Sun Health Auxiliary allocates $175,000 for medical equipment

Sun Health Auxiliary's board of directors recently approved allocating nearly $175,000 of funds raised this year to acquire medical equipment benefitting local health care and to support medical research.

The all-volunteer board works with other West Valley volunteers who operate the auxiliary's gift shops and thrift shops as well as with donors and event sponsors to generate needed funds which enhance patient care in local nonprofit hospitals - Banner Boswell and Banner Del E. Webb medical centers - and support scientific research at Sun Health Research Institute.

At Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center's Medical Intensive Care Unit and Critical Care Unit, the proceeds will fund the purchase of a transport monitor, which allows observation of a patient's vital signs when away from the patient care unit to conduct tests or procedures, as well as two point-of-care devices, which deliver lab test results to physicians and nurses within two minutes of completion.

In the MICU and CCU units are four new CritiCare monitors to keep track of patients' critical fluid output and core temperature to detect signs of infection, and a hypothermia unit to induce hypothermia for patients who have experienced sudden cardiac arrest.

Additional new medical equipment at Banner Del E. Webb includes five telemetry monitors for Cardiac Rehabilitation, 10 wheelchairs to transport admitted patients, a specialized stretcher used to transport female patients for ultrasound procedures and a defibrillator monitor to benefit patients in the telemetry unit.

New equipment at Banner Boswell Medical Center includes four patient-safety lifts to assist nurses in moving patients - a measure which helps patient and caregiver alike - as well as two infusion pumps to enhance the safety of medication administration related to high-alert medications.

Also being purchased for Banner Boswell are four recovery-room monitors to assist patient vital-sign observation after surgery as well as a blanket warmer to enhance patient comfort in the emergency department.

To support ongoing investigations at Sun Health Research Institute, the auxiliary is funding the purchase of an electromyography machine measuring electrical impulses for Parkinson's patients with cervical dystonia - characterized by involuntary spasmodic movement - to treat the condition, and providing operating funds to support ongoing Alzheimer's research.

"It is an honor to be able to augment patient care in such an amazing and generous community," said Barbara Ryan, auxiliary chairwoman. "We would not be able to do so without the phenomenal volunteers who work on our fund-raising events and in our gift shops and thrift shops throughout the year, not to mention generous support of our fun-filled community engagement fund-raising events.

"Our friends and neighbors know how to give back, and it certainly is the Sun Health Auxiliary's pleasure to reward those efforts by supporting Banner Boswell and Banner Del E. Webb medical centers as well as Sun Health Research Institute."

Sun Health Auxiliary is a division of the nonprofit Sun Health Foundation, whose mission is to make a difference in people's lives by encouraging charitable giving for the enhancement of nonprofit healthcare services in the West Valley.

Kim Antoniou is manager of Community Engagement for Sun Health Auxiliary/Sun Health Foundation.