Lions put heart into monitors

The job of paediatric nurses at Rockingham General Hospital has been made easier after the donation of medical equipment by the Port Kennedy Lions Club.

Picture: Nurse Coral Temby and Port Kennedy Lions Club vice-president Nick Sperryn-Jones try one of the new monitors with 18-month-old Jack Van Heythuysen of Rockingham.

Club president Bev Hawkins said the club had raised $2000 to buy monitors for the hospital’s paediatric ward.

Vice-president Nick Sperryn-Jones said he got the idea to buy the monitors after one of his twin daughters was a patient in the ward.

Mr Sperryn-Jones said when he asked staff what he could do for the hospital for taking such good care of his daughter, the nurses said they wanted some monitors suitable for babies.

‘‘It is a pleasure to give something back to our community and it is great to know that the equipment will be well used to look after the children of our area,’’ he said.

Pediatric clinical nurse specialist Lynda Deacon said the two hand-held Pulse Oximeter monitors enabled staff to indirectly monitor the oxygen saturation of a younger patient’s blood, as well as heart rate.

‘‘The monitors are portable and noninvasive, which for our younger patients is an important consideration,’’ she said.