Service that goes the extra mile
25/07/2024. By Carmelle Wilkinson.
Co-Founder of Mediserve, Miles Cue.
Long before Curtin nursing graduate Miles Cue founded reputable nursing agency Mediserve in 1999 with his business partner (who is a medical doctor), there was a part of him that didnโt know what he wanted to do when he left school.
โMy parents were supportive of whatever I chose to do. They suggested I become a priest at one point, but there was never any pressure to achieve a higher education.
โI ultimately ended up studying nursing at Curtin because my aunties were nurses.โ
Following his graduation and then a postgraduate degree in occupational health and safety, Miles was eager to land a job at the mines so he could help his family.
Originally from the Philippines, Miles and his family migrated to Albany, WA when Miles was three years old.
Miles with his siblings.
โIt wasnโt always easy for my parents, and they worked really hard to provide for us,โโ he said.
โMy parents have always been wonderful role models to my sisters and I. They have always helped others and definitely passed on those values to us all.
โOur mum was the heart and strength of our family and when she passed away last year, we continued to assist one of the charity organisations she was heavily involved with.
โOperation Rainbow, provides surgical and medical care to children of the Philippines with cleft palates, who have limited or no access to treatment.โ
Married with four children of his own, Miles is committed to instilling the value of service with his sons and daughters.
As a community focused company, Mediserve support a number of charitable causes in Australia and internationally, including funding a medical clinic in Nairobi, Kenya and sponsoring orphans in conjunction with Udayan Care in India.
โWe want to make a positive difference. To our nurses, the Nurse Managers and Directors that allow us to assist them with their staffing needs, families and communities,โโ he said.
Itโs this deep desire to lend a hand and make a difference that ultimately makes Mediserve so unique.
โOur point of difference, is that we always strive to offer the very best personalised level of care and service,โโ he said.
โFrom my first job as a nurse in Laverton in rural WA, to working in the ED at Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital, and especially now as co-founder of a nursing agency, I always want to provide the highest possible level of service.
โMediserve really is an extension of who my business partner and I are. We pride ourselves on having integrity and we want our nurses and health professionals to know they can trust us to always do the right thing by them.โ
Miles with colleagues at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital.
Both from humble backgrounds, Miles said he wasnโt one to shy away from hard work and go that extra mile.
โIn our early years, one of our nurses Uta, missed her flight to a rural hospital in WA, so I decided to take my dadโs car (without him knowing) and drive her there with a close colleague. It took about 16 hours, and we ran out of petrol along the way at 2am which was scary,โโ he laughed.
โWe got there in the end and Uta arrived just in time for her 9pm night shift. The Director of the hospital was delighted and shocked to see us with the nurse as they were very short staffed.”
And there are plenty more stories like these.
Hearing Miles talk about Mediserve, you quickly realise this isnโt just another nursing agency.
โOur nurses and staff are like family. Weโve been doing this for 25 years now and despite our growth we havenโt forgotten where weโve come from,โโ he said.
โA strong sense of helping community has been engrained in us. And we donโt take anything for granted.โ
Miles said he still remembers the first nurse they ever signed to the agency.
โHer name was Elaine and we picked her up from the airport and dropped her off at her backpackers in the city,โโ he said.
โWhen she had a night shift, I would pick her up and take her to Joondalup Hospital, and when she was done, Iโd pick her up and drop her home.
โAs the business grew, I wasnโt able to do this as often, but we are so grateful to her and all the nurses and Nurse Managers that gave us that opportunity which we will never forgetโ.
Today, Mediserve is a leading nursing agency in Australia with offices in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Launceston, Melbourne and Sydney.
With high quality service, respect, trust and and personalised care at the centre of all they do, Mediserve have long established relationships with a number of hospitals and healthcare facilities across Australia.
Miles with Mediserve staff supporting a good cause.
Looking back at his fulfilling career journey to date, Miles is the first to admit he never knew where a Curtin degree could take him.
โI didn’t really know where Iโd end up after completing my degree. I just prayed. And my mum was always praying for us all too,โโ he said.
โWhile my career path has had its challenges along the way, I learnt to overcome them,โโ he said.
โOne of the most important decisions was actually finding the right people to join our team.
โPeople that share the same values or whose values align with what we believe was always key.
โAnd yes, we are currently experiencing a nursing shortage throughout Australia, but with the right people around us, we try to fill that gap as best as we can.โ
With Curtinโs Nursing School celebrating 50 years this year, Miles had some great advice for emerging nursing graduates.
โI encourage you to be an advocate for your patients. Despite the pressures of the job, do the right thing by your patient and this will set you apart from others,” he said.
โSome of the best nurses I know are patient, good listeners, great communicators, have great leadership and provide the best level of service to their patients when they need it most.โ
Miles said his nursing degree from Curtin gave him the best foundation and provided the background, knowledge and skills he needed to establish a business that he is proud of.
___
