Gear helps patients land on their feet
A donation of more than $30,000 to Hutt Hospital has allowed district nurses a new suite of medical gear to use on their rounds.
A three-dimensional camera, hydraulic bed and Doppler machines used for measuring the pulse in a patient’s limbs are among some of the new equipment that will be used by district nurses.
The medical machinery will be used to treat lower limb problems such as leg ulcers and was bought with more than $30,000 donated to the hospital by Petone Freemasons and the Freemasons Charity.
District nurse Samantha Chapman has already tried out some of the equipment and loved it.
‘‘You press the button and away it goes - it’s saved me lots of time already.’’
Speeding up the process of diagnosis and investigation would help the whole recovery process move faster for patients, she said.
At an afternoon tea held on March 29 to thank the organisation, chief executive of Hutt Valley DHB Ashley Bloomfield acknowledged the work the Freemasons had done over the last two years to raise the money.
A couple of years ago, the Freemasons made the hospital the recipient of funds raised at a country and western variety show and worked to provide required funding for the specialised lower limb equipment.
‘‘We’re in the caring business,’’ Bloomfield said, ‘‘This equipment will help us care.’’
Freemason Glen Houlihan said it had been an absolute delight for the organisation to work on behalf of the hospital.
‘‘We have a tradition of caring and we are very proud of that. We want to do more and we want to offer more.’’
The three-dimensional camera would help nurses track how wounds were healing and the hydraulic bed would help accom- modate larger patients coming to the hospital.
Other equipment included six handheld monitors used to measure pulse and oxygen in blood circulation, an all-in-one monitor for pulse and temperature and blood pressure measurement.