New ventilator goes with patients to testing

Respiratory therapists at the Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida in south Fort Myers are breathing a sigh of relief thanks to a device that makes their lives and their patients' lives easier.

The $5,900 device, known as a magnetic resonance imaging compatible pediatric ventilator, was recently purchased as a gift for the hospital's Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

It was purchased by the Women of the Moose Fort Myers Chapter 1020 after member Colleen Hrzenak heard about the struggle children faced every time they needed a test.

"The ventilator in the room we can't take with us to testing so we have to unhook them, bag them and do it by hand," said Vaughan Dixon, a 20-year veteran respiratory therapist at the hospital and lodge member. "Before, we did it by hand but you really don't know what kind of volume (of air) you are delivering."

The delivery of oxygen by hand can be dangerous to children because too much or too little air could be fatal.

"Kids were suffering for two hours at times when they couldn't take their ventilator with them to get tests done," Hrzenak said. "The priority for us became getting the children what they needed."

The Women of the Moose raised the needed money by hosting fundraiser breakfasts and karaoke nights. They raised $3,000 in the first weekend.

"The lodge itself does work with children with cancer so when we heard about this, we had to do it," Hrzenak said.

Other events were planned as fundraisers but the money was raised in just five weeks.

"This makes it so much easier. Some tests can take a long time and it ties up a therapist for hours," said Dixon adding that the machine has been in operation for a month. "The good part is that the elderly can use it."

The ventilator is used by many children and the elderly because it can be taken into an MRI machine for tests.

"It's not a huge machine but it sure does make their lives a lot more comfortable," Hrzenak said.