A heartfelt donation
Okanagan Edge Staff - Jun 22, 2017 - Get Involved

Image: Contributed

A donation from the Mr. and Mrs. P.A. Woodward’s Foundation will help the Kelowna General Hospital buy a new cardio respiratory monitors that will supports the most vulnerable patients in its new neonatal intensive care unit.

The expanded intensive care unit, which cares for infants, was expanded in March of 2016, in an effort to support the need to the growing regional population.

“Over the past 20 years, the number of pre-term births has continued to grow. The expanded NICU at KGH represents a giant leap forward for healthcare in the Southern Interior, providing the most advanced neonatal care unit outside the Lower Mainland,” says Bonnie Wilkie, a nurse educator in the NICU.

The Woodward’s Foundation grant, worth more than $68,480, will add to the KGH neonatal care team’s capacity to monitor the smallest and sickest babies. With a total of seven monitors already funded, the Woodward’s Foundation gift of four new devices allows for each crib in the newly expanded NICU to have a dedicated monitor.

“The neonatal cardiac respiratory monitors are an integral piece of technology for us,” says Wilkie. “They allow us to have a constant view of the infant’s vital signs including heartbeat and breathing. When a baby is in distress, the device alarm activates and alerts us immediately so that we can rapidly respond. These monitors save lives.”


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