The Wimmera’s expectant parents can take comfort in the knowledge their newborn babies will soon have access to the very latest in resuscitation cots.
The Horsham branch of the Blue Ribbon Foundation has commited to raising $30,000 towards the purchase of two new neonatal resuscitation cots for Wimmera Health Care Group’s maternity ward. Maternity services at WHCG are currently trialing cots to get the most suitable for their needs.
Yandilla nurse midwife unit manager Michelle Coutts said she was extremely grateful of the generosity and support from Blue Ribbon Foundation. She said WHCG maternity services were wanting to upgrade three neonatal resuscitation cots.
“These cots cost anywhere between $35,000 and $50,000 each the Blue Ribbon Foundation donation will be a great contribution toward that,” Ms Coutts said.
“About 10 per cent of all babies born in Australia require some sort of resuscitation at birth and this can be for a wide variety of reasons,” she said.
“The resuscitation cots in our maternity services are standard equipment and it is going to be wonderful to get a new one.
“We need to be prepared to manage the smallest of babies at WHCG given the vast size of the catchment area for our health service.”
Ms Coutts said the cots were used for a variety of resuscitation measures.
“These might include intubation and breathing support, performing chest compressions, administering medications and intravenous fluids,” she said.
“The cots are also designed to promote optimal temperature control and have heaters installed in addition to other monitoring equipment.
“When the team are managing an unwell baby on a cot, we also need to have enough room to focus on everything we are doing clinically. Our focus in these circumstances is the whole baby because often we are working to coordinate each particular aspect of care.”
When babies are unwell, big milestones are often measured in millilitres, grams and the number of wet nappies.
Ms Coutts said although the technical aspects and features of the cot were extremely important it was imperative that the cot be ‘family-centred’.
“The cot has to be designed so that interaction of parents and their baby is facilitated and optimised.
“This is so important because sometimes when a baby is on the cot we can enter a world where it can be days or weeks until the parents get to hold or cuddle their baby – especially if we need to transfer the baby to Melbourne for ongoing clinical care.
“It can be very frightening to see your baby on the cot, so one that is designed to be least intimidating as possible is also really important when we make choices about which one we will purchase.”
Horsham branch president of the Blue Ribbon Foundation Geoffrey Lord said the committee was pleased to be able to provide important equipment to WHCG.
“This year has been particularly difficult for our health services so it is pleasing that we are able to support both families of the future and the nursing community with this equipment,” Mr Lord said.
“Most importantly, we rely on the generosity of our community members and local business organisations. We are always grateful for support and thanks everyone for your community mindedness.”
Anyone wanting to buy Blue Ribbon merchandise or donate to the Horsham branch of the Blue Ribbon Foundation can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact secretary Kelly Schilling on 5382 1351.