St Vincent's

More and more people want their care delivered in their home. St Vincent’s pioneered and refined the use of in-home care, particularly through its palliative and aged care services. Today, St Vincent’s delivers more than 180,000 physical and 250,000 digital episodes of in-home care each year, the equivalent of 200 hospital beds.

Matt Lancaster is a Nurse Unit Manager for one of our community specialist palliative care services. His team provides compassionate and attentive support to hundreds of patients with life-limiting illnesses in their homes, so they can receive care surrounded by their families and familiar comfort.

Nurses are the lifeblood of the St Vincent's family. More than that, our hospitals’ reputation for providing an excellent training ground for early-career nurses, means St Vincent’s nurses are also highly regarded across the entire health and aged care system.

Fiona Richards is a Nurse Unit Manager who has been with St Vincent’s for over a decade, working in a variety of specialist areas including cardiac, thoracic, neuro, and major vascular. Fiona and her colleagues are at the heart of everything we do and we’re grateful for their unwavering effort.

“I am passionate about providing access to psychological, social and physical health through exercise, and providing this in a way that is individualised to each person.”

Devlin Higgins leads the Exercise Physiology Program within St Vincent’s Sydney’s inpatient and outpatient mental health services department. Devlin was awarded the Australian Exercise Physiologist of the Year in 2022 and was the National Practitioner Winner for his role in advocating for people living with mental illness.

St Vincent’s health and aged care services are located from Townsville in north Queensland to Melbourne’s western suburbs. Our virtual health work takes us into some of Australia’s most rural areas. Our services reflect the diversity of the communities in which we work.

Monita Mascitti-Meuter is a Cultural Inclusion Lead at St Vincent’s. One of the projects Monita is most proud of is the rollout of the Talk to Me app at our Melbourne hospital, a platform that facilitates two-way communication with our patients and residents on a range of day-to-day topics in 16 different languages other than English.

“I’ve loved every minute of working at St Vincent’s. The teamwork and dedication from everyone is the best I’ve seen.”

For Infection Prevention Nurse Zach Woodrow, better and fairer care is the foundation of everything he does to ensure the continued safety of patients and quality care.

In his role as Emergency Department Nurse Unit Manager, Darren cares for some of the most marginalised people in our society.

Nazafarin Zarshenas is a St Vincent’s Senior Dietitian. Nazafarin always strives to improve the quality of life and nutrition for her patients.

Isabel Teutsch has been a Social Worker for 23 years, working with patients with complex health needs. “I always wanted to help people and I feel proud to work in a person-centred team.”

Kristy Luong was only 14 years old when she was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease.

At 22, she was told she had end-stage kidney failure and had to go on dialysis and a transplant donor list.

“I really didn’t understand the importance of kidneys. Even as the doctor explained how the dialysis treatment worked, I thought, ‘that’s ok, I’ll just need to adjust my life a little bit’,” said Kristy, who soon learned she had underestimated the impact this disease would have on her life.

Kristy attended St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne for her haemodialysis and, later, nocturnal dialysis sessions at the hospital’s St George’s Health Service in Kew. She described the St Vincent’s nurses and the renal team who cared for her as extremely supportive.

“The nurses became my ‘dialysis mums’. The conversations we had and the relationships I built with them were very special to me. I remember one nurse who was like sunshine whenever I saw her – she would just always brighten my day,” Kristy said.

“The care I received at St Vincent’s has been excellent. You can tell everyone here really puts their heart and soul into what they do for their patients.”

Kristy was on her way home from work when she received a call from St Vincent’s that they had a donor match.

“I got on the tram and called my partner straight away and then Mum and my sisters. I was crying as I told them the news and when I hung up the phone, the people on the tram who had overheard my conversations, started congratulating me, too,” she said.

Kristy had her kidney transplant performed at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne in 2016 and continues to attend the hospital for her check-ups with the post renal transplant team.

“The fact that I have been able to have my children because of this transplant is so meaningful. I have been given a real gift,” Kristy said.