When the volunteers at American Fork Hospital heard the emergency room needed financial help purchasing new transport equipment, they went into action.
After several bake sales, hamburger sales and bazaars, the volunteers presented the emergency room team with a $23,000 check - enough to purchase the equipment.Until now, when emergency transports were needed for patients, bulky equipment including intravenous stands and monitors were hefted by nurses and EMTs into crowded ambulances to help keep patients monitored and medicated properly. The equipment weighed as much as 100 pounds, and using it was time-consuming during the ambulance ride in critical situations.
The new equipment can be placed on the patient's bed, where the old equipment needed its own wheelchair, said Craig Smedley, administrator. "This brings us up to a state-of-the-art level."
The new emergency transport equipment includes a defibrillator and pacemaker, cardiac monitor and infusion pump. The combined weight of the new equipment is just over 22 pounds.
The IVAC Systems 3 Infusion Pump helps the nurse control the rate and uniform delivery of three different intravenous solutions at the same time. This procedure is often needed with critically ill patients.
The biggest thanks to the volunteers came from the emergency room nurses who are already using the new equipment and have found it not only easier to move and operate but invaluable in keeping critical care patients stabilized.
Kathy Yonally, an intensive care nurse, said she has also used the pump while patients are being X-rayed with MRI equipment. Nurses are to shield themselves from the rays but are also expected to keep a maintenance check on the patient and equipment. The old equipment did not allow the nurse to stay behind the shield all the time. The new equipment does.