When a critically injured patient arrives at the Regina General or Pasqua Hospitals, a well-coordinated trauma care process begins. While the patient may be unaware of how the system is coordinated, every day, trauma patients in southern Saskatchewan rely on it to survive.
Trauma care covers a range of units within Regina’s hospitals, including emergency, surgery and intensive care. To continue to support these units and save lives, the Foundation is investing more than $3 million from its Trauma Care Campaign towards the purchase of new technology for trauma care in Regina’s hospitals. In support of the Foundation’s campaign, GMS pledged a generous $1 million match for all community donations.
For the clinical support team, it felt like Christmas morning when new transport and bed equipment were delivered to the hospitals.
Stretchers were purchased for each hospital, including one for the helipad at Regina General Hospital. They also received much-needed beds, including bariatric beds for heavier patients, and
staxi wheelchairs – used by porters for a quick transport of patients around the hospital.
Previously, we had situations where there was a delay in getting patients to a recovery unit because there were no stretchers available,” says Terri Carlson, interim executive transition lead for clinical support. “So, the new transport equipment provides us with the best means of moving patients from one unit to the other in an efficient manner.
For the surgical care unit, the purchase of new high-capacity cart washers and disinfectors was long overdue.
The unit works hard to ensure the sterility of all surgical equipment used on patients following an accident. This is only possible through the use of cart washers which provide disinfection at the highest level for all instruments used in patient care.
“Treating trauma patients in a sterile environment reduces the risk of infection and helps them recover quickly,” says Sandy Euteneier, interim executive transition lead for integrated health services. “Without the cart washers, we would have to wash instruments by hand, which doesn’t result in the same level of sterility.”
The unit will also purchase new anesthesia equipment, as well as Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure (BiPAP) ventilators, intubation monitors and cranial stabilization clamps – all items that are vital to delivering safe surgeries.
In the ICU or medicine unit, new equipment – such as patient monitors and a central monitoring system – will help health-care teams deliver the best care to patients. A patient monitor will provide blood pressure readings, pulse, oxygen levels and other important data to doctors and nurses as the patient moves from unit to unit. A central monitoring system will also allow health-care staff to assess the patient’s vital signs and stability, even when the staff are not directly at their bedside.
These new pieces of equipment are critical to providing the best care to patients who visit the trauma care units in our hospitals,” says Lori Garchinski, executive director of critical care, cardiosciences and medicine inpatient units. “Words can’t express our gratitude to the Foundation and our community for the funds that will support these units.
"The Foundation’s mission is to help create better lives for people in our community,” says Dino Sophocleous, president and CEO, Hospitals of Regina Foundation. “There is no question that good health care must be local. By investing in our hospitals, we are ensuring the highest quality of care for people in southern Saskatchewan.”
Click here to watch a short video about the exceptional trauma care provided by the medical teams at Regina's hospitals.