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Drum roll please.. The Victorian Attorney-General Martin Pakula this morning visited Monash Health, to announce Victoria's favourite baby names for 2016 - Charlotte and Oliver! Oliver, a beautiful medieval name, is of French origin and ostensibly means ‘olive tree’. The lovely name Charlotte, was most famously used in recent times by Prince William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, with the birth of their daughter in May 2015. Watch this space for the most popular baby names of 2017! For the full list of popular names, visit www.bdm.vic.gov.au/utility/about+bdm/about+us/data/

Timeline Photos

What were the most popular baby names in Victoria for 2016? The results are in! This morning we welcomed the Attorney General, the Hon Martin Pakula MP to meet some babies named _________ and ________! (Any guesses?! One for boys and one for girls!)

Nursing - Make a difference

Ever thought about a career in nursing? The nursing staff at Monash Health make a difference to the lives of our patients and families each and every day. Learn more about the incredible work nurses do within our healthcare system with this snapshot from the Department of Health & Human Services, Victoria.

Sun safety this summer - Monash Health

Reduce your risk of sun damage this summer in seven easy steps.

Monash Children's Hospital

The Australian pair providing hand-ons childbirth training to Indian doctors

Dr Atul Malhotra and Dr Arunaz Kumar are a neonatologist-and-obstetrician husband-wife team who are taking basic education about childbirth to remote parts of India, in a bid to reduce the rates of mother and newborn mortality. For years, they have brought hope to families who experienced difficult births at Monash Health and Monash Children's Hospital. Now, they are piloting a program to provide patients at rural Indian hospitals with similar help. They recently travelled to the Punjab in India, where they worked to address the needs of local health workers through the provision of hands-on skills training using sophisticated simulation technology. The couple's focus in India is to help prevent deaths associated with complicated births, for both mothers and children. Dr Kumar says one objective was to help them understand the complications causing mass bleeding, uterine rupture and perinatal asphyxia, which can cause death or long-term brain damage in newborns. The two doctors hope to one day expand their program to provide training to health workers in other developing nations. Check out the full story via SBS News below.

Timeline Photos

Hayley and Aaron weren’t expecting their babies to arrive until 20 January 2017, but identical twins Abigail Ivy and Halia Iris couldn’t wait until the new year! The girls wanted to see the last few days of 2016, coming into the world at Monash Medical Centre on 28 December, weighing 2505g and 2410g. Hayley and Aaron are looking forward to celebrating the new year with their little bundles of joy. Wishing all of our patients, staff, volunteers and visitors a happy, safe and healthy 2017! [photo credit Herald Sun]

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Monash Health doctors give back life

Until July this year, Grace Day had never had a sick day in her life. The 85-year-old swam 3km three times a week at Noble Park Aquatic Centre and regularly won gold medals in her age group at Masters swimming competitions. It came as a total shock when Grace was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, which spread to her bones. A non-smoker and teetotaller, Grace’s cancer was caused by passive smoking—surrounded by colleagues who smoked. Grace said the pain was so severe she couldn’t walk or see properly. A multidisciplinary team from Monash Health including palliative care physicians, interventional radiologists, oncologists and neurosurgeons created a pain management plan for Grace. Dr Leeroy William, Monash Health Palliative Medicine Specialist, said that evidence shows patients who start palliative care earlier have a significantly improved quality of life and also live longer. In order to best manage her pain, Grace was referred to Associate Professor Ronil Chandra, an Interventional Neuroradiologist with expertise in the minimally invasive procedures of vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. “Kyphoplasty is an interventional radiological procedure where we navigate a small needle through the skin of the back under x-ray guidance directly into the bone, inflate a balloon to create a small space and inject medical cement to stabilise the fracture which reduces the pain.” said Associate Professor Chandra. “Until the procedure, I couldn’t stand, I couldn’t walk, and the pain just stopped me dead in my tracks,” said Grace. “Immediately after the operation, I felt no pain—for the first time in two months I had no pain and I could walk straight away.” “What Associate Professor Chandra did is unbelievable—he gave me back my legs and also my life. I can drive again, swim again and am living independently, doing everything I used to.”

Monash Children's Hospital

Share the Care | Give the Gift of Health and Hope

Give a unique gift to your loved ones this festive season, the gift of joy and hope! Take the stress out of last minute gift with a visit to Monash Health’s Share the Care, online shop. Instead of bustling with late night shoppers, parking stress and sold out items, trade them in for a Share the Care e-Card which will be delivered straight to your inbox. Offering 13 different gifts from as little as $15, your gift will bring joy to one and hope, health and wellbeing to many. Insert link to http://sharethecare.monashhealthfoundation.org/

Photos from Monash Health's post

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas throughout Monash Health! Our staff have done an amazing job at filling our wards with joy. This year's competition will be a difficult one to judge!