Saskatchewan stepped up once again, as the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Radiothon raised $1,010,204 to improve care at Saskatchewan’s only children’s hospital.
Broadcasting on 32 radio stations across the province on Tuesday and Wednesday, the radiothon aimed to raise funds for the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation to purchase state-of-the-art cardiac and respiratory equipment.
All donations up to $150,000 were matched by Gord and Barb Broda.
Liz Ochitwa, senior pediatric outpatient respiratory therapist and complex care respiratory coordinator, said one of their biggest challenges is funding for new equipment.
“Unfortunately, not all of the items are covered through our provincial healthcare system or some of the other funding agencies that we deal with,” she said.
“So, we’re often left trying to find some creative ways to find extra funding to get these things covered for families, because, as we know, medical equipment is quite expensive.”
Every child and mom-to-be, including their unborn baby, undergoes a heart and lung assessment before admission into the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital. Monitoring these vital signs plays a significant role in the child’s care.
Fetal heart monitoring can also indicate the urgency of the delivery of the newborn baby.
“We use the fetal heart rate as part of the measure of fetal health. So, basically, monitoring the fetal heart rate electronically is a measure of how well the baby is doing,” Dr. Jocelyn Martel, director of the maternal fetal unit, said.
“That tells us how the baby is doing before labour in response to the treatments that we provide and also during labour so that we can make the best decision for their care.”
Others may require specialized tests such as at-home blood pressure monitoring or sleep studies.
The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) saw 1,081 admissions and 225 NICU transports in 2023. These patients sometimes require respiratory care for days or weeks.
Between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024, the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital has helped over 83,000 babies, children, and moms-to-be from across Saskatchewan, or about 227 patients per day.
For those coming from out-of-town, having the latest equipment is of utmost importance.
“We want to make their trip here as meaningful as possible, and so if we can do more for them in that one trip by having new and improved equipment, then we could potentially save them future trips, from having to come here or come here with more frequency,” Martie Davies, manager of POPD and children’s subspecialty programs, explained.
Rachel Leavitt, manager of children’s cardiology, kidney health, and respirology programs, explained that having state-of-the-art equipment is also helpful in recruiting new specialists to the province.
“Having access to all the latest diagnostic and treatment equipment significantly improves our attractiveness to those specialists that might not know much about Saskatchewan, but they see that we have these wonderful diagnostic tools and treatment modalities that really keep us current,” she said.
Since the radiothon began 22 years ago, it has raised over $16.41 million for Saskatchewan moms and children in the hospital.
The Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital Foundation will continue to benefit from the generosity of donors across the province. You can still give be visiting www.pattisonchildrens.ca.