By Teena Monteleone

Neonatal unit to benefit from ambitious fundraiser

Sep 18, 2018 | 9:00 AM

It is a bold but critical goal. The Victoria Hospital Foundation (VHF) is embarking on a multi-year campaign with an end goal of raising $2.2 million to expand and upgrade the hospital’s Level 2 Neonatal Unit for the sickest babies.

“At present day our nursery is very tiny and any given day we are taking care of between eight and 11 sick babies, so you can imagine how crowded it is, and we do not have enough medical gases to support more than four babies at a time,” VHR executive director Sherry Buckler said.

The proposed neonatal unit includes 11 private and fully equipped baby bays with warmers, incubators, medical gases and monitors. Each bay would be equipped with a pullout bed and chair so mothers can be near their babies. There would be increased privacy, noise reduction and quicker and safer access for neonatal transport teams.

This is the first time the VHF launched a multi-year campaign. Buckler said the foundation recognizes it’s a lofty goal, but it is also an urgent need.

“We care for newborn babies in Prince Albert who are sick or born too early. These fragile babies will benefit so much from better space and the latest technology,” Victoria Hospital pediatrician Dr. Ayaz Ramji said In a press release about the fundraising launch.

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Currently, the neonatal unit is a crowded 367 square feet. Buckler said it isn’t nearly enough to accommodate the increasing number of sick or premature babies being born and kept in Prince Albert.

“We have the skill and doctors and pediatricians to care for them…we just need the room and the right space,” Buckler said.

The kick off to the multi-year campaign will start Dec. 7 with the 13th annual Give a Little Life Radiothon — a 12-hour live broadcast from the lobby of the Victoria Hospital on all the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group (JPBG) stations.

“We are so proud to be a part of this significant community fundraiser year after year,” JPBG Prince Albert station manager Tyler Kinash said. “The Give a Little Life Radiothon has come full circle. Our very first broadcast raised funds for the maternity ward and 12 years later we are back to helping newborns through the neonatal unit.”

Over the last 12 years, the Give a Little Life Day campaign has raised $5 million for the patients of the Victoria Hospital.

teena.monteleone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TeenaMonteleone