Friday 26 of August, is National Wear It Purple day – a day of celebration, awareness, and support of rainbow young people and the right to be proud of who you are!
We had a chat with Matthew, one of our Medibank Care Navigators, and asked him why he will be Wearing it Purple.
What is your role here at Medibank?
My role at Medibank as a Care Navigator is to help manage patients with their health; regularly calling them to see how they are, checking what specialists they’ve seen, booking GP visits or transport to and from medical appointments, and organising Occupational Therapists to go in and have their houses assessed to see if they need rails installed to minimise the risk of a fall. I work closely with my clinicians to ensure no information is missed. The few examples above, help my patients to remain in their own home with their loved ones and ultimately keeps them out of hospital which benefits not only us but the hospitals and the patient themselves.
Tell us a little bit about you?
My name is Matthew and I’m 23. I’m about to be a dog trainer to raise a guide dog and I have a mini-lop rabbit named Henry.
I’ve always been a very shy, quiet person until I realised the reason behind that was because I wasn’t comfortable within my own skin. Medibank has been the first workplace that I’ve felt accepted and included within a workplace and it is such a good feeling.
What does it mean to bring your whole self to work?
To me, ‘bring your whole self to work’ means you can be yourself within the workplace and feel comfortable, accepted and included. It means you don’t have to pretend to be someone you are not.
Why will you be wearing purple on 26 August?
I’ll be wearing purple on the 26 August because I think it is important and our obligation to let young kids and teenagers who are sexually and gender diverse know that they are beautiful just the way they are and that being ‘out’ ‘loud’ and ‘proud’ is very much okay.
#diversity #employee #employeeambassador #health #LGBTI #support #wearitpurple