Christmas cheer is in full swing across all campuses!

Our Christmas decorating competition has attracted numerous creative entries from various departments.

Northern Health judges, including Jane Poxon, Alison Dwyer, Simon Keating, Debra Bourne and Andrew Williamson, visited all contestants over three days, completing their visits with our annual Christmas staff BBQ’s.

The talented entries made it very hard for the judges to pick a winner. Entries were marked based on visual impact, creativity and overall festive theme. All the judges agreed that our staff and volunteers have shown incredible skill, effort and true holiday spirit.

And the winner is…. Hand Therapy, Northern Hospital Epping!

The creative talent behind this storybook fairytale is Laurelle Bland, Occupational Therapist and artist, who said initiatives like this bring our staff together, increase morale and bring out hidden abilities in our hospital. Laurelle enjoys painting backdrops for children’s birthday parties and said the inspiration for this year’s Christmas decoration came from a book she read.

Long, long ago, in a land far away, lived a perfect little tree named Small Pine. Small Pine hoped to maintain its perfect form and be selected by the Queen as her Christmas tree. But as the warm-hearted little tree gave shelter to birds, rabbits, and deer in the forest, its branches became damaged. Fortunately, the Queen had a different idea of perfection…

Second place goes to…. Broadmeadows Surgical Centre.

And third place goes to…. Cyril Barling Wing, Red Room, Bundoora.

Due to the large number of creative wards and departments, our judges have added two Highly Commended awards.

The first Highly Commended team is…Unit H and I, Northern Hospital, with a “Grinch” theme across their wards.

The second Highly Commended team is….Unit J, Northern Hospital, with an “Aussie Christmas” theme.

Thank you to everyone who participated and congratulations to our winners. We hope you have a happy Christmas!

To have a look at our Northern Health’s Staff BBQ photos, please click here.