Celebrating 60 years of service at OPH

This year we are celebrating 60 years of incredible service to the community by the staff at Osborne Park Hospital.

On Tuesday 18 October we planted six native trees (one for each decade) and buried a time capsule to be dug up on our 100th birthday.

When it opened its doors on the 29th of March 1962, OPH served the general medical and maternity needs of the City of Stirling catchment. It treated 1,300 patients in its first year. Sixty years on, OPH now has 192 beds, includes surgical and rehabilitation services, and is home to almost 600 staff who cared for more than 103,000 patients in 2021. In the last two years we have opened two new wards (2 and 7) and we are working on opening more beds in coming weeks and months.

This shows the incredible growth of our hospital and what it brings to the community. OPH has a wonderful reputation as a caring and compassionate place and it is a vital part of the North Metropolitan Health Service. Congratulations to everyone at OPH for the wonderful work they do to support patients, families and each other every single day.

To celebrate, we planted six (one for each decade) native eucalypt trees (three Sliver Princess Eucalypts and three Yellow Bloodwood Eucalypt) along the front of the hospital, with plaques which commemorate the day and team who planted them. The location at the front of the hospital was chosen because there is no development planned for this area in the future and it provides plenty of space for the trees to grow. Six teams of staff from across OPH were nominated to plant the trees on behalf of their areas:

• Patient Support Services
• Nursing
• Medical
• Safety And Quality
• Facilities Management
• Allied Health

In the second part of the event we buried a time capsule in the Djilba Room (Staff dining room) courtyard garden.

Three of OPH's longest serving staff members lowered the capsule into the hole and placed a commemorative plaque:

• Sue Tomazin, who is a catering assistant of over 45 years service;
• Chris Taylor, who is an enrolled nurse on Ward 6 surgical, and has been with us for more than 40 years; and
• Elaine Fadli, from Patient Support Services who has been at OPH for 38 years.

The time capsule contains photos of people and services across the hospital, contemporary medications and equipment and a load of items to represent this moment in time at our hospital. Of course that means there’s a full set of COVID PPE in there. Imagine what they’ll think when they open it up on 29 March 2062!

Everyone at the event had the opportunity to add some soil to the trees and the time capsule, including our guest the Member for Balcatta Mr David Michael MLA, and our NMHS Board Chair Professor David Forbes, SCGOPHCG Executive Director Jodi Graham and plenty of OPH staff.

Thank you to the OPH 60th year celebration planning group who organised the event and a massive congratulations to everyone at OPH for this incredible achievement. Here’s to another 60 years!