- Posted on December 5, 2024
She Shares members vote to fund vital surgical and endoscopy equipment
$119,500 funded by St. Mary's Women's Giving Circle in 2024
Not even a blowing snow advisory and looming winter storm could stop a group of determined women from making their mark on local healthcare by supporting St. Mary’s General Hospital’s surgical and endoscopy programs.
As flurries mounted across Waterloo Region on Wednesday, members from the foundation’s She Shares Women’s Giving Circle gathered at the Boardwalk – with others tuning in online – to vote for what they’d fund with their 2024 membership fees.
After hearing three distinct presentations from hospital staff, She Shares members voted to fund two autotransfusion devices (also known as cell savers), which will aid in cardiac and thoracic surgeries, plus new software upgrades to improve St. Mary’s endoscopy program.
“We can’t thank She Shares enough for the support they’ve shown to our surgical and endoscopy departments,” says Maureen Leyser, Director of Surgical and Ambulatory Care at St. Mary’s. “Our staff were brimming with excitement when we shared the news that our package had been funded.
They can’t wait to start using these new pieces of equipment and software, which offer so many benefits to patients and staff.
Cell savers
Cell savers, used frequently in cardiac surgeries and some thoracic procedures, separate red blood cells and wash them with a saline solution so they can be safely returned to the patient.
This means patients are recycling their own blood rather than relying on donor transfusions, reducing requests for donations from the Canadian Blood Services bank.
The machine minimizes potential complications from blood donor transfusions and offers benefits to members of religious groups whose faith do not allow the use of donor blood in life-saving situations.
St. Mary’s current cell saver is 22 years old and in need of replacement. The package funded by She Shares includes two cell savers at approximately $57,000.
Software upgrade
Also included in the funded package was a $62,500 software upgrade called Vaultstream- Knowledge Exchange, which will improve the way endoscopy patient scans are documented and shared.
The software, recommended by Accreditation Canada, reduces errors in documentation, improves the quality of images being documented, offers clinicians immediate access to photo records, and allows for easier collaboration and teaching.
The knowledge exchange system offers a marked departure from St. Mary’s current endoscopy documentation practices, which involve physicians printing small procedural photos and having nurses physically label and tape them to medical records.
Moving the process to a digital format prevents privacy risks while optimizing clinician time.
“I was honoured to see the enthusiasm She Shares members shared by voting to fund this significant endoscopy upgrade,” says Aimee Messner, Program Manager of Ambulatory Care.
This is going to be a game-changer for staff efficiency and that certainly translates to better patient care.
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