On the frontline: Meet some of the region’s most inspiring health heroes

‘Heroes’ is the best way to describe our region’s frontline workers and their inspiring efforts throughout Covid-19. Here are just some of our Darling Downs Health heroes.

Health heroes (from left) public health environmental health officer Amanda Hutchings, Dr Anneke Shea, public health nurse Teresa McGorm and Dr Ingrid Makahinda, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Picture: Kevin Farmer

They have placed their bodies on the line, sacrificed time with loved ones and spent hours upon hours helping others and saving lives during a global pandemic that hit Australia almost exactly two years ago.

Heroes is the best way to describe our region’s frontline workers and their inspiring efforts throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, but their modesty, selflessness and dedication to the cause, far outweighs the need to be recognised.

We have profiled eight inspiring healthcare workers – all of who said they were just doing their jobs.

But few people can attest to making a difference every day in their 9 to 5, quite like these health professionals.

To our frontline health heroes – we respect you – we applaud you – we thank you.

DDPHU public health nurse Teresa McGorm, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Teresa McGorm – Public health nurse

When Teresa McGorm first started working for Darling Downs Health almost three decades ago, she began working as an immunisation nurse as it was an area she had always been passionate about.

The nurse now works in the communicable diseases and immunisation area of the public health unit at Baillie Henderson Hospital and was appointed as team leader.

Through this role, Ms McGorm led a team responsible for following up on the notification of communicable diseases and providing current immunisation advice to providers, to promote and prevent ill health across the region.

At the start of the pandemic, Ms McGorm was approached to step into the role of operations manager for the public health unit.

As the role required a lot of knowledge around compliance and legislation, the qualified nurse admits it was a steep learning curve.

While the small public health unit team have worked nights and weekends to complete the tasks at hand, it hasn’t gone without gratitude.

“While we do not do our job for the thanks, we did have a visit from the Director General of Health last year to acknowledge the work undertaken by the Public Health Unit during the pandemic – this was great for the staff to have their hard work acknowledged,” Ms McGorm said.

“I have also been involved in co-ordinating for families to visit their loved ones in hospitals during Covid-19, in a way that ensured the safety of our patients, staff and other community members … the times that I was able to facilitate this gave me satisfaction that I was able to play some small part to help them in very challenging circumstances.”

Public health environmental health officer Amanda Hutchings, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Amanda Hutchings – Senior environmental health officer

For senior environmental health officer Amanda Hutchings, her profession started all by chance.

The Baillie Henderson Hospital employee said she came across the field by accident through work experience and has never looked back, with two decades’ worth of experience.

“Environmental Health is a branch of public health that focuses on the relationship between people and the environment, promotes human health and healthy and safe communities,” she said.

“I love how Environmental Health consists of a broad range of topics from food hygiene, vector borne diseases, water quality to communicable diseases.”

But for the past two years and during Covid-19, Ms Hutchings has worked as the operations manager for the public health unit.

During this time, her main role has focused on the co-ordination of the unit’s operational response to the virus across the Darling Downs and South West Queensland, alongside a team of medical and environmental health officers, nurses, epidemiologists and administration and data officers.

Ms Hutchings said some of the most touching moments she had witnessed during the pandemic were seeing members of the Queensland Police Service and Queensland Health work together to achieve better outcomes for the community during very challenging times.

“There really are some amazing people who truly care about the community and work tirelessly to support and protect us all,” she said.

“I’m proud to watch our team continue to turn up, conduct tasks that do not normally fall within their position and work hard to complete them, which often included dinner together at work.”

The senior environmental health officer said her team responded to the first positive cases recorded in the region in March 2020 – a situation which changed rapidly and regularly.

While dealing with these often challenging, heartbreaking and unprecedented moments, Ms Hutchings reflects on time spent away from loved ones.

She said staff members made daily contact with confirmed cases and their families, so the team often formed strong relationships with those directly affected.

“It was devastating to hear when these people or their family members were admitted to hospital or lost their loved ones due to COVID-19,” Ms Hutchings said.

“Personally, I have had limited time with family and friends over the last two years, and, like many, I have family members that are immunocompromised so have had to provide support from afar.

“I am lucky to work with a great team, as we have spent a lot of time together in the past two years – for a long period of time during the pandemic, I only saw my work colleagues.”

Dr Anneke Shea, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Dr Anneke Shea – Covid-19 clinical lead

After completing her training in the region and inspired by health professionals she worked with during this time, Dr Anneke Shea returned to Darling Downs Health as a general practitioner in 2020.

Dr Shea was later appointed the clinical lead for Covid-19 at the Toowoomba Hospital, where her main duties include caring for patients with Covid, educating others about the virus and planning or adapting systems.

“The way people of different disciplines have pulled together to help each other achieve amazing things – both in the Covid-19 space and just as importantly, to keep all our non-Covid-19 work going (has been touching),” she said.

“It’s led to this fantastic sense of team that I haven’t experienced in many other settings.”

Dr Shea said while she did not consider herself a hero, she believes every healthcare worker should be celebrated for their collective efforts, the challenges they have overcome and the sacrifices they have made over the past two years.

Indigenous health director Rica Lacey.

Rica Lacey – Indigenous health director
Rica Lacey has been working for Darling Downs Health for 10 years and in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health sector for more than 12.

Ms Lacey, who is now the director for Indigenous health, said she loved every aspect of her role, but one of her favourite parts was her ability to create change in

“Improving health service delivery for our mob has inspired me to work in health management,” Ms Lacey said.

“I love everything about my role, but one of the standouts for me is being able to create change in services to meet the needs of our communities.”

But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing with Ms Lacey noting it often felt like her entire life has revolved around the health crisis, as she led the Darling Downs Health First Nations Covid response since day one.

“It seems like a lifetime ago,” she said.

“Personally, the most challenging part of Covid-19 has happened recently, with the Covid-19 outbreak in Cherbourg.”

Meeting daily from December 17 and onwards for several weeks, the executive team and Ms Lacey made many sacrifices for the community including celebrating the festive season with their loved ones.

“The most challenging part emotionally has been dealing with the COVID-19 response, while still performing my usual job,” Ms Lacey said.

“There were many days I felt exhausted but needed to keep going because our communities needed us.”

While Ms Lacey said she doesn’t consider herself a hero, she believes her team, some who sacrificed their Christmas holidays and spent time away from their families to help step up to respond to Covid-19, are the “real heroes”.

“They have worked some long days, including weekends and for long periods of time to support our mob with vaccinations, testing, contacting tracing and supporting those in isolation,” she said.

Advanced Indigenous health worker Karen Johnson.

Karen Johnson – advanced Indigenous health worker

While trying to balance the demands of Covid-19 and her usual role has been a challenge to say the least, advanced Indigenous health worker Karen Johnson still managed to make a significant impact on her community.

The Goondiwindi Hospital health worker has been working with the maternity and child health Indigenous health teams for more than a decade.

With the desire to learn and play a part in the lives of families during one of the most special moments in their lives, Ms Johnson knew her calling lied within the Goondiwindi Midwifery Group Practice team.

But the role she knew and loved changed dramatically when the pandemic hit the region.

“It was a worrying time for everyone, including myself and for my family … it was the uncertainty that caused the worry,” Ms Johnson said.

“To see our Indigenous Health team jump in and help to support the rollout of our vaccination programs and testing across our communities, was incredible.”

While fulfilling her usual role and duties, Ms Johnson also played a part in local contract tracing with the public health unit and assisted with vaccinations at the outreach clinics.

“I see this as part of my role within health,” she said.

“To everyone in the community who got vaccinated and did the right thing, either with wearing masks, isolating when needed and getting tested, I would just like to say thank you.”

Assistant director of nursing Anna Moffitt.

Anna Moffitt – Assistant director of nursing

Working for the health service for four years, assistant director of nursing for the Cherbourg Interagency Liaison Anna Moffitt was appointed her current role 14 months ago.

During her time in the role, her responsibilities included being the Covid-19 response co-ordinator for Cherbourg and communicating with many stakeholders including the Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council – an essential task to assist the community.

“What inspired me to work in this sector was a deep concern for First Nations health disadvantage and the impact of COVID-19 on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” Ms Moffitt said.

“What I love most about the role is the potential for meaningful changes in a discrete Aboriginal community.”

Ms Moffitt said the biggest challenge emotionally has been the high stakes as “if the response failed then lives could have been lost.”

Dr Mikala Dales.

Dr Mikala Dales – Medical registrar

Medical registrar Mikala Dales has been working as a doctor at the Toowoomba Hospital for the past three years and was recently appointed to the team of doctors who are working to combat Covid-19.

Drawn to general medicine for the variety it offers, Dr Dales said she has enjoyed working with the wider Darling Downs Health services, including rural hospitals in the region.

“Watching patients be reunited with their loved ones after their time in hospital (has been the most touching moments I’ve witnessed during Covid-19),” she said.

“It’s also always touching when patients tell you how scared they were during their most unwell period and seeing how they have battled and improved in such a short period of time.”

Her primary duties include caring for patients who have tested positive for Covid and answering the questions or concerns raised by patients, general practitioners and staff at regional hospitals in the Darling Downs.

The pandemic also presented an opportunity for the health professional to work alongside a unique, specialised team while dealing with the new, novel and ever-evolving disease and allowed her to overcome her fear of the unknown.

Dr Dales said she admired the efforts of the entire team involved.

“I don’t consider myself a hero, however I take great pride in the small part I can contribute during these continuously changing times,” Dr Dales said.

“The teamwork that it has taken to tackle this pandemic is enormous and I cannot thank all the allied health staff, pharmacists, senior clinicians, local GPs and every community member who rolled up their sleeve to receive a vaccine.”

Dr Ingrid Makahinda, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Dr Ingrid Makahinda – Medical registrar

Working alongside Dr Dales and the Covid-19 response team is Toowoomba Hospital’s medical registrar Ingrid Makahinda, who has been based at the hospital for two years.

During this time, Dr Makahinda has treated patients admitted to hospital or virtually across the Darling Downs.

Despite the challenges through the evolving nature of Covid-19, the medical registrar said it had been a once in a lifetime experience and she was grateful for the support received.

“What I love about medicine is that it is an art – no two patients are the same, and so tailoring the management to address their issues is both challenging and rewarding at the same time,” Dr Makahinda said.

“The most touching moment is being able to see one of our patients with severe Covid-19 recover and being able to go home … I find joy in being able to help my patients to recover and address their issues holistically.”

Dr Makahinda said she believed everyone had played a significant part, from doctors, nurses, allied health staff and pharmacists, to anyone who opted to protect themselves by getting their vaccinations.

“(They) are health heroes,” she said.

“It is a collective effort and I am so proud that we are at the point that Covid-19 is relatively well-managed in the community.”