A second generation of medical professionals is joining the ranks at Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, with three of the 70 new junior doctors who have just been welcomed to the District boasting strong family ties to Nepean Hospital.
Medical interns Dr Anastasia Teece, Dr Stephanie Sardinha and Dr Alex Pardey may not be familiar faces just yet, but they certainly have familiar names, with each following in their footsteps of their fathers, who are well regarded medical professionals from within the Nepean Hospital family.
For Teece, whose father Andrew Teece is a former chief radiographer at Nepean Hospital, beginning her career at Nepean Hospital was a no-brainer – thanks to some advice that came from particularly close to home.
“Nepean Hospital is ultimately where I wanted to end up working,” she said.
“I’d spoken to doctors from other hospitals as well as my dad and they all advised me to look at Nepean.”
Though her last name does add some extra pressure, Teece said she’s feeling excited and motivated to add to her family’s legacy.
“I think it’s really cool that I’m where my dad was,” she said.
“I like feeling that I am building upon what he contributed to.”
Sardinha, whose father is Nepean Hospital geriatrician Dr Luis Sardinha, shared the sentiment.
“The recognition of my family connection makes me hopeful that I can live up to the name and do as good a job as my dad did,” she said.
However, for Sardinha, it was the District’s excellent reputation that helped her most with her decision.
“I had heard lots of positive things about the culture, which was important to me. I’d also heard about the Basic Physician Training program, the support that’s given to junior medical officers, the quality of teaching sessions and the friendliness and approachability of consultants,” she said.
“It can be a difficult job to do when you’re fresh out of medical school, so hearing that the doctors above you are very supportive was a big reason I wanted to come here. Knowing that there’ll be a lot of supervision and guidance when you’re first starting on the job is so important.”
For daughter of retired Nepean Hospital obstetrician Associate Professor John Pardey, Alex Pardy, the positive workforce culture encouraged her to choose Nepean Hospital.
“After moving away from Penrith, I returned to the area during medical school and had an incredible time. The people here were so lovely.
Everyone was keen to teach and I just fell back in love with the community. All the staff were delightful and so nice to me, so I had a really good time and when it came time to choose, I put Nepean first,” she said.
Cassidy Pearce
Cassidy Pearce is a news and entertainment journalist with The Western Weekender. A graduate of the University of Technology Sydney, she has previously worked with Good Morning Macarthur and joined the Weekender in 2022.