In October, Assistant Secretary Madeleine Harradence and her partner Yianni welcomed beautiful daughter Frida, a little sister for Otis. Maddy is now on parental leave.
Maternity Services Officer Nicole Allan has done a wonderful job as Acting Assistant Secretary for a few months, helping to cover several periods of leave, and professional officers Sam Casey and Rachel Halse will each help cover for Maddy over the coming months.
October also saw the Branch welcome Nicole Davies into the Job Representative training officer position. Nicole comes to us from Grampians Health Ballarat, where she was the postgraduate emergency clinical nurse educator. Job Reps will have the opportunity to meet and welcome Nicole – if they haven’t already – at upcoming training sessions.
Also new to the Job Rep training team is Julie Wearing-Smith, whom Shepparton members will know as their former organiser.
John Mills, meanwhile, took over the management of the Job Rep training team following the retirement of long-serving Job Rep training coordinator Jo Denton.
Industrial relations organiser changes
The industrial relations organiser teams – perhaps some of the most recognisable staff to members, as they work on the ground with Job Representatives, Health and Safety Representatives and members – have seen a lot of activity over the past few months.
In October, the team welcomed William (Bill) Foord-Engelsman as a fixed-term industrial relations organiser backfilling Alana Ginnivan in covering employers such as the Royal Women’s Hospital, Bolton Clarke, BUPA and the City of Whittlesea. Bill comes to us from Grampians Health where most recently he was an assistant nurse unit manager. Alana has stepped into a professional officer role for several months to backfill for Sam Casey and Rachel Halse as they cover for Maddy.
In September, the team welcomed Naomi Downing as an organiser for the Morwell region. Naomi joins us from Latrobe Regional Health, where she was the assistant midwife unit manager and clinical midwife specialist.
Miriam Harrison also joined us as a fixed-term organiser, backfilling Jo Petrini whilst Jo takes long service leave. Miriam comes to the Branch from the Royal Women’s Hospital where she is a clinical nurse/midwife specialist in Women’s Emergency Care (WEC).
Lisa Harvey was appointed as permanent organiser in August, backfilling Tara Hill at Royal Children’s Hospital, Frances Perry House, Albert Road Clinic, Northwest Mental Health/Royal Melbourne and Royal Freemason’s Coppin Centre. Lisa joined us from Peninsula Health, where she led a small team in providing direct support to disadvantaged and vulnerable members of the community through a community connections outreach nurse program.
Gareth Lane replaced Kim Pentreath in the Horsham area. Gareth has been an ANMF Job Rep and HSR at Wimmera Hospital for a number of years. Kim, meanwhile, replaced Julie Wearing-Smith in Shepparton.
And Liana Coulthard, a critical care nurse and Job Rep at Ballarat Base Hospital, commenced with the Branch as an organiser replacing Michelle Atherton in covering Mercy Hospital for Women, Warringal Private Hospital, Northpark Private Hospital and Thomas Embling Hospital.
Other teams
The education team, which runs the Branch’s Education Centre, Education Portal and library, welcomed two new members recently: quality and compliance officer Erin Gorman, who brings her experience in training and assessment, RTO compliance and curriculum development in the higher education and VET sectors, and education coordinator Nicole Ganad, previously a trainer, assessor and virtual learning advisor at Swinburne University.
Rachel White joined the member assistance team in a fixed-term capacity, covering for Alison O’Gorman while she is on long service leave. Rachel joins the team from Ballarat Base hospital, Grampians Health where she has been an active Job Rep since 2007.
In the records office, Frank Jose returned to the Branch initially to cover for records officer Natalie Scharley while Natalie takes long service leave, and soon to be backfilling for Liz Cornell whilst Liz is on parental leave.
Joey Bradford has been appointed in the role of permanent full-time OHS officer. Joey comes to the Branch from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union in Vancouver Canada. Prior to working in Vancouver, Joey was at the Community and Public Sector Union (Vic Branch), where he held the position of industrial organiser (health & safety). Joey will commence with the Branch on 19 February 2024.
Finally, the Branch’s business information systems team provide vital behind-the-scenes work that ensures all other staff are able to best support, contact and connect with our membership. The team has been extraordinarily busy lately and have been very pleased to welcome two new members: Udit Anadkat and Viraj Mahadik as systems administrators and analysts. Long-time team member Kavish Javed took over management of the team mid-year.
Farewells
Nurses and midwives who graduated between 2017 and 2021 may remember former graduate and final year student support officer Zena Coffey. After a few years as a recruitment officer, Zena farewelled the Branch in September for new opportunities.
We also said farewell to industrial relations organiser Adam Dalzotto, who has taken up a clinical teaching position.
