Healing Hands Run In The Family For Brondello Sisters

They are sisters by chance, but friends and now colleagues by choice.

The Brondello sisters, Tessa, Emma and Danika, work together in Allied Health at Mackay Base Hospital.

Occupational therapist Tessa has worked at Community Health and Therapy Services (CHATS) for 6 and a half years, while physiotherapist Emma joined the Mackay HHS four years ago. Now the ‘baby’ of the family, Danika, is following in her sibling’s footsteps starting her OT career three months ago.

The sisters grew up on a cane farm at Eton alongside their older sister Kara. They all attended St Patrick’s College in Mackay and went to James Cook University in Townsville.

As the second oldest, Tessa was the first to contemplate a career in healthcare.

“Helping people really appealed to me, but I have a weak stomach and can’t handle needles or blood, so OT was a good fit,” she said.

“I’m really not surprised my sisters followed me into health. We consider ourselves quite different, but we are all cut from the same cloth and are actually very similar.”

Emma said she enjoyed sports and science at school, so physiotherapy seemed like a natural career choice. As the youngest, Danika was gently encouraged in the direction of occupational therapy by her older sister.

“Tessa did guide me in that direction when I was in my final year of school – she gave me a better idea of what OT actually was and what it could look like,” Danika said.

“I helped counsel her about how you can work across a large variety of settings in OT; there’s just so much opportunity,” Tessa added.

A large extended family and strong ties to the community were a drawcard for the sisters to return to Mackay after graduation.

“For me it was serving the community we grew up in and giving back to them; plus Mackay is a really nice place,” Emma said

“We also have a large extended family locally, so we are all very close to our grandparents and cousins. Family was certainly one of the big reasons to come home and here to the HHS,” Tessa said.

“As you get older you realise how special these family relationships are and for that, we are certainly very lucky.”

Although they didn’t expect to become colleagues, the sisters feel it is helpful and has improved inter-departmental collaboration. Danika and Emma have already worked together with patients in the orthopaedic ward and ED.

“I think it can be helpful clinically as we gain more of an understanding and appreciation for the other sister’s discipline; I can always ask Tessa’s and Danika’s OT advice on certain situations and vice versa,” Emma said.

The sisters share an incredibly close bond and now as colleagues, their age differences feel much smaller and their similarities much more evident.

Danika was excited to join the Mackay HHS this year and work alongside her older sisters.

“I knew they both had good reputations here and were well respected by their colleagues which was really nice,” she said.

“People realise that we are sisters, and sometimes they do a double-take on the ward because we look so similar. Our mannerisms are similar too.”

These similarities also extend to not sharing the same passion for basketball as their famous aunt, Australian Opals coach and women’s basketball legend Sandy Brondello.

“We played in the backyard as kids, but there was too much pressure there,” Tess said.

“We all knew where our talents and real potential laid – and it definitely wasn’t with basketball.”

‍

Brondello sisters Danika, Emma and Tessa are all smiles as they reunite not just as family, but as colleagues at Mackay Base Hospital. Photo credit: MHHS

‍