BARRY’S BAY – On February 22, the new Portable Heart Monitor System went live at the St. Francis Memorial Hospital (SFMH).
Prior to this date, the staff at the SFMH was receiving a training course on the system from Genevieve Longtin from Space Labs Healthcare. They were the group who installed this system and provided the training over two days.
The system uses a portable heart monitor or a ‘tele’, which is carried around by the patient. The ‘tele’ is connected to the patient through leads. This ‘tele’ is waterproof and has a battery life of 72 hours. Nurses can also go back and check on a patient’s heart activity over 72 hours. It can also be cleaned for infection control.
The ‘tele’ transmits the information through 20 antennas, which have been installed throughout the second floor of the hospital. With renovations upcoming they held off on installing the system in the first floor until after those are completed. All of this information appears on a screen for the nurses to monitor. The hospital purchased the system, the antennas, the monitors and three of these ‘teles’ with the funds raised from the Tree of Lights campaign, which took place throughout the month of December.
“It is the transmission of cardiac signals to a receiving location that is located at the monitor,” said Toni Lavigne-Conway, executive director of the St. Francis Valley Healthcare Foundation (SFVHF). “This is for patients who find themselves here and they have to be monitored because of a cardiac event.”
She said they could be waiting to go to Ottawa for further treatment, or they could be on their way back from Ottawa but need to be monitored still.
For more pick up a copy of the February 28, paper.