In episode 7, we had the chance to yarn with Jess and Kitty who are both incredibly strong Aboriginal women working as registered nurses in a busy emergency department with a shared goal of Transforming healthcare towards cultural safety.

Jessica Payne, a proud descendent of the Yuwaalaraay people, started out her nursing career in aged care as an Assistant in Nursing, studying whilst working to become an Enrolled nurse and finally a registered nurse in 2019. Jess has also just completed her graduate certificate in maternal critical care. Kathleen Synot (Kitty) is a proud Wamba wamba woman and has been a registered nurse for over ten years.

Jess and Kitty share with us their own personal experiences of healthcare, both as patients and health care professionals. They generously share their insights, challenges and successes as tireless advocates for culturally safe care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Patients.

We learn about the difference between a Welcome to Country and Acknowledgement of Country, how intergenerational trauma may affect a patient's likelihood to identify as a First Nations person and  what we can do as health care providers to provide culturally safe care.

Resources discussed:
 - SBS National Indigenous Television (NITV)
 - ABC Indigenous
 - Reconciliation Australia Home - Reconciliation Australia
- The Healing Foundation | Supporting the healing of Stolen Generations survivors, families and communities
- NAIDOC |
- Australian Indigenous HealthBulletin : A peer-reviewed electronic journal from the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet
- Closing the Gap | Closing The Gap (niaa.gov.au)
- First Nations Health Equity | Queensland Health

This podcast was prepared by Brooke Bullock (host), Jessica Weatherall (host), Kathleen Synot (guest) and Jessica Payne (guest) in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this podcast are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the departments/organisations in which they work.

In episode 6, we were humbled with the opportunity to have a very personal (and brave) conversation with Jane Hogan about her experience navigating her Husband's Cancer diagnosis in 2019 and the Grief associated with him sadly loosing his battle to Cancer in 2021.

Jane is a senior pharmacist at Gold Coast Health. She has worked as a clinical pharmacist, educator, clinical lead in digital health and more recently, a researcher. We chatted with Jane about her training in Hapkido, a Korean martial art, which as we learnt, is not a form of Medieval sword fighting.

Jane shared her unique insights into her experiences over the last 2 years with her husband's diagnosis, treatment and passing, much of the battle which was fought at Gold Coast Health, the same health service where Jane has worked for the best part of the last 2 decades. 

Jane articulates how to support someone facing their darkest days based on her experience, sharing what she found helpful. Providing practical insights into how to navigate cancer and grief and what we can do to support others.

Book Recommendation: It's OK that you're not OK by Megan Divine.

Decembhair fund-raising page: https://decembhair2021.gofundraise.com.au/page/BeardsOfGlory

This podcast was prepared by Brooke Bullock (host), Jessica Weatherall (host) and Jane Hogan (guest) in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this podcast are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the departments/organisations in which they work.

In this episode, we change tact and take a deeper dive into the healthcare journey through a patient's lens.

The vibrant and zesty Katie Ives talks about her experience following diagnosis of a rare synovial sarcoma. Katie chats about reframing her life now from "survivor" to "surviving" and how she navigates the fine balance between immense gratitude for being alive while working through the lasting mental and physical effects of her cancer. We also explore what it's like for someone working in healthcare following such a personal experience with their own health.

Katie's creative ways of describing her experience, and showing her gratitude (with some.. permanent ink) is one not to be missed.

Links mentioned:
https://www.carergateway.gov.au/
https://cancerqld.org.au/

This podcast was prepared by Brooke Bullock (host), Jessica Weatherall (host) and Katie Ives (guest) in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this podcast are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the departments/organisations in which they work.

In episode 4, we chat to the clever, kind and passionate, Dr Malwand Shinwarie.

Malwand is an Intern Doctor at Gold Coast Health who spent the first 14 years of his life living in Afghanistan before moving to Australia with his family in 2010. 

We loved chatting to Malwand and learning about his experiences growing up in Afghanistan, moving to Australia 2010 where the only english he knew was "Hello, My name is Malwand" (cue, Culture Shock) to ten years later, becoming a Doctor. Malwand shared his insights about the rich and complex history within Afghanistan and his views and personal experiences with the recent Taliban Takeover.

Malwand: A clever, kind, passionate man. But just don't expect him to return a text message.

We discussed the best ways to help with the ongoing situation in Afghanistan, see links below:
 - https://www.unicef.org/afghanistan/
 - https://www.womenforwomen.org/
 - https://effectivealtruism.org.au/
 - https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/afghanistan-crisis-appeal
 - https://www.savethechildren.org/us/where-we-work/afghanistan
 - https://www.who.int/countries/afg
 
This podcast was prepared by Brooke Bullock (host), Jessica Weatherall (host) and Malwand Shinwarie (guest) in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this podcast are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the departments/organisations in which they work.

In episode 3, we interview the brilliant Dr Eve Purdy, and she's unbelievable!

Eve is an emergency physician and applied anthropologist. She is from Canada but now lives on the Gold Coast. 

She treats patients in the Emergency Department but also spends time working with critical care teams across health systems to understand and sort out how to do their work better. 

We loved connecting with Eve: hearing about what drives her, what CrossFit has taught her about team dynamics and how ordering at a restaurant in Australia is confusing. 

Books mentioned: 

• The Culture Code. By Daniel Coyle.
• Story, Not Study: 30 brief lessons to inspire health researchers as writers. By Lorelei Lingard and Chris Watling.

This podcast was prepared by Brooke Bullock (host), Jessica Weatherall (host) and Eve Purdy (guest) in their personal capacity. The opinions expressed in this podcast are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the departments/organisations in which they work.

Episode two gave us the pleasure of interviewing our friend, colleague and hero, Dr Shahina Braganza.

Shahina Braganza is a senior emergency physician at Gold Coast Health and Honorary Adjunct Associate Professor at Bond University School of Health Science and Medicine.   She is passionate about “non-technical” skills in the health profession – including wellness, team-dynamics, professionalism, communication and leadership.

Shahina is the founder of the oneED program and a founding member of wrapem.org. Explore her commentary and contributions on shahinabraganza.com.

We loved talking to Shahina about her journey to Gold Coast Health, her tiger-like Netball skills, the people who have inspired her leadership style, taking chances and her ambitions to encourage connection and wellness.

Welcome to Episode 1 of Humans in Health.

Dr Dinesh Palipana is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate, and researcher.

 One of the many interesting parts of his story is that it was Halfway through medical school, he was involved in a motor vehicle accident that caused a spinal cord injury. 

Dinesh was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland and the second person to graduate medical school with quadriplegia in Australia. 

Dinesh is many things: A Senior Lecturer, Adjunct research fellow, Senior advisor, Adcovate for inclusivity, Awarded the order of Australia medal and Queensland Australian of the Year for 2021.

 Lastly, we are lucky enough to work with Dinesh in the emergency department at Gold Coast Health. 

We loved having the chance to chat with Dinesh about what he has learnt along the way and we are so excited to share it with you.