Philips Healthcare UK has donated two IntelliVue MP5 monitors to Medical Missions for Children (MMFC) - a charity which provides quality surgical and dental services to poor and underprivileged children across the world.
MMFC says the monitors will travel on 15-20 missions per year ? to often remote areas of the world - to help with surgical repair of children with cleft lip and palate deformities, burn injuries, microtia (absence of the outer ear) and head or neck tumors.
The monitors were gratefully received, as the charity was concerned that their existing monitors were outdated and increasingly erratic.
"We were thrilled to receive the IntelliVue MP5 monitors and other equipment kindly donated by Philips Healthcare," said Liz Desmarais, MMFC?s Executive Director.
"Our volunteer surgical teams travel to regions with some of the least developed healthcare systems in the world and we have to be able to rely on the equipment we carry with us. The MP5 monitors are lightweight, robust and simple to set up - exactly what we need on the road."
The donated kit also included add-ons including Mainstream and Sidestream technology for vital ETCO2 monitoring. Its first mission was to Quito, Ecuador in August, where over 75 procedures were completed. The monitors will be needed to support thousands of patients over the next few years. Ms Desmarais said the monitors will next be heading off to Huiyang, China and from there, directly to Batangas in the Philippines. ?These monitors will be our constant companion over the next few years, she added.
Accompanying the equipment on its first charity mission to Quito, Ecuador was Cathal Boyle, Philips clinical applications specialist in patient monitoring. As a surgical trauma nurse with experience of treating casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, Cathal was an invaluable asset to the MMFC team. Thanks to the additional capacity his skills provided, MMFC were able to run an extra operating table and treat even more patients.
Dr John Pook, a consultant anaesthetist from University Hospital Lewisham, south London, initially approached Philips about a donation through account manager Don Burke. Dr Pook has been a volunteer anaesthetist with Medical Missions for Children since 2004 and was familiar with Philips products he relies upon daily in his UK practice.
"I'd like to Philips sincerely for their generosity, and for sending Cathal Boyle to join our Quito team," said Dr Pook.
"He was exceptional - not just in commissioning and teaching us how to use the monitors - but in using his enormous clinical experience became an essential member of the operating team. And, in passing, he's very funny and a great colleague. Thank you"
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