Long-serving staff members at Echuca Regional Health were made to feel appreciated at a recent ceremony that acknowledged the amount of time they have invested towards the hospital.
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The hospital held a special morning tea and awards ceremony on Thursday to honour their contributions to the hospital.
Among those recognised for their efforts were James Mackenzie Ross, Michelle Tully, Christine Armstrong, Debbie Atkinson, Shannon McClay, Anna Schroeter, Sheridan Wagner, Shirley O’Brien, Stine Barnett (Stina), Megan Robertson, Barbara Baker and Samara Opie who have all worked at the hospital for 10 years.
Kerryn Giorgianni, Toni Quinlan, Wendy McAsey, Rhonda Sullivan, Lyn Golden, Brenda Tatti, Heather Lias, Aggi Giorgianni, Kerrie Russell, Joy Dickinson-Webb, Penny Fullard, Prue Harding-O’Dea, Wendy Hobbs and John Carey were thanked for 20 years of service.
Barb Bachelor, Dianne Arnold, Jenny Dent, Margaret Thompson, Angela Boal and Dr John Azzopardi were acknowledged for 30 years of hard work.
Judy Cantwell, Stacey Irish-Moysey and Graham Hipwell were all celebrated for the outstanding achievement of providing 40 years of service to the hospital.
Chief executive Robyn Lindsay said it was lovely to think that the culture at the hospital was pleasant enough to make people want to stick around for decades.
Outstanding effort: Judy Cantwell has worked at Echuca Regional Health for 40 years.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
Recognised for her service: Judy takes a bite of her 40 years of service cookie.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
Ms Cantwell is one of three staff members that have been employed at the hospital since 1982.
She was first employed as a casual in catering, moved onto the role of menu monitor, then became the supervisor of the catering department and now provides admin support to the manager involved in rosters and payroll.
Despite seeing many changing faces within the hospital halls, Ms Cantwell said she still could not believe it had been 40 years.
“I remember my first pay packet was $17 and that was for the whole week,” Ms Cantwell said.
“One thing I have noticed is that when I first started working here, it was almost impossible to find childcare, which was really hard for a lot of working mothers. But nowadays it’s much easier to find such a thing.
“The working conditions have improved greatly since then.”
She said she was pretty chuffed with herself for having contributed to the hospital for 40 years while still managing to work full time.
And her inspirational achievements don’t end there.
She is also a volunteer unit controller for the SES and is a member of the Echuca Moama Search and Rescue.
Ms Cantwell said Echuca Regional Health was a great place to work.
“I’ve been here long enough to see staff come and go, new chief executives — I think I’ve had four different ones, new structures, new policies,” Ms Cantwell said.
“But the team here is fantastic — they really are a great group of people.”
As to whether retirement is on the cards, she said she had no concrete plans just yet.
Morning tea: Echuca Regional Health staff gathered to honour the efforts of long-service employees.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
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