional development and progress of the graduate nurses.
Sandra can’t speak more highly of the care people receive at Monash Health and does everything she can to encourage people to support Monash Children’s. She knows that Monash Children’s is a wonderful children’s hospital and feels lucky to be part of ‘the nest’.
Sue Keks – Physiotherapist, Monash Medical Centre Clayton
As a physio, Sue’s job involves helping people get moving again after illness or injury, including patients in intensive care.
Sue loves the fact that Monash Health treats patients of all ages, from pre-birth to end of life.
She has had many professional highlights but will always remember four very long-stay patients, where she felt she really made a difference to their survival and eventual rehab. She is also very proud of the first students she taught who passed their prac exams set by external examiners.
Sue started last century at Prince Henry’s Hospital on St Kilda Road, where she met her husband Nick. One of his patients later scaled the fence after the hospital’s demolition and presented them with a brick for old times’ sake!
With so many colleagues and friends from over the years, work sometimes seems like family. Sue can’t believe the time has gone so quickly, and interns she used to work with have become department heads, or have retired.
Vilayvanh Liensavanh – Associate Midwife Unit Manager, 51 North, Jessie McPherson Private Hospital Clayton
Vilay has been an Associate Midwife Unit Manager on 51 North, working Night Duty, since April 1981.
She is a dedicated and passionate midwife who is diligent and caring for her patients and their babies.
Vilay has a wicked sense of humour and loves to laugh. She is a great team member and a strong mentor for junior employees.
Vilay has kept up with changes in technology over her career, which has been quite momentous, especially since EMR was adopted.
Many other midwives found the challenge too great and brought forward their retirement. Instead, Vilay loves to learn and is still keen to work.
Zuki Arrendondo – Food Services Assistant, Kingston Centre
Zuki worked as a Patient Services Assistant on the wards at the Kingston Centre until the late ’90s. She then made the switch to Food Services in the sandwich room and now works in the plating room.
Zuki is a kind, gentle and caring person. A supervisor who has worked with Zuki for the last 20 years has only glowing praise for her. She is appreciative, cheerful, confident, courageous, relaxed, generous and sociable.
Kingston Food Services would like to congratulate Zuki on her 40 years of service with Monash Health. They said, ‘We are so fortunate to have her on our team. Her humility, generosity, and kindness are a constant source of motivation and inspiration. We wish you more years of success. Happy work anniversary!’
Thank you to all our long-serving employees for your invaluable contribution, dedication and commitment shown to your teams, patients and the broader community we serve, and congratulations on the achievement of your service milestone.
Approved by David Bloxham.