In just over a week we will be celebrating our long-serving employees at this year’s Length of Service Awards – people like Diane Treagus.
Diane started her Monash Health career at Moorabbin Hospital, and 45 years later, you will still find Diane at Moorabbin Hospital!
Anytime Diane considered a change, she said she didn’t consider it for long…”the hospital changed around me!”
Diane started out performing all aspects of perioperative nursing at Moorabbin theatre, switching to a focus on urology when it was introduced in the late 1980s.
Moorabbin has been an ever-evolving space, and opportunities to grow and learn were never far away.
“I was involved in the many firsts at Moorabbin,” she says, such as “being the first scrub nurse to do a total knee replacement…and the transition of open surgery to laparoscopic surgery.”
A major highlight for Diane was representing Monash Health at the Australia and New Zealand Urological Nurses Society conference in Hong Kong. Diane presented on how to set up a urology laparoscopic theatre, and flexible cystoscope paperwork, both of which she had previously helped establish at Moorabbin.
Outside of work, Diane keeps busy. She has three daughters – one of whom has followed her into nursing – and four grandchildren. Diane is actively involved in all her grandchildren’s lives. Diane can proudly boast that one of her grandsons designed a winning poster thanking all healthcare workers during the pandemic, which took pride of place on a billboard at a prominent Melbourne intersection!
Diane is a Member of the National Organising Committee for Calisthenics, and for 12 years, has been a Convenor for the Gold Coast Pan Pacific Masters Games. Diane says that her experiences at Monash have helped her develop management skills to take on these demanding roles. “I’ve learned from work how to apply my efforts to other areas I never thought I could manage.”
To top it off, Diane recently took up golf, and has already worked her way down to a handicap of 40 – and sliding!
Diane has fulfilled many roles at Monash Health, including the Laser and Radiation Officer, Wellbeing Officer, and the first nurse to chair the Monash Laser Committee. Diane particularly loved the scope of the Wellbeing Officer – organising RUOK Day events and raising money for Monash Health Mental Health wards and other organisations.
Now as the ANUM at the Urology Theatre at Moorabbin, Diane is grateful for all the opportunities she has been given to step up to that role.
“Every day I’m learning something new…to be the best nurse I can be.”
Approved by Louise Kanis, Executive Director, Communication and Engagement and Katrina Nankervis, Executive Director, Nursing and Midwifery