Secret lives of staff: Jennifer don’t want no (blue) scrubs 

For over 15 years, Westmead Hospital clinical nurse educator, Jennifer Morgan, has been brightening the wards with her colourful and themed scrub tops and matching cap creations. 

From Dr Zeus to Harry Potter to Disney and Star Wars; she has themed cotton scrub ensembles for various occasions. 

When asked how many creations she has on rotation Jennifer replied, “oh gosh – including Christmas ones, probably close to 40 or 50 designs”.

“If I wore them all in one go, I could go many weeks without having to do a wash,” she laughed. 

Jennifer began teaching herself to sew about 20 years ago and says the more she does, the more she learns and loves it, referring to sewing as her “diversional therapy”.  

What originally started as a creative Christmas season venture, turned into a daily uniform for Jennifer about five years ago. 

“Patients and staff tell me that it really brightens their day to see my designs, so it’s nice to have happiness and positive energy continue throughout the year, not just at Christmas,” said Jennifer.

“I like to theme my designs to the day where I can; I have a Star Wars ensemble for May the fourth, I wear Dr Zeus when I’m teaching, I have a Halloween themed set, and many more.”

Jennifer is a big Harry Potter and Disney fan and has several designs featuring these whimsical characters with material purchased from overseas as “a lot of the designs I like you can’t get in Australia,” she said. 

Each unique scrub shirt and cap ensemble takes her about six hours to make.

So far, Jennifer is the only Westmead Hospital employee committed to creating such scrub creations, but at Christmas time, some of her colleagues give her a run for her money with their creations. 

“The designs are talking points with our patients – especially at Christmas time, so it’s great to see the number of staff wear Christmas scrubs and get into the holiday spirit,” she said. 

As for her upcoming debut designs, Jennifer says she is currently working on additional Christmas scrubs and a Flintstones themed one that she found the material for a few weeks back.  

Jennifer also uses material offcuts to make scrub caps and sells these to staff throughout the hospital. 

“I sell over 50 caps to operating theatre staff each year; it’s great to see the fun designs throughout the suites,” she said. 

If you are a WSLHD staff member and would like to get your hands on one of Jennifer’s scrub caps, please contact her via Microsoft Teams.