2024 Excellence in Primary, Public and Community Nursing

Natalie Bogoias – Homeless Healthcare

Natalie is an Assertive Outreach Nurse. With an innate ability to understand a patient’s vulnerability, she is responsible for the coordination and success of Perth’s Homeless Healthcare Street Health Program. In this unique role she is the sole provider of purposeful, proactive, and persistent engagement within Perth CBD for those who are sleeping rough or disengaged with mainstream services, taking primary health to the people, and if necessary, linking them to other appropriate services. Her friendly no nonsense and compassionate approach allows communication and collaboration between patients and health services, and through her knowledge and lessons learned can remove barriers which restrict access to care. Natalie advocates for her patients, respecting and enhancing their individual requirements to enable the best health and social outcomes from them.  Well respected by her peers, she is recognised as a subject matter expert and actively engages in the development of all who work within the homeless healthcare team. She is also known in the RPH ED for her central homeless patient coordination and is respected by tertiary practitioners being called upon to assist in managing a person not coping with traditional health systems. Natalie’s work ethic is exceptional and her quality of practice outstanding. She recently undertook research resulting in the development of a new service to directly target pregnant homeless women which has led to improved antenatal and postnatal outcomes within this cohort.

Jane Skoll – Primary Care, Child and Adolescent Health Service

Jane is a Clinical Nurse at CAHS working in the Armadale region school health team where she has demonstrated dedication to improving the health and wellbeing of children, their family and community groups. As a leader, Jane has earnt the respect of her colleagues through trusting and honest relationships, with her calm and respectful communication style encouraging others to feel comfortable. This allows a safe workspace while role modelling junior staff in the values of respect and compassion. As a highly skilled clinician Jane influences others by sharing her evidence-based knowledge and facilitating an environment conducive for learning that allows others to become competent and confident practitioners. She always has a smile and a can-do attitude approaching challenges in a solution focused way ensuring the voice of the team is heard and their innovative ideas are presented. Jane has dedicated her career to promoting the health, development, and wellbeing of children, and aims to understand the child’s social environment and the impact this can have on their health wellbeing outcomes. She balances the need to achieve performance outcomes with the need to see the child and family as a unique unit, always considering cultural safety. Jane is a kind and humble person, who shows compassion to all around her, she does not seek recognition or reward but is quietly dedicated to her work.

Kione Routley – Brightwater Group

Kione is a dedicated and compassionate registered nurse at Brightwater Care Group providing clinical care to people above 65 years of age, living at home, and is in high demand due to her ability to relate to older people and make them feel comfortable while receiving care in their own home. She is a natural leader, having a willingness to contribute and advocate on behalf of her colleagues in meetings, and can persuade even the most reticent clients to accept care preventing them from having to return to hospital. Although considerably younger than her clients, Kione forms good relationships, makes them feel comfortable, and can convince them to use their home care funding for nursing services to keep them out of hospital. Many patients then ask for her by name and insist they only see her in future. Kione is also sensitive to the needs of other team members, always looks for ways to make their jobs easier, and is known for her strong work ethic. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge and enjoys watching others grow in confidence.