January 3, 2025#WeAreNorthern
Meet Glen Ellul, Theatre Technician at Northern Health. Glenn celebrated 40 years of service at Northern Health in 2024.
Q: What is your coffee order?
A: I don’t drink coffee much but I like Earl Grey tea.
Q: How does it feel to reach 40 years of service?
A: It feels good. I have met a lot of people over the years and have made lots of friends.
Q: Tell us a bit about your career from the beginning and how you ended up where you are today?
A: I first started at Preston and Northcote Community Hospital (PANCH) in 1984 working as an Allocated Day Off (ADO) Reliever throughout the hospital replacing orderlies and theatre techs when they had their ADOs. At about 1992, a position became available in the Plastic Surgery Unit, and I began working there until PANCH located to the Northern Hospital in 1998.
Q: What changes in healthcare have you seen over four decades?
A: I have seen lots of technological changes over the years. When I first started, there were no laparoscopic procedures using cameras, everything was open. We lifted patients onto the operating table using a canvas with two metal poles inserted into both sides. A diathermy plate was a reusable square piece of aluminium which was covered in gel and placed under the patient’s buttock.
Q: What brings you the most joy in your work:
A: Working with surgeons, anaesthetists and nurses who are highly skilled, do a lot of great work and are a delight to work with.
Q: What is something most people wouldn’t know about you?
A: Before working at PANCH, I was a vehicle body maker building truck bodies and semi-trailer bodies.
