Careers in Barwon South West Public Health Unit
About the Barwon South West Public Health Unit
The Barwon South West Public Health Unit (BSW PHU) is one of nine local public health units established across the state. Led by director, Professor Eugene Athan, the BSW PHU supports the region that spans from Greater Geelong to the South Australian border and north to the Southern Grampians region.
Initially, the BSW PHU is focused on COVID-19 preparedness, response, and vaccination, then it will move into other key areas of communicable diseases, such as blood-borne viruses including viral hepatitis, HIV, STIs, and food-borne diseases.
It will be essential to build a holistic public health model in our region that tackles chronic diseases including lifestyle-related issues, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and potentially, mental health, drugs and alcohol illnesses.
Having a regional public health unit gives us the opportunity to improve the public health of an entire region, particularly those facing disadvantage.
Current BSWPHU vacancies
Vaccination
N/A
Contact Tracing
N/A
COVID Testing
- Prostate Cancer Specialist Nurse
- Registered Nurse (Grade 2) - General Medicine
- Registered Nurse (Grade 2) - General Surgical, Urology
- Registered Nurse - Surgical Heath Wing 5
- Registered Nurse - Orthopaedic (Grade 2)
Meet Profesor Eugene Athan OAM
Director, Barwon South West Public Health Unit
Prof. Athan Director, Dept of Infectious Disease at Barwon Health since 2004 and since 2019 has lead the Barwon South West Public Health Unit as Director. He has held professorial positions at Deakin University and University of Melbourne since 2007. In 2018, he was appointed Level E tenured Prof. of Inf. Disease at Deakin School of Medicine.
His qualifications include: MBBS Hons at Monash University 1989, FRACP in Infectious Disease 1998, Masters in Public Health Majors in Epidemiology of CDC and Health Economics at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine 2007, Doctorate in Medicine thesis “Modern Epidemiology and Infective Endocarditis” at Monash University 2015. Prof. Athan has co-authored over 180 papers with over 3,600 citations. He is a key member of many professional healthcare and ID societies, Co-Founder for the Geelong Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases (GCEID) and Co-director of the Australian Rickettsial reference lab.
Here Professor Athan talks about the purpose and future of the BSWPHU:
"The success of Barwon Health’s COVID-19 contact tracing team showed we have the capability to oversee the Barwon South West region’s long term public health needs. The State Government has invested in nine Local Public Health Units to manage response efforts at a local level, allowing us to refocus resources around a regional approach to COVID-19, and eventually other important diseases that will lead to improved public health in Victoria."
"Initially, our local Public Health Unit is focused on COVID-19 preparedness, response, and vaccination, then we will move into other key areas of communicable diseases, such as blood-borne viruses including: viral hepatitis, HIV, STIs, and food-borne diseases. It will be essential to build a holistic public health model in our region that tackles chronic diseases including lifestyle-related, such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers, and potentially, mental health, drugs and alcohol. We need to align with the needs of the community and across the wider Barwon South West region. We have a rare opportunity to widely improve the public health of an entire region, particularly those facing disadvantage, and to do this, we will need to undertake genuine stakeholder engagement with local health services, local government, and communities throughout the region. Ultimately, we’re here to serve those communities, so we need to communicate well and, network extensively to understand the local needs, with face-to-face visits and staff based across the region. Starting with the challenge of a COVID-19 vaccination will be a true test for this new Public Health Unit model, but I am confident we can work with each community in the Barwon South West region to deliver improved public health that benefits everyone."
Applying for a public health job at Barwon Health
How do I get work in the Barwon South West Public Health Unit?
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Meet some of our team
Jessica Talbot, Administration Manager – COVID-19 vaccination program
“I'm managing and coordinating the administration functions of the vaccination program for our Public Health Unit, which services the Barwon South West region. There's a lot of planning and resourcing involved, which means facilitating and liaising with internal and external key stakeholders, and making sure planning logistics are in place for vaccine allocation and location schedule. We're also setting up and assisting the vaccination clinics across the region, while supporting the administration of data quality. I joined this program two months ago on a secondment from Barwon Health's patient accounts department, where I was the manager of cashiers and credit services. Coming from a management role, I can apply the same communication skills to get the job done, and both roles require me to work in a challenging and forever-changing environment. It's an amazing opportunity to be part of this team and I feel extremely privileged to be able to work with so many new people across the region. I'm very passionate about health and fitness and I take a lot of pride in giving the right communication about health and wellbeing. The health industry has opened up a lot of opportunities for me and my career, and Barwon Health has provided a path to progress into leadership positions. A vaccination rollout like this is something we never thought would happen, so it's an exciting opportunity to be involved in."
Lauren Farnsworth, Contact Tracing officer
"Before starting my current 12-month secondment to the Public Health Unit six months ago, I worked as a podiatrist for the past 15 years, mainly here at Barwon Health across the Corio Community Health Centre and Barwon Health North. When the opportunity came up to join the Public Health Unit, I was looking for a change - something new and exciting. I’d always had an interest in public health and I’ve done post graduate study in international health. I helped out last year on the weekends with COVID monitoring at the Barwon Health North clinic, and then when this role was advertised, I knew it was something I wanted to do. The Public Health Unit team is so great to work with and every day is different. It’s always changing and that keeps it interesting. Our work can go from zero to 100 very quickly – we’d been managing some of the red zone arrivals into the region up until last week, which was keeping us busy enough, and then we got the call early last week about the Barwon Heads outbreak and it’s just been so full on since then. There have been lots of extra hours and late nights. The team does an incredible job and everyone pulls together so cohesively under such trying circumstances. Everyone has gone above and beyond to make sure the job gets done – it’s very inspiring to be a part of a team that’s so dedicated. It’s been a big work environment change for me taking on this role because now I do a lot of data entry and phone calls, whereas I was client facing in my previous role. The biggest challenge I’ve found is the constantly unpredictable work environment – you never know what you’re going to get when you come to work each day. It can be such a mixed bag when you deal with people while contact tracing. Some can get very emotional, anxious and stressed, but everyone has been consistently helpful and supportive of what we’re trying to do. Everyone I contact understands that we have the shared goal of getting through this together."
Catilin Fleming, Contact Tracing Team Leader
Caitlin Fleming joined the Barwon South West Public Health Unit as Contact Tracing Team Leader in March, after working in COVID-19 testing for over twelve months as an Associate Nurse Unit Manager.
“After 12 months of working within COVID testing I saw this as a great opportunity to continue to work within the pandemic in a leadership role, but from a different perspective.
“2020 was such a difficult year for everyone in the community, and it was great to be able to help in some way” Caitlin said.
“My previous role also involved supporting Staffcare in their COVID-19 response and this highlighted the necessity to support healthcare workers in what was a really stressful and scary time. Now as a contact tracing team leader I am able to support our contact tracing team during exceptionally busy periods and help plan for the future.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic has created an environment which has brought together a range of staff across the service to utilise their skills to support and protect to the community during outbreaks.I have been proud to be a part of the Barwon Health COVID-19 response which has been an exceptional collaboration between all the departments and areas across the health service.”
“I have been constantly inspired by how our community unites and supports each other throughout these difficult times. We have received amazing support and generosity from the community who are grateful for our work.”
Sara Bonnici, Communications Advisor
Sara Bonnici recently joined the Public Health Unit as a Communications Advisor, after 13 years working within the areas of community engagement and marketing at the Barwon Health Foundation.
Her background in telling patient stories and reaching out to groups within the community has helped the Public Health Unit engage with important key messages about the vaccination rollout.
“I’m excited to be working with the community to assist in rolling out the COVID-19 vaccination and ensuring everyone has the information they need to access this vital service,” Sara said.
“In my previous roles, I’ve enjoyed meeting with consumers, patients and members of the community to tell stories that convey important health messages to the public, with the goal of improving healthcare access and quality of our services. Now I am able to do this in my new role, with a focus on informing the community and engaging them with the vaccination rollout over the coming months.”
Caroline Poynder, Immunisation Lead
Caroline Poynder joined the Barwon South West Public Health Unit as Immunisation Lead in January 2021, after working for Barwon Health for over eleven years as Immunisation Co-ordinator.
“I've been involved in the immunisation service at Barwon Health for many years, so stepping into this role felt like a natural fit for me. However, taking on this role and leading the COVID-19 vaccine community outreach program on such a large scale has been very different to our previous vaccination programs," Caroline said.
“As part of the COVID-19 vaccination roll out, I've been involved in providing in-reach vaccinations to many different groups of people across our community."
“My teams have provided in-reach vaccinations to aged care residents and staff, meat works and food processing staff, youth groups, the homeless and many pop-up clinic across a wide range of locations."
“One of the best things about this role is knowing that some of our most vulnerable are now protected against COVID-19. We've had small outbreaks in some high-risk setting recently, however it has provided some peace of mind knowing that these people are fully vaccinated thanks to our vaccination team.”
“It has been a privilege to be a part of such a historic vaccination program. I am lucky to have met and worked with so many lovely staff who are all working towards the same goal."
What can we offer you?
At Barwon Health we harness a diverse and inclusive workforce and offer fantastic staff benefits. Some of these include:
- Flexible working arrangements
- Professional development opportunities including access to over 32 organisational curriculum offerings around awareness of self, communication, relationships and results
- Experienced clinical educators and mentors
- Access to employee wellness facility
- Salary packaging
- Social club
- Study days
- Accrued days off (one per month for full-time employees)
- Relocation and Sponsorship Support
Relocation and Sponsorship Support
Barwon Health can offer accommodation support, salary packaging for relocation costs and government incentives for new staff members. We have partnered with Deakin University to assist with accommodation packages this are available for eligible nurses looking to move to our region. They cater for individuals, couples and families. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.
Last Modified: Thursday, 12 January 2023
Contact Us
Barwon South West Public Health Unit
325 Ryrie Street, Geelong
PO Box 281, Geelong, VIC 3220
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (03) 4215 0000