NSW Health Secretary, Susan Pearce, AM joined frontline staff at Westmead Hospital and online for all of Western Sydney Local Health District to celebrate the state-wide Small Acts of Kindness campaign.
The NSW Health initiative promotes the power of small, meaningful gestures by staff and patients, and the enduring impact they can have.
The staff event featured consumer feedback and testimonials from people who had experienced small acts of kindness.
Watch parties were established at each hospital within the Western Sydney Local Health District to allow staff across the district to participate simultaneously.
The NSW Secretary shared moments of vulnerability and personal anecdotes from her own interactions with health as a patient or carer, to convey the power that small acts of kindness have had on her.
The event was emceed by Professor Paul Harnett AM, an esteemed oncologist who created the INSPIRE program which is designed to encourage doctors in their pursuit of medicine as an art.
Senior Specialist Staff Psychiatrist Catherine Mason, Midwife of the Year Finalist Svetlana Ilich, Quality and Safety Director Peter Hockey and Susan Pearce engaged in a thoughtful and nuanced discussion about how we can be kind to ourselves, and how we can do that for others.
The Chair of the Board, Loretta Di Mento, took the opportunity to rally the staff setting the course for improved healthcare.
Several former patients returned to the hospital to share with staff remarkable stories.
Harold Becker reunited with Vic Calandruccio, a visitor who suffered a heart attack while visiting patients at the hospital.
Westmead Hospital buggy driver, Vic, jumped to the rescue and called for help and assisted in CPR guided by nearby nursing staff.
The pair described the small act of looking up and checking in on the person next to you, as lifesaving.
Brett Clark and Ruth Everingham reunited with their support and therapy team who helped facilitate Brett’s marriage proposal to Ruth at Auburn Hospital.
Brett survived a serious stroke which prompted his life-changing decision to pop the question to his girlfriend of eight years.
The rehabilitation team at Auburn Hospital rallied together, with physiotherapy helping him practice bending down on one knee and speech pathology helped with clear speech to say his vows.
These stories represented just a small sample of the acts of kindness that happen each day in our hospitals, and the event provided staff with the chance on inspire themselves and others, through small acts of kindness.