Recognition

• Nurse or Midwife of the Year – Catherine Gilmour (NP), Chantelle Zei (AMUM Maternity), Gary Blackburn (NP), Roy Ibarra (ANUM Ward 3B)
• Nursing or Midwifery Team of the Year – Hospital in the Home (Footscray), Maternity Team (Bacchus Marsh)
• Nursing / Midwifery Legend – Heather Friskin (SSU and ED Sunshine Hospital), Servet Moustafa (Care Coordinator)
• Nursing / Midwifery Leadership – Naomi Eales (MUM Bacchus Marsh Maternity), Nicole Davies (DONM), Raymund Alelis (NUM SSU/ED Williamstown)

• Nurse or Midwife of the Year – Katelyn Mannix & Louise Aiton 
• Nursing or Midwifery Team of the Year – Sunshine Emergency Department & Bacchus Marsh Theatre
• Nursing / Midwifery Legend – Doug Mill (DONM) and Professor Bodil Rasmussen (Chair of Nursing)
• Nursing / Midwifery Leadership – Jessica Roberson

• Nurse or Midwife of the Year – Karen Garratt (ANUM Ward 2A)
• Nursing or Midwifery Team of the Year – Newborn Services
• Nursing / Midwifery Legend – Linda Pocock (NUM Ward 3 East) and Spaso Miljesic (EN Footscray Emergency Department)
• Nursing / Midwifery Leadership – Julie Spencer (NUM Sunshine Short Stay Unit) and Kylie Van Rooyen (NUM Ward 3B)

• Nurse of the Year – Sharon Collard (Ward 2A)
• Midwife of the Year – Kerrie Ryan (CMS)
• Nursing or Midwifery Team of the Year – Adult Specialist Clinics
• Nursing / Midwifery Legend – Maria Bodnar (NUM Ward 2E)
• Nursing / Midwifery Leadership – Michelle Read (NMWU)

• Nurse of the Year – Jennifer Orr (Palliative Care)
• Midwife of the Year – Kylee Ross
• Nursing or Midwifery Team of the Year – Cardio-Geriatric Health Failure Team
• Nursing / Midwifery Legend – Janet Dickinson (ACE Team)
• Nursing / Midwifery Leadership – Melissa Dodsworth (NUM Special Care Nursery)

• Nurse of the Year – Marianne Phillips (Palliative Care)
• Midwife of the Year – Jennifer Patterson
• Nursing or Midwifery Team of the Year – Chemotherapy Day Unit

This year we continued to receive high caliber submissions. The recipients for 2024 were:

• Nursing Research Grant ($15,000): Was awarded to ‘Feeding Equipment for Enteral Delivery Systems (FEEDS): a prospective observational cohort study of practice patterns in the ICU’. The research team is Stephanie Menadue (Research Nurse – ICU), Rommuel Binuya (Nurse – ICU), Anie Edward (Senior Infection Prevention Consultant), Caroline Calkin (Dietitian), Professor Rochelle Wynne (Chair in Nursing)
• Midwifery Research Grant ($15,000): Was awarded to ‘Maternity PULSE check’. The research team is Alanah Hillier (Clinical Midwife Consultant), Melissa Tennant (Midwifery Group Practice Manager) Professor Linda Sweet (Chair in Midwifery), Dr Vidanka Vasilevski (Deakin)
• Denise Paterson Workforce Research Grant of $10,000: To be announced in December 2025.

This year we continued to receive high caliber submissions. The recipients for 2024 were:

• Nursing Research Grant ($15,000): Was awarded to ‘Full face (Nivairo®) versus a bridge free full face (Visario®) mask for non-invasive ventilation: a randomized control feasibility trial.”‘. The research team is Kylie Feely (Equipment Nurse, Sunshine Hospital ICU), Edward Quilas, Kate Emery, Jessica Humphreys, Professor Rochelle Wynne, Dr Tanta Botha.
• Midwifery Research Grant ($15,000): Was awarded to ‘Barriers and enablers for antenatal care access for women from Māori and Pacific Islander backgrounds‘. The research team is Matilda Ford (Midwife Unit Manager), Professor Linda Sweet, Dr Vidanka Vasilevski, Associate Professor Glyn Teale, Loketi Niua Latu, Dr I-Lynn Lee
• Denise Paterson Research Grant of $10,000: Was awarded to ‘N-FAST: Non-Fasting Assessment for Safe Treatment”‘. The research team is Dunne Lim (Clinical Nurse Specialists -Cardiac Catheter Laboratory), Fiona Groen, Prof William Chan, Marta Garaldi, Jess Reeves, Erin Rangi, Andrea Penafiel, Professor Rochelle Wynne.

This year we continued to receive high caliber submissions. The recipients for 2023 were:

• Nursing Research Grant ($15,000): was awarded to ‘An analysis of triggers, response, and outcomes for Code Grey events during acute Hospitalisation‘. The research team is Nicole Davies (DONM), Elisa Ilarda (Operations Manager, OVA Program), Associate Professor Debra Kerr, Dr Adam Searby and Professor Bodil Rasmussen.
• Midwifery Research Grant ($15,000): was awarded to ‘Honouring First Nations Women and Families’ right to Self-Determination throughout their Pregnancy Journey: Discussion Starter Cards‘. The research team is Cara Kennedy (Midwife Unit Manager), Karah Edwards, (Koori Maternity Services Worker),  Jordan Casey (Aboriginal Health Manager), Galinjera Midwifery Team, Professor Linda Sweet, Adjunct Professor Tanya Farrell, Dr Vidanka Vasilevski, Tanya Druce (Research Fellow in Aboriginal Health), Sacha McDonald (Manager of Pastoral and Spiritual Care) and Associate Professor Debra Kerr.
• Denise Paterson Research Grant of $10,000: was awarded to ‘Impact of an integrated renal supportive care (RSC) service on health-related quality of life of individuals with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD): A single centre prospective cohort study‘. The research team is Lisa Wang (CKD Nurse Practitioner), Sarah McDermott (RSC Clinical Nurse Consultant), Edward Zimbudzi (Senior Lecturer at Monash University) and A/Prof Craig Nelson (Clinical Services Director Chronic and Complex Care).

Congratulations to all grant recipients, and we look forward to hearing about your research outcomes!

This year we continued to receive high caliber submissions. The recipients for 2022 were:

• Nursing Research Grant ($15,000) was awarded to Hannah Sharrock to support her work to research the cultural workforce outcomes of the Westwards workforce initiative. Hannah will evaluate the Westwards project using specific workforce outcome metrics. Through a series of short-term quantitative investigations of nursing workforce attitudes and behaviour, and progressive thematic qualitative analysis, this research aims to determine the extent to which the Westwards project offering meets nurses’ engagement and professional developmental needs. The workforce outcomes used to measure this include self-efficacy, job-satisfaction, training-satisfaction, organisational engagement and retention of Westwards nurses.
• Midwifery Research Grant ($15,000) was awarded to Ciara Noble to support her to conduct the MOMEES study (Mother’s Own Milk, Early Expression & Supply) to improve early expressing rates for mothers of babies admitted within two hours of birth to Newborn Services. This project will investigate whether rates of early initiation of breast milk expression post birth and regular expression of breast milk at minimum 8-12 times per day, improves when an early expressing bundle is introduced to staff working in the birth suite, New Born Services and postnatal environments.
• The Denise Paterson Research Grant ($10,000) was awarded to Marianne Phillips to support and conduct the Emerging from the pandemic: exploring moral distress among Victorian palliative care staff study. This work will explore the prevalence of moral distress among palliative care nurses employed at Western Health; and their experiences of moral distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to identify the personal, occupational and patient impacts of moral distress including the association with turnover intention and psychological wellbeing.

Congratulations to all grant recipients, and we look forward to reading your research outcomes!

The 2021 recipients were:

• Nursing Research Grant: was awarded to Paula Lyons, Dr Sara Holton and Prof Bodil Rasmussen, to support their research project on Nurses’ experiences of caring for the deteriorating COVID-19 patient and Medical Emergency Team (MET) response. This study aims to investigate the nurses’ experiences of caring for deteriorating COVID-19 patients in the ward environment and explore their perceptions of MET response escalation for these patients. It will aim to understand the nurses’ experiences of monitoring a COVID-19 patient and delivering time critical care when deterioration occurs, and identify the supportive and challenging aspects that occur during a MET call for COVID-19 patients that may influence a nurses’ experience. The study will then aim to understand how interactions, communication and decision-making with nursing and medical members of the MET team influence the nurses’ experience of caring for COVID-19 patients. Finally the study aims to gain an understanding of the impact of changes in clinical processes due to COVID-19 on nurses’ ability to manage clinical deterioration in the ward environment.
• Midwifery Research Grant ($15,000): awarded to Katherine O’Driscoll, Tija Blums, Fika Tamiru, Vidanka Vasilevski and Prof Linda Sweet to support their research project on Maternity care of migrant women from refugee backgrounds – ensuring cultural safety and relevance. The aims of the study are to explore the needs of refugee women of childbearing age and the potential enablers and barriers to accessing care within the Western Health maternity care system. The study will also examine the experiences of Western Health midwifery and obstetric staff and their information needs for supporting women from refugee backgrounds in their care.

Honeywell Scholarships (Nursing & Midwifery Leadership):

• TBC

Plenary Health Scholarships:

• Karen Suzette Pena – Sunshine ICU
• Luke Surman – Sunshine ICU
• Ali Alharbi – Footscray ICU
• Alanah Rossi – Footscray ICU

Mavis Mitchell Scholarship:

• TBC

Tippet Trust Scholarship:

• Rebecca Woltsche – ADONM
• Sally Kerr – 1 West

Mavis Mitchell Scholarship:

• Sharon Sturrock – Education & Learning

Tippet Trust:

• Kirsty Hodge – Clinical Nurse Educator
• Paul Arachakkudi – Diabetes Educator

Plenary Health Scholarships:

• Axel D’emmerez de Charmony – Sunshine ICU
• Lal Liaon Mawite Bualthank – Footscray ICU

Multiplex Scholarship:

• Julie Ngo – Sunshine Theatres
• Lydia Clements – JKWC Theatres
• Bryan Maranga – Footscray Theatres
• Rebecca White – Footscray Theatres

Mavis Mitchell Scholarship:

• Kate Law – Newborn Services

Tippet Trust:

• Rommuel Binuya – Equipment Nurse, ICU Footscray
• Eric Mihalcic – Nurse Practitioner, Sunshine Emergency Department

Multiplex Scholarships:

• Julie Ngo – Sunshine Theatres
• Rebecca White – Footscray Theatres
• Bryan Maranga – Footscray Theatres
• Lydia Clemmens – JKWC Theatres

Plenary Health Scholarships:

• Mawite Bualthang – ICU Footscray
• Axel D’emmerez de Charmony – ICU Sunshine

Mavis Mitchell Scholarship:

• Jessica Hughes – Lactation Services Team Leader

Tippet Trust:

• Rabiyam Hussein – Masters of Advanced Nursing – ICU at Deakin University
• Rhachell Vergel De Dios – to complete the Graduate Certificate of Addictive Behaviours at Monash University

Plenary Health Scholarship:

• Vanessa Clapham – ICU Footscray
• Emma Philips – ICU
• Ashpreet Brar – ICU

Mavis Mitchell Scholarship:

• Anie Edwards (Nurses’ use of P2/N95 masks during the COVID- 19 pandemic: experiences and perceptions of nurses with adverse effects).

Mavis Mitchell Scholarships:

• Katherine Driscoll (A decade of publicly funded home birth – providing person centred care to women in the west)
• Julie Spencer (Research study surrounding pre and post implementation of ED based Peer Support Program)

Mavis Mitchell Scholarships:

• Marianne Philips (End of Life Care in the acute setting Clinical Nurse Consultant)
• Elisa McDonald (Severe perineal trauma during childbirth: reducing the incidence at Western Health through training and education)

Mavis Mitchell Scholarship:

• Theresa Wilkie (Evaluating a paediatric pilot program in the ED at Sunshine Hospital)

Mavis Mitchell Scholarship:

• Lana Van Raay (Exploring prehydration in angiography patients: a pilot study)

2025 recipients:

• Rose Mary Jose – CCU
• Lisa Wang – NP Renal
• Loretta Willliams – NPC, Palliative Care
• Briannah Lewis – Digital Health
• Claire Rankin – ADONM
• Fiona Gordon – Maternity

2024 Recipients:

• Fiona Groen – NUM Cardiac Cath Lab Sunshine
• Lauren Matthews – NUM, CCU Footscray
• Lauren Scardino – CNS, Operating Theatres
• Teysha Sandford-Hill – Nurse Educator
• Victorian Green – Continence Nurse

2023 Recipients:

• Ashvin Nursing – CNC, Diabetes Education
• Ilyana Hussain – RM, Maternity
• Jessica Hughes – Lactation Consultant
• Natalia Toumbourou – Clinical Practice Improvement Specialist, Newborn Services
• Lisa Shaw – RN, Palliative Care