Patients young and old who need heart monitoring at Sechelt Hospital now have access to a brand new fleet of critical care cardiac monitors. The almost half-a-million-dollar state-of-the art upgrade happened in April, and comes thanks to the Sechelt Hospital Foundation’s successful fundraising and grant-writing efforts.
Gerry Latham, VCH director for the Sunshine Coast, said thanks to the upgrade, the hospital has been able to double its number of much-needed critical care beds.
“This gift provides us the opportunity to enhance and to increase our critical care capacity, from four to now eight beds,” Latham said.
In addition to the Critical Care Unit, where there are eight new cardiac monitors, there were four purchased for the emergency department and two for the third floor Maternity Unit. As well, a mobile cardiac monitoring unit is now available for patient transport purposes.
Michelle Stanton, Sechelt Hospital’s manager of acute services, said the new monitors allow medical staff to work more efficiently, to better monitor patient status, and to securely share patients’ vital information across all departments. She said the new technology now allows for telemetry surveillance – wireless monitoring.
“Cardiac telemetry is an observation tool that allows continuous monitoring of a patient’s heart rate and rhythm while the patient remains active,” said Stanton. “[Telemetry happens] without the restriction of being attached to a bedside cardiac monitor.”
According to the Sechelt Hospital Foundation executive director Jane Macdonald, the need for the new heart monitors became a priority as soon as it was brought to the foundation’s attention. Previous heart-monitoring machines had shown signs of wear and tear and technological inconsistencies.
“When our donors can see their contributions making a difference, everyone wins. That is what we call ‘gifts that keep giving’ – the ultimate expression of grateful patients and generous community members, who trust that we will direct their funds to the area of greatest impact.”
Almost $350,000 came directly from the donor contributions to the Hospital Foundation and $66,000 was awarded via a grant from the Mr. and Mrs. P.A. Woodward’s Family Foundation.
Sechelt Hospital Foundation believes that the best medicine is local. If you would like to learn more about the Sechelt Hospital Foundation’s future projects and upgrades, please visit www.sechelthospitalfoundation.org or email: [email protected].
– Submitted
