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Take My Hands

  • TMH and F & P working together to improve healthcare in the Pacific

      31 October 2019

    TMH and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare are partnering to improve healthcare in the Pacific by improving biomedical engineering capability.

    Between October 2019 and March 2020 we will be piloting a programme in Tonga along with the Tongan MOH and University of Canterbury. That programme will see F&P interns spend 10 weeks in Tonga over the summer to work with the Biomed team at the Vaiola Hospital in Nuku olofa.

    The interns will help fix equipment, do a stocktake of medical equipment and repair and maintenance needs, and help to develop a few systems and processes in partnership with the amazing biomedical engineer that is based on Vaiola Hospital.

    We're also looking at developing some training and trouble shooting material while we are there to help give health clinic staff the knowledge and confidence to do a few basic checks with their equipment.

    By improving the capability and capacity of staff to maintain their equipment we can help ensure that it can be used when its needed.

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  • Update on the Solomon Islands

      2 March 2016
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    We would like to say a massive thank you to our partners – NZ Post, PBT Transport and Sofrana shipping. Their support resulted in 48 hospital beds being shipped to the NRH hospital in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

    The beds were gifted by the Canterbury District Health Board where they had recently been taken out of use on the wards in the Christchurch Hospital as they were replaced by upgraded electric hospital beds. The manual and hydraulic beds are perfect for use in the Pacific. The need in the Solomon Islands is very high, but the ability to source and resource new beds is a challenge.

    The beds have now been put to use in the Medical and Paediatric Wards of the NRH Hospital. Below is feedback we have received from the team at the NRH.

    These beds with wheels and collapsible side rails have been shared amongst the Wards at the Hospital – some at the Paediatric (Children’s) Ward, others at the Medical Ward and elsewhere in the hospital. “These beds have made our work a lot easier in terms of moving patients around,” (nurse from the Paediatric Ward of the NRH Hospital.

    Patients’ safety is another important feature of the new beds, especially for children and those who are very sick. Because of the safety rails, it means the beds could be locked to stop patients rolling over the sides. “It makes our work so much easier. This is the right type of beds we need here. We need more,” the nurse said.

    In a way it is a boost to the sagging morale of the Ward staff, who had to contend with beds that had been in use for many, many years.

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