A grateful patient contacted Sechelt Hospital Foundation with a unique question: “I would like to thank the people who saved my life three years ago when I had a heart attack. What do the nurses of your Emergency Department need?”
The answer to that question came in the form of a machine named LUCAS, an automated CPR system that delivers consistent chest compression and assists with cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Thanks to donations totalling $27,750 from Jan Adaskin and an anonymous donor, Sechelt Hospital Foundation directed the funds to purchase a LUCAS system and to provide Sechelt Hospital staff with training on how best to put LUCAS to work.
Annually, over 100 cardiac related emergencies come through the doors of Sechelt Hospital’s Emergency Department. The arrival of LUCAS on the Sunshine Coast spells a welcome relief for the hospital’s nursing staff, who often perform long periods of chest compressions as part of cardiopulmonary resuscitation when critical patients are stabilized for transport to specialized care facilities such as St. Paul’s, Vancouver General Hospital or Lions Gate Hospital. As Emergency Department response timing and capacity can make the difference of life or death, all members of the Sunshine Coast community are encouraged to direct non-life-threatening emergency health concerns to primary care clinics and general physicians on the Coast.
Every year, Sechelt Hospital’s Emergency Department staff of over 20 highly trained nurses and physicians responds to 16,000 incidents ranging from car accidents to cardiac arrest, deep lacerations to broken bones.
Thanks to a couple of generous and grateful patients who believe that the best medicine is local, Sechelt Hospital now has a fortified resource to help respond to heart attacks and other emergencies.
For more information on how to support health care on the Sunshine Coast, please contact Jane Macdonald at Sechelt Hospital Foundation, visit www.SecheltHospitalFoundation.org or call 604-885-8637.
– Submitted
