Children's Miracle Network Hospitals helps rural hospitals

When small, rural Kansas hospitals need valuable - and expensive - pieces of equipment to care for young patients, they often find help in Children's Miracle Network Hospitals at Via Christi Health.

A few years ago, a CMN Hospitals grant helped buy two Neopuff Infant Resuscitators for Central Kansas Medical Center in Great Bend. With the push of a finger, these high-tech resuscitators deliver controlled and precise puffs of air into the lungs of premature newborns and are easier to use and safer than the more commonly used bag resuscitators, which require two hands to operate and carry the risk of over inflating tiny lungs.

The devices helped save a number of tiny lives in Great Bend. But in June, the medical center became St. Rose Ambulatory & Surgery Center and its staff asked CMN Hospitals and Via Christi Solutions to find new hospitals for the equipment they no longer needed. On July 27, the Neopuffs were donated to the labor and delivery units of William Newton Hospital in Winfield and Sumner Regional Medical Center in Wellington.

"Smaller hospitals like ours may have only a handful of newborns in need of resuscitation each year, but we need to be prepared when that happens," said Ray German, director of Respiratory Care at William Newton Hospital in Winfield. "We are grateful to receive the Neopuff because it provides better uniformity of ventilation and an important degree of safety for newborns."

The ventilators were delivered to the hospitals by Jody Gragg, outreach regional manager for Via Christi Solutions.

Ray German, director of Respiratory Care, and Kristie Ball, director of Nursing at William Newton Hospital in Winfield, left, accept the Neopuff Resuscitator from Jody Gragg, outreach regional manager for Via Christi Solutions.