Award Win­ners

2019 Auro­ra Award 

Win­ner: Susan Markwell

Susan is a Flight Nurse employed by the Roy­al Fly­ing Doc­tors Ser­vice, Queens­land Sec­tion. Com­menc­ing her career over 28 years ago, as the only Flight nurse based in Charleville, she relo­cat­ed to Cairns in the 1990s as the Senior Flight Nurse to lead the nurs­ing team in the pro­vi­sion of pri­ma­ry health care and aeromed­ical retrievals. 

Susan is con­sid­ered by her col­leagues and peers as a shin­ing light, a pro­fes­sion­al role mod­el with­in remote health prac­tice. Well recog­nised for her astute­ness and knowl­edge of the local ser­vice area, the peo­ple who reside there, as well as the com­mu­ni­ties RFDS serve. 

She is well loved by her col­leagues and patients and con­tin­ues her work with great pas­sion, dri­ve and clin­i­cal excel­lence to pro­vide the high­est stan­dard of patient care. She works close­ly with the peo­ple of the Cape and North West­ern com­mu­ni­ties in both pri­ma­ry health care, mater­ni­ty ser­vices and emer­gency work and is high­ly respect­ed, extreme­ly knowl­edge­able, an excel­lent team play­er and an expe­ri­enced clin­i­cian. In addi­tion, Susan man­ages an enor­mous work­load and inspires great team­work and team building.

Susan is known for her gen­eros­i­ty of spir­it and zest for men­tor­ing of Flight Nurs­es, Med­ical Offi­cers, RANs and Allied Health pro­fes­sion­als. She is a strong advo­cate for build­ing the capa­bil­i­ties of Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander Health Work­ers through men­tor­ing, edu­ca­tion and training. 

The tena­cious­ness Susan pos­sess­es is char­ac­terised by her com­mit­ment, pas­sion and ener­gy, from dri­ving excel­lence in clin­i­cal care to lead­ing high per­form­ing teams, embrac­ing change through State and Nation­al health care pro­grams, ini­tia­tives and projects. In addi­tion, she is an active par­tic­i­pant in RFDS forums and meet­ings for child health, mater­ni­ty and emer­gency ser­vices at a local lev­el with­in the Cairns Health District. 

As a high­ly devel­oped leader and a pro­fes­sion­al role mod­el with­in RFDS and broad­er nurs­ing pro­fes­sion, Susan is a dynam­ic woman who walks the talk, an out­stand­ing shin­ing light for remote and iso­lat­ed health­care prac­tice and a deserved win­ner of the 2019 CRANAplus Auro­ra Award. 

2019 CRANAplus Award Winners 

Excel­lence in Remote and Iso­lat­ed Health Prac­tice Award 

Spon­sored by James Cook uni­ver­si­ty-Rur­al and Remote Health

Win­ner: Johan­na Neville

Johan­na is a strong advo­cate for remote com­mu­ni­ties and the right of indi­vid­u­als to access qual­i­ty pri­ma­ry health care and pop­u­la­tion health ser­vices.

Johan­na is a Reg­is­tered Nurse and Mid­wife employed by Apunip­i­ma Cape York Health Coun­cil. As a Pro­gram Advi­sor for Mater­nal and Child Health, she pro­vides pro­fes­sion­al lead­er­ship, strate­gic direc­tion and clin­i­cal guid­ance to mater­nal and child health staff who deliv­er pri­ma­ry health care ser­vices, to 11 remote Abo­rig­i­nal and Tor­res Strait Islander 

com­mu­ni­ties in Cape York. In 1993 Johan­na became a Reg­is­tered Nurse and, as an ear­ly career nurse, was drawn to rur­al, remote and iso­lat­ed posts which broad­ened her expe­ri­ences and expertise. 

Excel­lence in Edu­ca­tion or Research in Remote Health Award 

Spon­sored by Cen­tre for Remote Health

Win­ner: Katie Pennington

Katie has led a crit­i­cal research project ​‘Reg­is­tered Nurs­es in very remote Aus­tralia, med­i­cines and the law’, inves­ti­gat­ing the impact that cur­rent med­i­cines and poi­sons leg­is­la­tion has on the abil­i­ty of RNs to pro­vide health­care in the very remote and iso­lat­ed context. 

Katie is a Reg­is­tered Nurse, researcher who cur­rent­ly works with Pun­turkunu Abo­rig­i­nal Med­ical Ser­vice in West­ern Aus­tralia where her role is focused on improv­ing clin­i­cal sys­tems, clin­i­cal gov­er­nance and sup­port for clin­i­cians. As well, Katie works a tad clos­er to home at St Helens Dis­trict Hos­pi­tal, in Tasmania. 

Katie’s first expo­sure to remote and iso­lat­ed health­care prac­tice occurred in the late 1990s and ear­ly 2000s dur­ing her time as a medic in the Aus­tralian Defence Force [ADF]. Since leav­ing the ADF and becom­ing a Reg­is­tered Nurse in 2005, Katie has worked pre­dom­i­nant­ly in rur­al and remote loca­tions in West­ern Aus­tralia with Inter­na­tion­al Health and Med­ical Ser­vices in deten­tion health, and in South Aus­tralia, with SAHM­RI Wardli­par­ing­ga Abo­rig­i­nal Research Unit. 

Out­stand­ing Novice/​Encouragement Award:

Spon­sored by Remote Area Health Corps

Win­ner: Tiffany Callanan

As an ear­ly career reg­is­tered nurse, Tiffany con­tin­ues to strive for excel­lence through pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment, and is con­sid­er­ing under­tak­ing fur­ther qual­i­fi­ca­tions and CRANAplus’ remote emer­gency and mater­ni­ty emer­gency cours­es in the near future. 

Tiffany began her nurs­ing career in aged care. In 2017 she com­plet­ed a Bach­e­lor of Nurs­ing at Charles Sturt Uni­ver­si­ty. In 2018 she entered a grad­u­ate nurse pro­gram and under­took remote place­ment at Porm­pu­raaw Pri­ma­ry Health Care Clin­ic in the west coast of Gulf Car­pen­taria, where she remains as the clin­i­cal nurse. 

Past Award Winners

2018

Auro­ra Award: Mon­i­ca Frain

CRANAplus Awards:

Excel­lence in Remote and Iso­lat­ed Health Prac­tice Award: Natal­ie Thai­day
Excel­lence in Education/​or Research in Remote Health: Tor­res and cape Nurs­ing and Mid­wifery Edu­ca­tion Team
Out­stand­ing Novice/​Encouragement Award: Desi Aji
Excel­lence in Men­tor­ing in Remote and Iso­lat­ed Health Award: Josh Stafford
Col­lab­o­ra­tive Team Award: Nurse Nav­i­ga­tor Team 

2017

Auro­ra Award: Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor Sue Lenthall

CRANAplus Awards:

Excel­lence in Education/​or Research in Remote Health: The Nurs­ing Edu­ca­tion Team, Tor­res & Cape Hos­pi­tal & Health Ser­vice
Excel­lence in Remote and Iso­lat­ed Health Prac­tice Award: Ms Kathy Arthurs
Col­lab­o­ra­tive Team Award: Mookai Rosie Bi-Bayan
Novice/​Encouragement Award: Isabel Pearce
Excel­lence in Men­tor­ing Award: Steve Brown 

2016

Auro­ra Award: Glen­da Lucas 

CRANAplus Awards:
Excel­lence in Education/​or Research in Remote Health: Tobias Speare
Excel­lence in Remote Health Prac­tice Award: Rita Appelt
Col­lab­o­ra­tive Team Award: Coop­er Basin RFDS Team
Novice/​Encouragement Award: Daphne De Jer­sey
Excel­lence in Men­tor­ing Award: Joanne Mahony

2015

Auro­ra Award: San­dra McElligott

CRANAplus Awards:
Excel­lence in Education/​or Research in Remote Health: Sal­ly Fox­ley
Excel­lence in Remote Health Prac­tice Award: Annette Jones
Col­lab­o­ra­tive Team Award: Uti­ra Kulin­t­jaku (UK) Team, NPY Women’s Coun­cil
Novice/​Encouragement Award: Ben­jamin Crough
Excel­lence in Men­tor­ing Award: Pauline (Pol­ly) Rubin

2014

Auro­ra Award: Judy Whitehead

CRANAplus Awards:
Excel­lence in Education/​or Research in Remote Health: Annette Olsen
Excel­lence in Remote Health Prac­tice Award: Dinah North­cott
Col­lab­o­ra­tive Team Award: Mid­wifery Group Prac­tice, Cen­tral Aus­tralia & Apunip­i­ma Cape York Health Council’s Mater­nal and Child Health Team
Novice/​Encouragement Award: Cather­ine Jurd
Excel­lence in Men­tor­ing Award: Jonathon Wright

2013

Auro­ra Award: Don­na Hindmarsh

CRANAplus Awards:
Excel­lence in Education/​or Research in Remote Health: Vic­ki Gor­don
Pri­ma­ry Health Care Cham­pi­on Award: Yvonne Tan
Excel­lence in Remote Health Prac­tice Award: Chris­tine Folet­ti
Col­lab­o­ra­tive Team Award: Indi­an Ocean Ter­ri­to­ries Health Ser­vice
Novice/​Encouragement Award: Emi­ly Tay­lor
Excel­lence in Men­tor­ing Award: Sheryl Alexander

2012

Auro­ra Award: Sue Kildea & Karen Schnitzerling

CRANAplus Awards:
Excel­lence in Remote Health Man­age­ment Award: Les­ley Pear­son
Pri­ma­ry Health Care Cham­pi­on Award: Deb­bie Thomp­son
Excel­lence in Remote Health Prac­tice Award: Rebec­ca Vele
Col­lab­o­ra­tive Team Award: Fron­tier Ser­vices – Savan­nah Region­al Health Ser­vice
Novice/​Encouragement Award: Sarah Marsh

2011

Auro­ra Award: Kary Sachse

CRANAplus Awards:
Excel­lence in Remote Health Man­age­ment Award: Mon­i­ca Frain
Excel­lence in Men­tor­ing in Remote Health Award: Theo Allan
Pri­ma­ry Health Care Cham­pi­on Award: Katie Pen­ning­ton
Excel­lence in Edu­ca­tion and/​or Research in Remote Health Award: Julia Stew­art
Excel­lence in Remote Health Prac­tice Award: Deb­bie Moon

2010

Auro­ra Award: Isabelle Ellis

CRANAplus Awards:
Clin­i­cal Excel­lence Award: Nazlin Rem­tu­la
Excel­lence in Pri­ma­ry Health Care Award: Sharon Liv­ersey
Excel­lence in Men­tor­ing Award: Seli­na Kulit­ja
Excel­lence in Remote Health Man­age­ment: Emma Barritt

2009

Auro­ra Award: Robyn White

CRANAplus Awards:
Clin­i­cal Excel­lence Award: Doune Hep­n­er
Excel­lence in Remote Health Man­age­ment Award: John Wil­son
Col­lab­o­ra­tive Team Award: Tor­res Strait Out­er Islands remote area nurs­es
Excel­lence in Pri­ma­ry Health Care Award: Bev Hamer­ton
Novice/​Encouragement Award: Lisa Hall
Excel­lence in Research and/​or Edu­ca­tion Award: Sue Lenthall

2008

Auro­ra Award: Vic­ki Gordon

WA: Vanes­sa Page
NT: Sharon Wey­mouth
SA: Beth Hum­mer­ston
QLD: Bev Hamer­ton
VIC: Caitlin Stein­er

2007

Auro­ra Award: Lib­by Bow­ell

NT: Mary Stafford
TAS: Mark McKenna