Health Stories

As a neonatologist at Fiona Stanley Hospital, Dr Rory Trawber cares for the smallest of babies in their first weeks of life. As well as helping babies and parents through this critical time, Rory is also Director of Clinical Training where he prepares doctors and nurses to face medical emergencies. Originally from UK, Rory is also the first one to admit his career is the result of good luck rather than good management.

As a Nurse Practitioner for the Western Australian Heart Transplant Service, based at Fiona Stanley Hospital, Clare Fazackerley understands a transplant isn't a cure but rather a gift of time for people with advanced heart failure.

Clare walks beside heart transplant recipients and their families through what can be an unpredictable journey.

In this episode, we hear how Clare came to spend her career caring for people who get a second chance at life, and how she discovered a hidden talent for singing.

From her earliest experience in caring for older people, Joanne Hughes knew aged care nursing was the career for her.

As the nurse manager of Rockingham General Hospital's Aged Care Rehabilitation Unit, Joanne says it is the little things that can be life-changing for her elderly and vulnerable patients.

Joanne shares her passion for providing the very best of care for her patients, where there's no room for error because of the life possible consequences.

After a long career with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), it was quite a career change when Kingsley Purvis joined Rockingham Peel Group as a Home Care Carpenter.

For Kingsley, working in health was a long way from the air force life, but his experiences have helped him to find common ground with patients.

Mental Health Nurse Clive Batchelor leads a residential 10-bed mental health service in Fremantle, Western Australia which provides respite for people experiencing a decline in their mental state.

For Clive, being able to take someone from a low troubled place of being lonely and tormented by thoughts and the stresses of life, to a better place with more options and opportunities is one of the best parts of the job.

Anne Watts manages the spinal unit at the State Rehabilitation Service at Fiona Stanley Hospital - a job she has done for more than 30 years. She sees up close the emotional and physical trauma caused by spinal injury. Anne may not always remember the ones who get to walk out of her ward, but she always remembers the ones who don't.