ANNE GRIFFITHS  

                    Heart-Lung Transplant Co-ordinator


Anne first saw snow when it fell on the fields at her Melbourne school Ruyton in the
50s when she started in Grade 3. Her sister took her on her first day where she met girls she is still friends with.

Anne remembers a young Miss McRae, who would later become principal, instilling
Anne’s interest in world affairs through her Social Studies lessons. And despite Anne admitting to her classmates giving the geography teacher a hard time, she remembers much of what she was taught when she travels.

Anne enjoyed all the sport, but “the only time I made the first hockey team I was hit in the eye then relegated to the seconds for the rest of the year. This team had more fun.”

Anne was awarded a scholarship to train as a primary school teacher after finishing at Ruyton. During those summer holidays she took a job at the Alfred Hospital as a
'pinky' - someone who cleans up, folds linen and runs messages. It changed her
aspirations - she decided she wanted to be a nurse “and never regretted it.”

The three year training course comprised of wards duties and lectures either on days off, before or after a shift. A fourth year of full-time work followed rotating through four areas of experience. Many of the nurses lived at the hospital to cope with the 5.30am starts. "You had to get there to make toast for everyone when you were the junior."

General nursing covered medical, surgical and emergency department skills. Anne applied to go to Vietnam during the war to serve with the Alfred teams but more senior nurses were sent so Anne and three friends went overseas to work and travel.

“It was the swinging 60s so London was a great place to be. I worked on a movie as a unit nurse and a couple of people in the movie industry offered to sponsor my permanent move to the UK but the weather and my family and friends drew me home”.

Anne returned to work in Intensive Care at the Alfred and two years later in 1969,
helped design the first Intensive Care course. It was cardiac surgery and the IC ward that Anne loved. She was later put in charge of the Clinical Research/Surgical ward. It was there that one of her patients had a baby – it was an early delivery and the experience sent Anne off to train in midwifery.

Anne returned to the Alfred in 1977 and has been there since, at one point being
appointed in charge of the Cardiac IC ward then later the pre and post-op ward and even stints as night supervisor of the hospital – a great experience.

“One Sunday in January 1988 I woke up and reviewed the year ahead and decided I
needed a change. I flew to London then went to China overland by train.” When Anne left Melbourne, the placement of a second transplant unit in Australia was being debated. “I was at a concert in Xian. When I came out I overheard a conversation in the crowd and incorrectly heard that the unit was going to the Austin but when I reached Hong Kong there was a letter offering me the position as Heart-Lung Transplant Co-ordinator.

Apparently I had once mentioned my interest in the position in conversation with members of the cardiothoracic unit.”

Anne took up her new role in December although the unit was waiting for the surgeon, (now Prof.) Don Esmore, who commenced at the hospital in February the following year. The first heart transplant was carried out on 26 February.

“I love not knowing what I will be doing each day. The unpredictability of the job is
challenging and exciting and my colleagues are not just at the Alfred but across
Victoria, Australia and New Zealand.”

“As Co-ordinator I meet with patients, make sure all their blood tests and vaccinations are completed in tandem with the clinic nurses. The patients have to be literally ready with a bag packed, have a functioning phone and after receiving education with their carer from the multidisciplinary team, to have signed all the consent forms. We work out a plan about how they will get to hospital from interstate, the country or suburbs and explain the process when they are called to come to hospital, the possibility of disease transfer and why in some circumstances it has to be cancelled at the last minute.

I liaise with them while they are waiting and then when there is a transplant. I may bedealing with many patients all at once. This may involve co-ordinating from two to
four medical teams including organising transport be it by private jet, police car or taxi if one of the teams is being sent to another hospital."

"I wait until the donor organs arrive safely, and then go home usually to sleep. I
reconnect with the recipients in ICU and again once they are in out-patients where the team see them regularly. There are about fifteen people waiting for a heart transplant and about 50 waiting for a double, single or a heart and lung transplant."

"It is amazing to see the difference in people after a transplant - they stride around when previously they might have struggled to even walk, many being able to be independent and work again.

Anne is proud that Australia has one of the highest retrieval rates in the world. Whilst she says the advantage to the recipient is obvious, it is reassuring to know the comfort these transplants give to the donor families – that good has come from their tragedy.

Anne loves catching up with family and friends, travelling, the arts and sport including the pursuit of a winner at Flemington.
Anne Griffiths
Interview by her school Ruyton

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