Celebrating dads of The Alfred

Charles Pilgrim, Surgical Consultant

Charles Pilgrim is a surgeon at The Alfred and a dad. He is currently on deployment with the Australian Defence force as a surgeon in the Middle East.

"I'm a surgical consultant with the Upper Gastrointestinal (UGI) Surgery and Trauma units, I take emergency general surgery and trauma call, as well as elective operating and outpatients

I'm a senior lecturer with the Department of Surgery, and developed the UGI cancer database and now oversee the pancreatic and hepatobiliary modules.

Through the department of surgery, I'm now also the site principal investigator for the planned statewide UGI cancer registry, being run out of the Department of Epidemiology and Preventative medicine.

The Alfred is a great place to work, a leader in the field of trauma care and innovation, and is the largest trauma hospital in Australasia.

As a military surgeon, it’s a great partnership and beneficial from both the civilian and military trauma surgery perspective to be involved with the reception, resuscitation, operative treatment and ongoing care of such a large number of injured patients, and with such a strong research backing of the National Trauma Research Institute.

I've been at The Alfred since I was an intern in 2001, and have worked as resident, registrar, fellow and now consultant, so I really feel like it’s my home.

My wife also works at The Alfred, although I didn't meet her on the job!

We both love that the Alfred treats the sickest of the sick, and despite that, has outstanding results in terms of patient outcomes.

Balancing work and home life is tough, but The Alfred child care centre has been a blessing, particularly when we both start early (before most child care centres open for business), and our daughter Eve loves it there.

Being a Dad makes you reprioritise your life and when I'm at home and before Eve has gone to bed, I spend as much time with her as possible, just watching her play and exploring the world together.

I love teaching her new things and watching her work things out for herself. She has just started to understand where her ears, nose and tongue are and I love how intently she watches and learns from us."

Clinical educator in ICU and hyperbaric medicine, Jason Watterson

I am a Clinical Educator in The Alfred’s Department of Intensive Care and hyperbaric medicine and I have two daughters who are eight and six years old.

Being a dad and doing the role I do can have its challenges- finding good work life balance is always one of those. It is really important to me to be a role model in working hard to achieve my goals but equally to spend quality down-time with my family is very important.

There is nothing typical about my day The Alfred. I split my time between research and clinical work, which I love as it gives me a great balance. 

Both my workplaces give me a great deal of autonomy and scope to challenge myself professionally but also to improve the outcome for patients through the work I am involved in.

My research role is new and I am developing in this area. The rewards from research are very different to the clinical work but both give me the satisfaction of knowing I am playing a small part in improving the health outcomes for the populations that I am dealing with each day. 

I also enjoy the many friends and colleagues I have made in the time that I have worked at the Alfred. These are the things that keep me coming to work each day.

As a dad and someone working in health and having recently completed a regular health screen myself, I would tell all dads to remember the importance of regularly seeking medical advice. 

The advice we give to our patients is to approach healthcare with a prevention mind set, rather than ignoring things or thinking that they will be fine. 

It's far better to prevent than to deal with something when it becomes problematic. 

ICU physiotherapist, Scott Bradley

I am the senior physiotherapist in ICU at The Alfred and a dad. I have three children with my fabulous wife Lindy (who also works at The Alfred); James 15, Sarah 14 and Kate 11.

The Alfred's ICU is probably the busiest and most complex ICU in Australia and because of that, I have the opportunity to work with the most highly qualified and amazing medical, nursing, physiotherapy, allied health and support staff every day.

I work with a number of very specialised groups of patients including heart and lung transplant recipients, burns patients and trauma and haematology patients.

My role involves helping patients look after their breathing and lungs, helping them to keep their limb strength and range of movement and to regain mobility.

The most rewarding part of the job is contributing to someone’s recovery and discharge from ICU, particularly when they have been very unwell or in ICU for a long time

Like most people, I have a lot of demand on my time, both in and out of work. I try to fit in some exercise before work, and as part of my cycling commute to-from work each day.

My children have after school and weekend sports and activities most days of the week; it is hard at times to make sure we get to all the places we have to go and still spend some time together.

As a physio, my advice to other dads to is to make sure you fit some exercise into your week: incorporate it into your commute, take opportunities to exercise at work by using the stairs or using a standing desk. Do this for yourself, and help set a positive exercise habit example for your children.

Tony and Felice Trapani

In his almost-25 years at The Alfred, Tony Trapani has tackled a range of challenging roles. But he’s managed to balance it all with another very rewarding role – raising his 15-year-old daughter Felice.

“My wife and I both work in health – she is an Emergency Department nurse at the Royal Melbourne. So Felice has really taken an interest in health by virtue of what we do.”

“When she was younger it could be difficult at times because my wife and I both work shift work so we were constantly organising people to help with Felice. But people were always happy to help and work tried to be accommodating. Now, she enjoys hearing about the giving that’s involved in our jobs and how no one day is the same as the one before. It’s really nice to share that with her.

“It’s always inspired me, the way we continue to grow patient-centred care at The Alfred. There’s always something happening that’s new and novel. We strive to translate research into practice – to be leaders in health delivery – and it’s really great to be involved in that.”

While he’s now a Project Manager working in partnership with Monash University, Tony started his career in 1986 when he trained under the Alfred and Associated Hospitals Critical Care Course.

He went on to work in what was the ICU ward, known then as 1A, before becoming a Nurse Clinical Educator and working across coronary care, ICU and trauma. His career has also included working at the Western Hospital and then as a paramedic, before returning to The Alfred in 2008 as a Clinical Educator in ICU.

Bill and Nick Johnson

Bill Johnson is our Program Director of Surgical Services and his son Nick is a surgical resident here at The Alfred.

"I am lucky to have four children and I am proud of all of them.

Nick is the youngest and I am pleased he has chosen a profession that makes him happy.

I am proud he has been chosen to work at Alfred. I was a first year resident in 1970, it was a great hospital then and remains so now.

It is a tough decision to follow into a hospital your father works at, there are many challenges, but Nick has met them, not because he is my son but because he is Nick, and that makes me very proud.

He is surrounded by the extraordinarily talented group of people who work at Alfred Health, at all levels.

This provides him with the ultimate learning opportunity, in a hospital which values its staff, and supports them in achieving their full potential, while delivering quality patient focused care.

I keep my distance but love having him here."