A brand new HAMILTON C-6 Intensive Care Ventilator is now in use at Peace Arch Hospital, thanks to a generous donation by TB Vets donors.
“Intended to be used by Respiratory Therapists and other qualified healthcare personnel under the guidance of a physician, this new machine will help provide mechanical ventilation (breathing support) for infants, children, and adult patients.
Specialty ventilators like this are used on patients who require intubation during surgery, or if they are having trouble breathing. The alternative to machines like this involves providing patients with mechanical ventilation, which takes a lot of time and manual labour. With medical staff resources stretched thin and an increasing need to meet best practice standards, Peace Arch Hospital’s new ventilator will provide a safe, high-quality, and simplified solution for supporting the complex respiratory needs of patients.
“The C-6 Ventilator is very reliable and precise,”says Prab Gakhl, Respiratory Therapist at Peace Arch Hospital.
“Recently, we had a newborn baby who needed assistance with breathing. Typically, we would have had to hold a CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) manually on a baby using dry gas with a T-piece resuscitator.”
“At our site, any newborn requiring respiratory support needs to be transferred to a NICU. In recent months, there have been lengthy delays with transport teams arriving, and in this case, it took more than eight hours for the transport team to arrive. Without this new ventilator onsite, a Respiratory Therapist would have had to manually hold a CPAP with a facemask to this patient for the entire eight-hour wait.”
Thanks to our donors, TB Vets was able to contribute $30,000 towards the purchase of the ventilator.
“TB Vets is committed to supporting community Hospitals like Peace Arch Hospital, with respiratory equipment to improve the health and wellbeing of British Columbians.”
