Meet our Harmony Week champions

Hailing from four very different parts of the world, Clinical Nurse/Midwife Dorinda Watts, Allied Health Assistant Joelle Boutros, Western Wheatbelt Operations Manager Kumar Deep, and Nursing Support Officer Martina Kareska share their stories in their own words.

Dorinda Watts

When Dorinda moved from Burma to Australia in 1980, she didn’t speak a word of English. It was a tough transition for a 16-year-old, but one that forged her unwavering passion for delivering culturally safe healthcare.

I moved here with my mum and my brother, as a teenager coming to a strange country. 

It was really hard to learn the language, but coming from Burma we’re quite studious and love learning, so I persevered. I went to university, I went through nursing, and then I wanted to be a midwife, so I did a postgraduate.

In the meantime, I got married and had two children — they’re my greatest achievement — and then I completed my Master of Midwifery.

In 2011, I was yearning for humanitarian work, so I went to Cambodia as a Midwifery Educator for two-and-a-half years. It was an eye-opening experience.

I’ve worked in WA Health for all my nursing and midwifery life, and I was in Karratha with WA Country Health Service (WACHS) in 2006 and 2007. Now, I’m based at Warren Health Service in Manjimup.

Looking back, I’ve been a nurse and midwife for 33 years. I’m 60 now but still passionate about both professions. Curiosity and compassion are WACHS values, but they’re also qualities I was brought up with.

At WACHS, everyone’s welcoming and I love it. I’m seeing the younger generation coming up and there’s a lot of cultural diversity within healthcare now. I’m passionate about bringing the generations together and working in harmony.

Joelle Boutros

Fluent in Arabic, French and English, Joelle grew up in Lebanon but considers Australia home. Working at Bunbury Regional Hospital, she relishes the cultural diversity of her colleagues.

I’ve got lots of friends from different backgrounds, which I love, and we enjoy visiting each other.

Just last Saturday, we had a party at an Indonesian friend’s house who I know from the hospital. It’s really nice to learn the different cultures of my colleagues — their traditions, the way they dress, the way they eat.

In 2010, I got married and moved to Australia. When I came here, I was a fully qualified and registered dietician back home. But I was only just starting to learn English, so it was hard to do all the tests and get my degree recognised. 

I had my second baby in 2014 and thought, ‘okay, I’m ready to work now’, so I applied for a job at the hospital as a Menu Assistant. I did that for 10 years, and just a few weeks ago I got the new job as an Allied Health Assistant and Dietetic. 

I’m working at the Outpatient Dietetic Clinic for patients who are on supplements. I make sure they’re taking their supplements, that their weight is stable, and at the end of the month I finalise the invoices for the hospital’s supplement orders. 

Every time we visit Lebanon, I get so excited to come back to Australia – I call it home. But I still have family members — like my mum, my brother and my sister — back in Lebanon, so we make sure we visit on a regular basis. 

I can’t tell you how much I love Australia and especially Bunbury, where we live. I’m raising my kids here, I’ve got my job here, my husband — I can’t ask for more.

Kumar Deep

Moving to Australia was never something Kumar planned, so it was a “bit of a surprise” when he was offered the chance to complete a Master of Public Health at Curtin University. The leap of faith paid off and nearly two decades later, Kumar — who recently assumed the role of Western Wheatbelt Operations Manager — is celebrating his 15th year with WA Country Health Service.

I was born and brought up in the north of India, in New Delhi. My mother tongue is Hindi, but I speak Gujarati and English as well.

After finishing high school, I went through the national entrance exam for medicine, and that’s when I was selected and went to Gujarat, in the west of India, to study medicine.

After I finished medicine, I enrolled to do a postgraduate in Geriatric Medicine, and the head of the department sent my paperwork to Curtin University. That’s when I was offered a place to do a Master of Public Health. It was a bit of a surprise, I must say.

I started with WACHS in May 2011 as a Health Promotion Officer in Kalgoorlie. That October, I moved to Esperance to take on another health promotion role. In May 2012, I moved to Geraldton where I took on the role of Healthy Schools Coordinator. I was with WACHS Midwest until January 2025, and I’ve just recently moved to the Wheatbelt.

The Operations Manager role involves providing leadership and operational governance to the Western District sites. It’s all about managing staffing and having a clear patient flow, ensuring that logistically there are no major issues. I’m responsible for eight sites, plus Northam.

For me, Harmony Week is a reflection and acknowledgement of the multicultural workforce within WA Health and WACHS. It’s vital in the community as well because there’s so much multiculturalism in Australia.

However, while I celebrate harmony, I do not limit it to the one week. Harmony needs to be celebrated, acknowledged and appreciated on a day-to-day basis, across the board.

At WACHS, we have staff from other Asian countries, European countries, and Arab countries to name just a few. We celebrate harmony every day, because that’s how we work together and understand each other’s cultural experiences.

Martina Kareska

Raised in North Macedonia, Martina traded the Balkans for the Pilbara and has never looked back. A Nursing Support Officer at Hedland Health Campus, she enjoys the hot climate as much as living in a remote community.

Growing up in Macedonia, the temperature would drop to -20C in the winter and then, in summer, it could reach as high as 38C. For some people it’s too much, but for me, now that I’ve become used to Port Hedland’s weather, it’s nothing. 

I love the heat and I love that it’s not a big place; I prefer to live in a small town. I just love it in Port Hedland. 

My husband was born here but raised in Macedonia, so once we got married and had a kid, we moved to Port Hedland in 2017. 

Port Hedland is a diverse place. There’s a lot of people from Indonesia, the Philippines, China, and Europe, which is nice to see. 

I love everything about being employed by WACHS, including the flexibility. I work in administration, and I go to operating theatre for a few hours, twice a day, to help with rosters and audits and things like that. 

Being multilingual, I signed up for the LOTE (Language other than English) register. I wanted to be able to help if anyone ever needs a translation from Macedonian or Serbian. It’s a great initiative, and for anyone who’s considering signing up, I’d encourage you to go for it.