Emma Pritchard

After raising $9000 at a High Tea last year to purchase specialist medical equipment for the Grafton Base Hospital (GBH) Maternity Ward, members of Grafton Midday Rotary were thrilled to present Alison Fels, Maternity Unit Manager, with a Philips Transport Monitor on September 21.

The state-of-the-art machine will be used to assist in the transportation of babies between GBH and metropolitan facilities and allow staff to efficiently monitor their oxygen saturation levels, pulse, and heart rate throughout the process.

And with five babies being welcomed into the world last week, its arrival was very timely.

While expectant mothers can only birth babies after 34 weeks at the GBH Maternity Ward, Ms Fels said the addition of the Philips Transport Monitor will enable mothers and premature babies to remain together following the birth.

“We’re very lucky to have people like Grafton Midday Rotary who fundraise for us and donate equipment like the Philips Transport Monitor,” she said appreciatively.

“Babies born before 34 weeks have to go either to the Gold Coast University Hospital or John Hunter Hospital (in Newcastle), and with this equipment, we now have the capacity to bring them home to Grafton and bring the mums and bubs back together.”

Grafton Midday Rotarian Patty Hewitt said she was inspired to create a fundraising event last year in aid of the GBH Maternity Ward to help families stay together during a stressful and emotional time.

“Mums and their babies need to be together, and they need to be close to home and close to their families,” she said.

“It’s been so wonderful to raise funds to provide the GBH Maternity Ward with this equipment, and I’d like to thank everybody who made a contribution along the way and helped us make this donation possible.

“We need to do what we can to support our community.”