When you ask Mater orderly Peter what sort of things he does, the list is as unexpected as it is varied. Patient transport around the hospital, manual patient handling, security, CPR and morgue management are just to name a few.
Peter says the staff are a ‘good bunch’ to work and share the experiences with.
“Not just my department, across the board too—you work with lots of the doctors and nurses and develop friendships with them,” Peter said.
“I met my wife here 22 years ago! She was a nurse in the orthopaedic ward. It’s funny how things happen, you meet, you have kids and the next thing you’re still going all those years later!” he said.
Peter explains that each day is different despite the work being essentially the same.
“Most people have no clue what goes on in a hospital, until you ‘walk a mile in someone’s shoes’ as they say,” he said.
“I’ve seen amazing things in the emergency department, Mothers’ Hospitals and then the other end of the scale in the oncology wards with staff who really give dignity to dying patients,” he said.
Peter believes it’s more about doing the best he can for those around him in any given situation.
“I love the patients. It’s good helping them, from the bubs right through to the older patients.
“I love helping the older patients get up out of bed and into their chairs. You can make it quite fun for them.
“The ladies love having a dance— I say to them ‘how about a dance—like a little cabaret?’ and they giggle as we ‘dance’ around. The blokes are always up for a joke and a laugh, it can be really good fun and puts a smile on their face,” he said.
Things have changed a bit since Peter first started on the job.
“We used to pick people up manually in the old days. It would take two, sometimes three people to lift people in and out of bed correctly, but new technology has made things a lot safer and more comfortable for everyone,” he said.
Helping out the nurses move and clean bed-bound patients is something Peter doesn’t even think twice about.
“We’re there to help these amazing nurses care for their patients, it’s not glamorous but looking after people who can feel pretty vulnerable is part of what we do,” Peter said.
Being first on the scene of a Code call means you never really know what to expect.
“I’ve had to do CPR on lots of people, including my own son,” Peter quietly explains.
“In 2002, I was at home on my own with my 12 month old and two older children. My wife was at work and I had to get him up for his feed and he’d passed away. Of course, I’ve started trying to do CPR, phone my wife and ambulance all at the same time. My oldest child was about five, and he’s come and asked what was going on, and had his two year old sister with him.
“To be perfectly honest and as terrible as it was, all that was going through my mind was the training I’d received at Mater and how grateful I’d learnt to do infant CPR as opposed to adult CPR. We lost our son to SIDS that night.
“Afterwards, and this is a reflection of all the people here, they’d passed the hat around and a couple of the boys from the department rolled up at home which was so unexpected.
“The number of people at the funeral from the hospital was amazing, it was unreal. We couldn’t believe how much people cared,” he said.
“Experiencing something so personal like that made it hard to work with the little ones for a while,” Peter said.
“I couldn’t do certain aspects of the job—my supervisors were incredible and the team rallied around me.
“We do all the morgue work here at Mater. We transport patients, ensure appropriate identification, organise viewings for the families, those sorts of things.
“With the bubs, you have to unwrap them, make sure they have all their belongings. They’re so tiny and special, it’s an honour to give them the best possible care.”
Reflecting, Peter says “I always think there’s always a family out there who aren’t having as good a day as you.”
Peter is also staggered by the number of people who are affected by cancer.
“It never seems to change, the place is always full, all year, all ages, all races, all colours and creeds. Cancer doesn’t discriminate. You just don’t realise these sorts of things until you’re amongst it,” he said.
“Many many years ago in the original Children’s Hospital, in the middle of the night, was my first experience of looking after a child with cancer. I had to help a nurse dress a 10 year old boy who had passed away, into his favourite Broncos jersey for his family.
“It was so hard, I just couldn’t believe it, yet these nurses were brilliant. I asked them how on earth they did it and why they would stay on this ward, and they answered, ‘well, we also see lots of good things,’ and I remember thinking what a great answer that was” he said.
Peter is quick to point out that despite the hard cases there’s always something unexpected around the next corner.
“You can go into places like the intensive care unit or emergency department where things are pretty full on and see some pretty amazing outcomes,” he said.
Seeing the best and worst in hospital life is part of an ordinary day for an orderly. However, it’s fair to say, an orderly is anything but ordinary.