South Peace Historical Society

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  • Table of Contents

    • Part 1: First Nations of the Peace River Region
    • Part 2: The Fur Trade Era
    • Part 3: Transportation and Communication
    • Part 4: Old Timers and the Price of Land
    • Part 5: Dawson Creek: The Story of the Community
    • Part 6: Mysteries, Adventures and Indian Legends
    • Part 7: Arts, Crafts and Recreation
    • Part 8: Agriculture
    • Part 9: Church Histories
    • Part 10: Schools
    • Part 11: Health Care
    • Part 12: Industries and Enterprises
    • Part 13: Policing the Peace
    • Part 14: Pouce Coupe, Rolla, and Other South Peace Communities
    • Part 15: Chetwynd and the Fort St. John Area
    • Part 16: The Alberta Peace
    • Part 17: Natural History of the Peace River Region
    • Part 18: Interviews with Old Timers
    • Part 19: Remembering Our Veterans

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BN11-46: Valentine’s Gift Helps Local Hearts

Recent History – 2003

February 17, 2003, By Kelly Harris, Daily News Staff

It was a sweetheart of a Valentine’s Day gift for the Dawson Creek and District Hospital.

The hospital unveiled its new Telemetry Heart Monitoring System Friday, a machine purchased after two years of community fund raising and at a cost of $140,000. It took the hospital foundation two years to raise $100,000 for the machine and the Peace River Regional District kicked in another $40,000 for the equipment.

“A successful two year campaign has finally bore fruit,” Cleves said. “The Dawson Creek and District Hospital Foundation and the Peace River Regional District Hospital Board have partnered to ensure that heart patients in our local hospital have the best care possible.”

The hospital’s previous heart monitoring machine was a basic system that covered heart rhythms of very few people through several wires and bedside displays. Because the system was so intricate and large, a patient would be forced to stay confined to their beds while being monitored.

The new machine will monitor a variety of heart functions, store the information and transmit health information of several patients directly to the nursing station in the Post Cardiac Care Unit.

“The old telemetry machine is a museum piece,” said Gloria Cleve of the Dawson Creek and District Hospital Foundation. “It’s 20 or 30 years old.”

The new telemetry system uses radio waves through a wireless monitoring system, which allows the patient mobility from bedside monitors of the previous system. What that means is the patient will be able to move throughout the hospital and still be monitored.

The data collected from the patient is then transmitted back to a central monitoring station. This allows for the patient to be monitored constantly through less-intrusive means.

“There is a great deal of stress when a patient is confined to bed and has several wires attached to their body and to a display monitor on a bedside table,” Cleve said. “Nursing staff must constantly hover in and out of the room to check the bedside unit.”

In addition to hospital foundation funding and the donation from the regional district, the B.C Gaming Commission’s Direct Charitable Access and the Northern Lights Bingo Association also donated funds for the machine.

“The hospital foundation is sincerely grateful to the funds provided for this life saving equipment,” Cleve said.

Presently hospital staff is being trained on the new system.

This article is taken from the Peace River Block Daily News, Dawson Creek, with the permission of the publisher. The Daily News retains all rights relating to this material. The information in this article is intended solely for research or general interest purposes.

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