Mackay Hospital and Health Service

01/06/2026

It’s a role which is vital to how patients experience healthcare, ensuring they receive the right care, at the right time, in the right place.

This month we are celebrating 10 years of nurse navigators across the state.

At Mackay Hospital and Health Service (HHS) including many of our rural facilities, these specialist nursing roles are the link between patients, families and healthcare teams.

They help people with complex or chronic health conditions navigate what can often feel like an overwhelming and complex health system. More than care coordinators, nurse navigators are advocates, educators and problem-solvers.

They work across multidisciplinary teams to identify patient needs, remove barriers to care and provide a central point of communication throughout a patient’s healthcare journey.

Whether it’s arranging appointments, connecting patients with specialist services, supporting discharge planning or helping someone better understand and manage their condition, nurse navigators are there every step of the way.

Behind every referral, phone call and care plan is a highly-skilled nurse dedicated to making healthcare more connected, coordinated and compassionate. Patient education is at the heart of the role as is empowering people to take an active role in their healthcare, make informed decisions and improve their overall health outcomes.

Thank you to all our nurse navigators at Mackay HHS - we celebrate and appreciate your role and service to our patients and communities. You are a vitally important part of the healthcare journey and an incredible support to patients in some of their most challenging moments. ⭐ 🙏

📷 Mackay nurse navigators, Tracey, Donna, Annie, Megan and front Athira, Sharon and Jackie
📷 Bowen nurse navigators Shannon and Pam
📷 Hinterland nurse navigator Louise
📷 Proserpine nurse navigator Kelly

30/05/2026

📢 Did you know today is World No To***co Day? 🚭

This year's campaign theme is 'Unmask the appeal - countering ni****ne and to***co addiction'. The campaign highlights how the ni****ne and to***co industry evolves, using innovations in product development and marketing to target young people.

HERE'S ALL THE FACTS:

🚭 The best thing you can do for your health is quit smoking.

🚭 Quitting can improve your mood and relieve stress, anxiety and depression.

🚭 Ni****ne is very addictive.

🚭 Every smoke you don't have is doing you good.

🚭 The sooner you quit the better - but it is never too late!

🚭 Quit smoking medicines and ni****ne replacement products are safe and effective ways to quit.

🚭 Many vapes have incomplete labelling, making it difficult to know what you are inhaling.

🚭 Va**ng can permanently damage your lungs.

🚭 Vapes don't help you quit smoking and the long-term effects are unknown.

🚭 Quitting will help protect your loved ones from the harm caused by second-hand smoke.

What better reason do you need?

To start your quit journey today, call Quitline on 137 848 or visit www.qld.gov.au/quithq.

29/05/2026

For most of his life, 40-year-old Tristram Creek has lived with the consequences of a disease he was diagnosed with as a child.

After a gruelling health battle, multiple obstacles and six years of dialysis, he finally received a double organ transplant earlier this year which has completely transformed his life.

Originally from Cairns and living in Mackay for the past eight years, Tristram was just 13 years old when he was diagnosed with diabetes. By his early 20s, years of poor diabetic control as a teenager had already begun taking a devastating toll on his kidneys.

“I knew my kidney function was declining, but I didn’t make the lifestyle changes I needed to,” he said.

“It eventually got worse over time until I finally required dialysis, which I deeply regret not changing my lifestyle choices back when I had the chance.”

Kidney disease and diabetes run strongly in his family and are disproportionately high within Indigenous communities, but even knowing the risks could not prepare Tristram for the arduous health battle that followed. For almost six years, dialysis became his world.

“Treatment can be a lonely thing,” he said.

“When you’re doing dialysis it’s hard to see anything outside of that. That’s all you can focus on.”

Getting onto the transplant waitlist was itself a long and traumatic journey. Before he could even be considered for transplant surgery, Tristram faced obstacle after obstacle.

He lost vision in his left eye before starting dialysis and eventually had to have the eye removed. Today he wears a prosthetic eye.

Doctors also feared he may have been suffering from amyloidosis which is a rare and potentially terminal disease caused by abnormal protein deposits in organs and tissues.

For six months, Tristram lived in limbo waiting for results from specialist testing in Brisbane.

“During that time, I was planning my funeral and building a house at the same time,” he said.

“When the amyloidosis team finally gave me the negative result, it felt like another chance.”

There were more complications to come. He underwent major dental surgery, suffered internal bleeding following a minor procedure requiring two blood transfusions, battled multiple infections and was warned a third transfusion could remove him from the organ transplant waitlist altogether.

“I refused the third transfusion and luckily the bleeding stopped on its own,” he said.

Even once he was listed, the wait for a donor was extraordinarily difficult.

As Tristram required both a kidney and pancreas transplant, the donor criteria were highly specific including a deceased donor under the age of 40, disease-free, with perfectly functioning organs. Compounding the challenge further was his rare blood type.

“I can donate to anyone but I can only receive my own type back,” he said.

“Finding an organ donor felt like a one in a million chance.”

After more than two years on the transplant waitlist, physically exhausted and emotionally drained, Tristram reached breaking point.

He had lost his father 12 months earlier, gone through a divorce, lost his federal government job on medical grounds, lost his ability to drive because of his eyesight and was facing the prospect of homelessness.

Read more of Tristram's incredible story here: https://www.mackay.health.qld.gov.au/about-us/news/double-organ-transplant-patient-gets-new-lease-on-life

27/05/2026

QUEENSLANDER! 🏈⭐

27/05/2026

When Maroons Captain Cameron Munster runs out onto the footy field tonight, one of his biggest supporters, his sister Danielle, will be nervously pacing the floor at home in Sarina.

But both she and the Maroons side have the full support of her colleagues at the Sarina Hospital as they tackle the Blues in the series’ opening game.

The Melbourne Storm five-eighth has actually credited his younger sister Danielle, who is originally from Rockhampton but now lives in Sarina and works at the local hospital, for teaching him to never be intimidated by anyone.

"To be completely honest she was probably a better footy player and touch player than me at the time," Cameron said of his little sister.

"She threw a better ball than me. It was good to have her beside me and made me toughen up. She used to bash me when I was a kid. She was younger than me too.”

While their mum will be in the 80,000-strong crowd cheering on Cameron and the Maroons tonight, Danielle (who is 18 months younger) will be nervously watching the game at home.

"I hope we put 40 [points] on them," she said.

"Dad will be whipping him home [up in heaven] if he makes a line break, I can tell you that …. they'll probably be able to hear me cheering from Sydney."

The siblings’ father, Steven Munster, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 58 in July 2025.

Despite the devastating loss just days before the State of Origin decider last year, Munster bravely chose to play in the match, dedicating the emotional series-clinching victory to his late father.

Danielle said the closely bonded siblings missed their dad's phone calls before and after games.

"It was a tough on a Friday night last year when Melbourne got up over the Sharks," she said.

"You sit there waiting for him [dad] to call to boast about it, but he didn't."

Danielle said their dad, a former champion sportsman in his own right and keen horse racing enthusiast, always had a few tips for her older brother.

"He'd be telling Cameron to back himself, hold the ball, do what he does best …. and for God's sake, tackle," she said.

QUEENSLANDER! 🏈 ⭐

📷 Sarina Hospital staff back from left, Fiona Hol, Nat Dorsa, Danielle Munster and Sonia Wright, and front, Tania Adda, hospital patient Patrick Daley and Vashti McFadzen.

26/05/2026

Hello baby! 👶

Gorgeous little Amilea Ann Johnson was born at Mackay Base Hospital on 6 May.

She arrived at 8.55am on a Wednesday, weighing 3.36kg.

Amilea is the daughter of Blacks Beach couple Brendan Johnson and Jade Borg and is a little sister for Bailey and Cody.

She is the eighth grandchild of Michelle and Phillip Johnson and fourth grandchild of Carol Brew.

The family extended their sincere thanks to the staff at Mackay Base Hospital maternity ward for such a “precious experience”.

Congratulations to you all and enjoy this special time with beautiful Amilea. 🩷

25/05/2026

As the head cook at a small rural hospital, Vicki Rebbeck takes her responsibility to both patients and the wider community very seriously. So, the milestone of 20 years of service is something to be truly proud of.

The meals Vicki prepares do far more than nourish, according to her colleagues. They bring warmth and a sense of home and provide comfort and care to people during some of the most challenging times in their lives.

As part of the Moranbah Hospital operational team and in her role as a cook, Vicki has played an important part in the day-to-day care and comfort of patients, staff, and visitors for the last two decades.

Originally from Ipswich, Vicki moved to Moranbah in her early 20s.

“I worked at a few different places when I first came here; a fruit shop, then a hotel, and then I was cooking at the golf club,” Vicki said.

“I have always loved cooking, even before I started working as a cook.”

Vicki’s work roster has included regular hours on the floor at the hospital as well.

But providing quality meals was an important way of caring for the Moranbah community and contributing to the health and wellbeing of locals. The traditional roast beef and veggies was a menu favourite and was always well received by patients.

“We get really good reports about our food,” she said.

“I love working in the hospital and it’s not just because of our great operational staff; it’s the whole hospital. Everybody here has got a good crew.”

In many rural communities just like Moranbah, hospital staff are also neighbours, friends and familiar faces, making Vicki's role especially meaningful.

Over two decades, Vicki has made an incredible difference behind the scenes, helping everything run smoothly and supporting the wellbeing of so many in Moranbah. Her dedication, reliability and the pride she takes in her work have not gone unnoticed.

From the staff at the hospital and the Moranbah community as a whole, thank you Vicki for your ongoing commitment and all that you've done in 20 years. ⭐

22/05/2026

Little Azari Navy Maere will never meet his great-grandmother, but through his middle name he will forever be connected to her life and legacy.

Whitsunday couple Renee Kropinyeri and Santa-Chris Maere welcomed their second son via caesarean section at Proserpine Hospital on 12 May at 11pm.

His middle name, Navy, pays tribute to Renee’s late grandmother, Marjorie Tripp AO (1946-2016), who was a was a pioneering Ramindjeri elder and prominent South Australian community leader.

“At 17 years old in 1963, she became the first Aboriginal woman to join the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS),” Renee said.

“It was at a time where Aboriginal people were still not recognised as Australian citizens.

“My grandmother Marjorie helped raise me and made me who I am today and I wanted to use the name Navy in my son’s name in her honour,” she said.

Marjorie later became a tireless champion for Indigenous veterans and aged care, earning an Order of Australia in 2014.

Renee and Santa-Chris expressed their heartfelt thanks to the maternity unit at Prosperine Hospital on the safe arrival of their newborn son, in particular to their midwife Aleesha Tindall (pictured with the couple and their son) and obstetrician Dr Kyren Baxendell.

“Proserpine Hospital is such a beautiful place,” Renee said.

“All the staff are very kind, very supportive and they make it feel very homely; nothing but genuine care.

“I’m so grateful to have had both my babies there.”

Congratulations to Renee, Santa-Chris and big brother Amari, on the safe arrival of gorgeous Azari. He's another Whitsunday resident with saltwater in his veins.

22/05/2026

21/05/2026

The Mackay Base Hospital Travel Office is experiencing temporary phone issues.

For all urgent queries, please contact the Travel Office via email [email protected].