A new Lifepak transport defibrillator at Eagle Ridge Hospital will help save lives.
That’s the nutshell assessment by the hospital’s clinical operations manager for the emergency department, Angela Azzi.
Currently the hospital has two Lifepaks, which are used to monitor and stabilize the vital signs of critically ill patients while they’re being transported to other hospitals for more specialized care. But Azzi says they’re old technology and one is nearing the end of its lifespan.
Current Lifepak technology can offer monitoring of more specific vital functions for advanced cardiac life support or when a patient is in respiratory distress, something that wasn’t possible 10 years ago, when the hospital acquired its first unit.
“You want to give the health care provider a better picture of what’s going on,” Azzi said. “It’s better if we can respond proactively instead of reactively.”
But that capability doesn’t come cheap. The Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation is still $53,000 away from its fundraising goal to purchase a new unit.
Charlene Giovannetti-King, the foundation’s executive director, said about a thousand patients are transferred from Eagle Ridge to other hospitals every year, and about a third of those are in bad enough shape they could die, lose a limb or an organ.
And the the need for the new equipment is growing, she said.
“It’s vital that people are aware where the needs exist,” Giovannetti-King said. “With the growing demographic in the community, there are more people coming into emergency and with that comes the need for additional pieces of equipment.”
“We’re always working towards best practices and guidelines,” Azzi said. “When guidelines changed based on evidence and research, equipment has to change to keep up.”
• To find out more about the Eagle Ridge Hospital Foundation’s fundraising campaigns or to donate, go to erhf.ca.
