Familiar face relishing new role at Gore Hospital

Gore Hospital has welcomed a familiar face into a brand-new role.

After spending nearly two decades behind the scenes as lead technician in the lab, Koreena Hughes is now on wards and out in the community as Healthcare Assistant for Allied Health.

Developed to bridge gaps across care environments, Koreena’s role provides support to physiotherapists, occupational therapists (OTs) and coordinators.

After a month on the job, Koreena is loving the change of pace.

“I always thought if an opportunity came up to try something different here, that’s exactly what I want to do,” she says.

“I liked the patients and being in the hospital, but I wanted to move on from the lab.”

Now her days involve anything from home visits alongside OTs to sorting out the equipment shed and, as her role progresses, she will help patients with their exercises on the ward, freeing up the physio team.

Her new role has not only made things easier for the teams she works with, but also her team at home.

She and her husband run Gore’s Mr Green franchise and have two young boys, aged 5 and 9. Juggling work, home and a business had been tough.

“In the lab, if your kids are sick, it’s incredibly stressful. You can’t just leave urgent work or walk away from a waiting room full of patients,” she says. “But the hospital has real a family-centred outlook.”

“And I knew it was the right decision when I came home on the first day and the boys saw me home and they just ran up to me for big hugs and I thought, oh, this is really good.”