Page 43 - Joondalup Health Campus Annual Report 2017

Elizabeth said she was blessed to work with a wonderful team of past and present employees.
Among those was the late Jim Reid, Ramsay Health’s oldest ever employee, having started work at the hospital as a chaplain at the age of 80.
Mr Reid, who passed away in March aged nearly 97, continued on at the hospital as a volunteer after he retired at age 95.
Elizabeth said she regarded Jim as her mentor.
“Towards the end I know Jim was coming
in here to support me too. We’d go off for a cuppa and he would say ‘what kind of a week did you have’ and that really meant, ‘I am here if you want to share or debrief,” Elizabeth said.
“He was a true gentleman and he was known for bringing so much comfort to anyone in need.”
She said the pastoral team would not have the kind of success it enjoys without support from JHC Executive.
“The culture here is very inclusive, right from the top down and the staff really care for and appreciate one another.”
But she said there were still too many people who did not fully understand what pastoral care was and Elizabeth said part of that stemmed from the need to respect the confidentiality of people’s situations.
“My husband recently joked that when people ask him what I do he sometimes
says he thinks I work for the secret service because the details are always very hush hush,” she said. “But when I pushed him for an answer he said that we give sick, dying or grieving people the chance to be heard or the space to process, showing them compassion and bringing comfort and I think that about sums it up.”
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