From not wanting to be a nurse to being on Branch Council: Mel Connan’s journey has brought her to where she’s meant to be

Melinda Connan’s mother was one of the nurses on the picket line during the infamous 1985 and 1986 strikes, so in a way Mel – an active ANMF (Vic Branch) Job Rep and Branch Councillor – has unionism in her blood. But a career in nursing was never a sure thing.

‘Mum had always wanted to be a nurse,’ Mel says, ‘but my grandfather wouldn’t allow it. He instead insisted on her going to university, where she studied dietetics. By the time she eventually started her nursing career, in 1982 at the Repat, I was in high school.’

At the time, Mel’s father was very ill and unable to work so her mother’s hospital-based training was the family’s only income. The life Mel witnessed her mum living – studying whilst working full time on the wards – didn’t appeal: ‘During all that, I never once thought that I wanted to be a nurse,’ she says.

In 1985, during Mel’s final year of high school (and her mother’s grad year), her father needed a total gastrectomy. Sitting with him at The Alfred after the surgery, she had an epiphany: ‘I don’t know what it was but as I sat there, I suddenly thought: I want to be a nurse.’

Her mother was not encouraging. ‘I’m not certain why,’ Mel says. ‘I think she didn’t want me to go through the difficult years of training and working. She also wanted me to go on to tertiary education – ironic considering how much she’d hated my grandfather’s insistence that she do the same!’

A new way to learn nursing

Fortunately, the timing was right and Mel was able to combine both tertiary education and a career in nursing, as college training of nurses had just begun in Australia.

Mel was accepted into the Lincoln Institute of Health Sciences on St Kilda Road (and later at the Abbotsford Convent), but as one of the first cohort of students she faced unique challenges – especially when doing placements with hospital-trained staff.

‘There was a lot of opposition to the college-based nurses coming onto the wards,’ she says. ‘They were really negative about us being there, and I found that really challenging.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, Mel ‘knew straight away’ that that this was what she wanted to do. ‘I just really loved nursing,’ she says.

Mel secured a grad year at Prince Henry’s Hospital, and in 1991, when the hospital closed its doors, Mel was relocated to Monash Medical Centre, in Clayton. ‘I’ve been there ever since,’ she says.

Where I’m meant to be

Over the years, Mel has worked in many different areas: cardiothoracic, intensive care, the acute stroke ward, as well as several years on the casual bank at Monash during the time of growing her family.

Eventually, Mel found herself in a permanent role on the Colorectal and Upper GI surgery ward, as a Clinical Nurse Specialist. ‘I ended up staying on that ward, with that team, for many years – up until just a couple of years ago,’ she says.

The unit evolved into upper GI surgery and Gastro Med, and then just Gastro Med. ‘And then after a major reconfiguration at Monash, our unit became a Gen Med Unit.’

‘It’s sort of like Monash Health has defined my specialty by continually reconfiguring and changing the ward structures,’ she explains. ‘And you either go with it and stay with your team, or you leave, so I ended up going with it.’

Mel’s work as a Job Rep, since 2011, has been a critical part of guiding the team through all of the changes that these major reconfigurations have brought about, ensuring that the staff have been well supported.

‘It can be very unsettling for a unit to have to change their specialty, their core team, their place of work, and it’s very important to have open communication and negotiation with management,’ she says. ‘I’ve seen a lot of this is my role as a Job Rep, and my team have always been so grateful to have me there, sitting in meetings with management and the ANMF organisers and standing up for their rights.’

‘It’s such a wonderful, rewarding place to work.’

Following a work-related injury, and the death of her mother, Mel decided she needed a change. She secured a job in the palliative and supportive care unit at Monash Health, and she feels that she has landed exactly where she should be.

‘Palliative care nurses provide care to families and the patient with a life-limiting illness, it’s all about giving a wonderful quality of life for the time they have left,’ she notes. ‘It’s such a wonderful, rewarding place to work.’

The physical and mental fallout of her injury has made Mel more acutely aware than ever about safety at work. And with her new specialty, this has taken on new dimensions. ‘With palliative care, including the Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) Legislation, there’s an enormous amount of work that needs to be done to support staff with their mental health,’ she says.

‘A lot of focus is given to supporting the patients and the families, which is necessary, but staff need assistance as well. Dealing with the actual process of VAD can be quite confronting for staff, and even if in theory you are very much in agreement to it, staff still often need a lot of support with it.’

Ensuring they get this support is something that Mel is passionate about, and in her role as Job Rep of the Unit oftentimes refers staff to the Nursing and Midwifery Health Program Victoria (NMHPV).

Branch Council

Mel has been an ANMF (Vic Branch) councillor since 2019. She initially took on a casual vacancy position and having had a taste of it decided to stand for election in her own right. ‘I was just learning so much, she explains. ‘To have access to that breadth of knowledge, sitting at the table with [elected officials Lisa Fitzpatrick, Paul Gilbert and Madeleine Harradence] is so inspiring.

‘Being on Branch Council allows me to see what goes on across the whole union,’ she adds. ‘It’s very impressive. I’m able to ask questions of the Elected Officials and the other Councillors, who are all from so many different areas of nursing and midwifery. I have learnt so much from all of them.

‘I have become so proud of our professions in my time on Branch Council,’ Mel continues. ‘The recent public sector EBA campaign has really solidified our friendship and solidarity as well. It was truly invaluable to me, as a nurse, a Job Rep and a union member. ‘

Being on Branch Council is also a way for Mel to give back to the union. As a Job Rep, for more than a decade Mel has worked with many ‘incredible’ ANMF Organisers, she explains.

‘We’ve had a large number of issues at Monash over the years. I’ve been involved in some significant management meetings fighting for the rights of our team, where I’ve felt so scared and nervous. But I’ve always been backed up every time by those incredible ANMF Organisers.

‘The ANMF has always been there for me, and I wanted to give back in a small way, so that’s why I’m on Branch Council.’