Mount Isa Hospital’s Special Care Nursery has been successful in acquiring new equipment that will further support babies in the unit and bring peace of mind to families as their babies continue to become stronger.

A successful grant application through the Humpty Dumpty Foundation has seen new equipment donated to the Special Care Nursery including two apnoea monitors.

The Special Care Nursery’s Nurse Practitioner Jo La Spina said the monitors were very welcomed and would make a considerable difference to the families in the nursery.

“The apnoea monitor is a stepping stone from full monitoring to no monitoring and provides peace of mind to parents and nursing staff who are not always physically watching the babies,” she said.

“When babies have been in the unit for a long time, parents tend to look at their monitors for reassurance. It can be nerve wracking for parents moving into the boarding room and going from their baby being fully monitored to having no monitor, so this bridges that gap.”

A sensor is placed on the baby’s tummy with tape and the apnoea monitor picks up movement from the sensor.

The Special Care Nursery also received two Masimo monitors for advanced monitoring solutions, a new Bilibed for treating jaundice in babies, and a warming gel mattress allowing babies to come out of their isolettes earlier.