Our Nurse Program is mainly funded by the generous support of FGX and their shareholders. We are immensely grateful for their support which has not only allowed us to develop our Nurse program more quickly but also allowed us as a charity to have more stability in provision of this program over the years.

Melbourne, Brisbane & Sydney

We are pleased to have dedicated EB Nurses in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. The roles in Melbourne and St George Hospital Sydney are funded by DEBRA Australia to increase the level of support for EB families within the children’s and adult’s hospital network. From March 2022 we will also be supplementing the funding of the EB nurse at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.

Our EB Nurses are particularly dedicated and committed to providing much needed support and facilitation of the EB Clinics at the hospitals and externally. The program continues to evolve as we identify the needs of our families to ensure better quality of care. Our nurses care for new born babies and their families on a national basis.  They also coordinate around 25 clinics per year for families in the different locations. There are many outpatient appointments organised with the nurses liaising with all of the multidisciplinary health care team to maximise care outcomes.

Samantha Hay was appointed as our first part time EB Nurse in Qld in 2010 and has done a wonderful job over the years supporting, caring and educating families. As of July 2017 Samantha is now funded by Qld Health and will continue to work from the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.

Sylvia Tsang is employed as the EB nurse at The Royal Melbourne Hospital, working two days per week. Lauren Weston has a similar part time role at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne supporting children and families.

We also fund an EB nurse  position for two days a week  at the St George Hospital.

Our EB nurses are actively involved with the NZ ANZEB nurse group and regularity liaise with other EB nurses overseas to provide latest advice and support to patients. DEBRA Australia is proud to support continuous education of our EB nurses via our Travel Fellowships and annual Health Professional Day enabling nurses to get latest training and education both overseas and from specialists nationally. Together this ensures that they can provide EB families with the most up to date information on wound management and best practice clinical guidelines developed by DEBRA International.

Our nurses also provide advice to families, pre-school, primary and secondary school communities as children transition into and through their education years. Their dedication, care and passion extend outside the clinic setting and they are actively involved in fundraising initiatives and family support such as the EB Picnic recently held in honour of International EB Awareness Week.

This program also extends beyond hospitals to in home nursing support – to read more about in-home nursing support click here.

Lauren WestonMelbourne Paediatric EB Nurse Consultant
Royal Children’s Hospital – Dermatology Department
Days of Work: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 8am – 4.30pm
Telephone: (03) 9345 5135
Mobile: 0427 937 699
Email: lauren.weston@rch.org.au
Sharin AnandAdult EB Nurse Consultant, The Royal Melbourne Hospital
Days of Work: Monday and Thursday
Pronouns: she/her
Telephone: (03) 9342 4531
Email: EBNurse@mh.org.au (or rmhderm@mh.org.au on other days).

Michelle McKinlayEpidermolysis Bullosa Clinical Nurse Consultant, St George Hospital
Days of Work: Thursdays and Fridays
Email: Michelle.Mckinlay@health.nsw.gov.au

Supporting EB Nurses

DEBRA Australia is also proud to be supporting EB nurses in other states including Women’s and Children’s Hospital, North Adelaide SA and Queensland Children’s Hospital.

Samantha HayQueensland Children’s Hospital EB Nurse
Days of Work: Monday, Tuesday & Friday 7am – 3.30pm
Burns Outpatients Number (07) 3068 2830
Queensland Children’s Hospital: (07) 3068 1111
Email: samantha.hay@health.qld.gov.au
Cassie Dujmovic Wound/General Surgery Nurse Consultant
Women’s & Children’s Hospital
M | 0466 432 571 SD | 50298 P | 4050
E | cassie.dujmovic@sa.gov.au
Monday’s, Tuesday’s alternate Thursday’s and Friday’s
Rebecca SaadSydney Children’s Hospital Randwick – EB Nurse
Days of Work: 5 days per fortnight
Office number: (02) 9382 0389
Email: rebecca.saad@health.nsw.gov.au