HESTA finalists revealed

Australia’s top nursing professionals have been recognised with 13 finalists announced for the 2013 HESTA Australian Nursing Awards.

The awards recognise nurses, midwives, personal care attendants and assistants in nursing who excel in service provision, advocacy and patient care in the categories of Outstanding Graduate, Team Innovation and Nurse of the Year.

HESTA chief executive, Anne-Marie Corboy, said the judges had come up with a shortlist of outstanding individuals and organisations that demonstrated a high level of care, dedication and excellence in nursing.

“This year’s finalists have been hand-picked for their contribution to nursing in the areas of oncology, acute care, palliative care, multiple sclerosis, chronic illnesses, drug and alcohol rehabilitation and aged care,” Ms Corboy said.

Outstanding Graduate finalists for 2013 are:

• Stuart Broadbridge (Mater Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Qld), for demonstrating a high level of knowledge in clinical patient safety and care working with children.
• Melissa Coventry (St John of God Murdoch Hospital, Perth, WA), for her work in an acute medical ward specialising in oncology and cardiology, and for improving clinical handover practices.
• Louise Davis (Huon Eldercare, Franklin, Tas), for carrying out detailed admission assessments and holistic patient care plans, and developing a new checklist for non clinical carers.
• Zoe Golds (Perth Clinic, WA), for her work with acute psychiatric patients and her involvement with an adolescent team that focuses on the mental health of children, adolescents, parents and families.
• Annabel Pike (Mater Private Hospital, Brisbane, Qld), for her holistic approach to patient care, exceptional technical and clinical skills, and for showing leadership in her role as an intensive care nurse.

Team Innovation finalists for 2013 are:

• Iona Medical Centre (Toowoomba, Qld), for working closely with the Indigenous community to tackle diabetes and other health issues such as obesity and diet-related illnesses.
• Cyril Jewell House (NorthWestern Mental Health, East Keilor, Vic), for implementing a new, consumer-driven care model for multiple sclerosis patients living in a residential care setting.
• Understanding Dementia (Western Health, Vic), for its work training non-clinical hospital staff and volunteers about dementia and how to communicate with patients with dementia.

Nurse of the Year finalists for 2013 are:

• Ria Akuhata (Caboolture Public Hospital, Qld), for 14 years of work as a registered nurse in mental health, particularly her work with new arrivals from the Pacific.
• Faye Alvoen (One Disease at a Time, Arnhem Land, NT), for her work with patients in the Yirrkala and Gunyangara communities who have the highly-infectious and devastating condition of scabies.
• Janet Lees (Castlemaine District Community Health, Vic), for her outreach work with marginalised and vulnerable clients dealing with drug and alcohol issues.
• Sara Lohmeyer (High Wycombe Child Health Care, WA), for her outstanding work as a child health nurse caring for newborn babies and networking new mothers into the community.
• Tim Neate (St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, NSW), for managing the health issues of homeless people in inner-city Sydney and for advocating on their behalf with skill and compassion.

Finalists will be flown to Melbourne to attend an awards dinner, where the winners will be announced this Thursday.

A $30,000 prize pool will be shared among the winners, courtesy of longterm HESTA awards sponsor, ME Bank.

The Nurse of the Year and Outstanding Graduate Award winners will each receive a $5,000 ME Bank EveryDay Transaction Account and a $5,000 education grant. The Team Innovation Award winner will receive a $10,000 development grant.

HESTA is the leading super fund for health and community services, with more than 750,000 members and $22 billion in assets. More people in health and community services choose HESTA for their super.

Visit www.hestaawards.com.au for tickets for the awards dinner or to learn more about the awards.

We’ll announce the HESTA award winners on Thursday via the DPS News Facebook page. Stay tuned.