Health Heroes: Dr Dennis Sundin
July 19, 2023
Congratulations to these Award Winners
July 19, 2023
FEATURE
Congratulations to the 2023 #Move2Improve Champions: Gosford Hospital
Fitness, Fine AND a New Common Room.
Forget the State of Origin, the Eurovision Song Contest or the FIFA Women’s World Cup – the contest of the year took place in the state’s hospitals and the stakes were high.
We know how hard our Doctors-In-Training (DITs) work, often at the expense of their health – both physical and mental. So, we at AMA (NSW) joined forces with Blue Light Card Australia for a little bit of fun, fitness and remodelling.
Dubbed the #Move2Improve Common Room Challenge, DITs at five hospitals battled it out to see which hospital’s team could perform the most exercise in one week. The grand prize – you guessed it – a common room makeover.
DITs at Concord Hospital, Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital, The Tweed Hospital, Gosford Hospital, and Liverpool Hospital were chosen from dozens of entries, based on written submissions and common room photos.
Contestants could partake in any form of athletic activity, tracking their movement and exercise to earn ‘move’ points for their hospital on an app called United Heroes. Points were allocated according to the duration and demands of each exercise. For that little bit of extra motivation, we placed an exercise bike, donated by F45 Training, in each team’s common room.
The week-long competition was launched at Concord Hospital on June 1st by AMA (NSW) President Dr Michael Bonning. “We wanted to give doctors-in-training the opportunity to win something that would make a daily difference, while boosting team morale and promoting health and fitness.” Dr Bonning said.
With thanks to Blue Light Card Australia, we were able to secure many amazing sponsors who went above and beyond in donating prizes towards the makeover, and individual raffle prizes. These include Samsung, James Lane, The Man Shake, The Lady Shake, Yes You Can, Hello Fresh, Every Plate, Accor, Ruckus, Fossil, Fila, Crocs, Village Roadshow, The Iconic, Cookie Doughboy, and F45 Training. It was a wonderful week filled with vim, vigour, enthusiasm, tactics and some healthy competition.
Here’s how the challenge scoreboard ended up:
FIRST – Gosford Hospital (31,430)
SECOND – The Tweed Hospital (28,437)
THIRD – Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital (13,456)
FOURTH – Concord Hospital (11,765)
FIFTH – Liverpool Hospital (10,709)
The organisers at Team Gosford were ecstatic with the win.
“The response to the #Move2Improve challenge is a testament to our love for work-life balance, a desire to see our common room returned to its former glory and an innate sense of competition,” said Central Coast Resident Medical Officer Association (CCRMOA) President, Dr Catherine Zheng.
“Any JMO would agree that it is crucial to have a welcoming and functional common room. It is a home base for JMOs venturing out onto the wards, a key space to rest, recharge and ready oneself. I think what Gosford JMOs are looking forward to most with the common room makeover is brighter walls, a new carpet, and some functioning lights.”
They were motivated from the get-go. Each hospital’s team had a cap of 50 participants and Gosford Hospital was the first team to reach capacity. How did they stay motivated? Dr Zheng said like any good victory, the key was in the preparation. “We used word of mouth, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and a good old email bulletin via Medical Workforce, we made sure it was on the mind of the JMOs at all times throughout the week. Some keen JMOs set up extra runs and walks and attended yoga classes to gain extra points. “The best thing about this challenge is that it feeds into the competitive spirit of exercise that already exists on the Central Coast. Every year, Central Coast JMOs compete against their VMOs across 15+ sports in a friendly(ish) bid to win the JMO vs VMO sports trophy. This challenge sets us up nicely to start the season of JMO vs VMO sports,” said Dr Zheng.
A huge shoutout to the individuals who contributed the most points for their hospital:
Gosford Hospital Dr Ben Chan
The Tweed Hospital Dr Lesley Astill-Torchia
Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital Dr Emma Smith
Concord Hospital Dr Susan Li
Liverpool Hospital Dr Quinlan Chen
The #Move2Improve challenge was just the start of AMA (NSW)’s advocacy towards improving hospital facilities. AMA (NSW) aims to provide more opportunities that assists hospitals with the provision of healthier food options, better common rooms, safer utilities, and much, much more. Stay tuned for the next challenge.