SLHD Year in Review 2011/12 - Sydney Local Health District - NSW ...

Stephen
Saldatos
Head Gardener
NEW 14-CHAIR RENAL DIALYSIS
UNIT OPENED
Next time you walk around the
spectacular gardens at Concord
Hospital give a little thanks to Head
Gardener Stephen Saldatos and his
team. Steven has worked for District
for five years with three of these at
Concord Hospital.
Mr Saldatos of West Ryde, is an
arborist by trade and previously
worked at Centennial Park and the
Chinese Gardens at Darling Harbour.
The Minister for Health and Minister
for Medical Research, Jillian Skinner
officially opened a new $1.6 million
renal dialysis unit at Concord in
January 2012.
The new 14-chair satellite dialysis
unit allows residents to use a centre
closer to home for their regular
dialysis sessions, reducing the burden
of travel for these patients.
The unit is expected to provide more
than 8,700 dialysis treatments a year
to 56 outpatients.
The unit, within the Hospital’s
Medical Centre Building, was
Thank you!
“John was transferred to
HDU from surgery where
he received the most caring,
kindest, professional nursing
I have ever encountered.
My family and I will never
forget the care John received
from the dedicated staff.”
– Carol Poole.
allocated $1.6 million by the NSW
Ministry of Health and the set-up
took nine months to complete.
Concord’s Head of Renal Medicine, Dr
Martin Gallagher, said the purposebuilt
centre was staffed by a multidisciplinary
team and fitted with the
most sophisticated equipment available.
“Dialysis patients can need to spend
between five and six hours on one
treatment session, and up to three
sessions per week,” Dr Gallagher said.
“Having a state-of-the art unit closer
to home is going to be so much
more convenient for patients.”
Thank you!
“I had to attend the ultrasound department
and found the staff there treated every patient
with courtesy, kindness and respect, taking great
pains explaining the procedure and allaying any
fears. You are to be congratulated on your staff
and the manner in which they treat their patients.”
– Janne Flarrety.
Heading a team of five, one of the
many things he enjoys most about his
job is seeing a project come to fruition
especially if it includes tree work,
cutting and pruning back branches to
optimise light and shade for staff
and patients.
Molly
Smith
Volunteer
Not even a fractured coccyx kept
Molly Smith from her volunteer
duties at Concord Hospital.
The 92-year-old has been
volunteering her services for 25
years, often catching two buses
to the hospital to help assist with
filing in Staff Health and provide
“motherly support” to nervous
new starters needing injections.
Mrs Smith, one of 6300 hospital
volunteers across NSW, retired
from nursing at Concord Hospital
in 1991, but returned almost
immediately to offer her time
for free.
“Tremendously great things have
happened here,” she says.
SYDNEY LOCAL HEALTH DISTRICT 2011/12 REVIEW 9