CRITICALLY unwell babies born at Redland Hospital will breathe a little easier with the arrival of $30,000 worth of equipment for the Special Care Nursery, Lamb Ward’s children inpatient unit and Children’s Emergency Department.
Funds raised for the hospital came from the Woolworths and Children’s Hospital Foundation’s regional wall token campaign, selling $2 child ambassador tokens across stores in Queensland and Northern New South Wales.
The campaign helped the hospital buy a fabian ventilator for the nursery and a spirometre for the children’s paediatric ward and emergency department.
Director of Paediatrics Dr Dougie Thomas said the two vital pieces of equipment provided breathing support for critically unwell newborns who were unable to breathe independently due to overwhelming illness or significant lung problems.
“(The spirometre) enables us to evaluate pulmonary obstructions or restrictions in children as well as lung diseases such as asthma and bronchitis,” he said.
“It can also be used for finding the cause of shortness of breath in children, the effect of medication and evaluating progress for disease treatment which would support children in our Lamb Ward and Emergency Paediatrics Department.”
Dr Thomas said Redland Hospital was extremely grateful for the support of Woolworths and the Children’s Hospital Foundation in helping to provide the very best of care to some of Redland’s smallest and most vulnerable patients.
“We are very much looking forward to working with Woolworths again this year to continue to build on the services we provide to our local paediatric population,” he said.