“Wanna see your heart?”
Dr. Declan Unsworth stood holding a small white instrument, attached to what looked like an off-brand laptop, in the Seton Healthcare Centre Aug. 14.
He wanted to demonstrate the hospital’s newest piece of technology: the portable ultrasound machine that he and other healthcare professionals have been raising money to purchase since last January.
The machine arrived in Jasper a few weeks ago, and registered nurse Lorraine Wilkinson said it’s already seen quite a bit of use.
“We’ve used it many times. Even the doctors are taking it over to the clinic,” she said, explaining that as well as being used to help doctors perform some more technical procedures, the machine is also useful for day-to-day ones.
“[For example] if mom hasn’t felt the baby move in a couple of days, they take it to the clinic and put it on her and they can see the heart beat and it reassures her.”
Wilkinson said it also helps doctors more quickly decide whether a patient needs to go to a bigger hospital.
“We can give quicker treatment if we see that something’s wrong—we can give quicker treatment to get that patient off to the city instead of waiting that four or five hours to get to the city.
“It’s very useful, I can’t believe it. It’s an amazing piece of equipment,” she added.
And while it’s already proving its usefulness, the machine currently at Seton is actually just a loaner—given to the hospital while it waits for a newer, more up-to-date model to arrive.
After meeting their $60,000 fundraising goal last May, the fundraisers—aided by the Jasper Ladies Hospital Auxiliary—were set to order a machine, but before they could pull the trigger, a newer model was released.
It cost an additional $30,000, but was much more advanced—with better features, a colour display and touch screen interface. According to Wilkinson, it’s the equivalent in quality to a $150,000 machine.
So the group decided to keep canvassing, and as the word got out they quickly racked up the dough.
On Aug. 14 they had collected the $87,000 needed for the new machine, but accepted an additional $3,000 donation from the Jasper Lions Club, which will be used to train doctors on the new piece of equipment.
The check was presented by Helmut Kreiner and Dave Neilson, who expedited the donation after hearing what it would cost to train doctors to use the ultrasound.
Unsworth explained that it costs about $1,500 per doctor, so even though the new ultrasound is paid for, donations are still being accepted to cover training costs.
He hopes all of Jasper’s doctors will be trained before the new machine arrives.
Trevor Nichols
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