The Foundation directs funds in three directions and donations can be made to the Foundation in general or donations may be directed to one of our projects.  In 2011 the foundation projects are to finish paying for the bone densitometry equipment and purchase a point of care ultrasoundto be used in the emergency department at the Durham site of SBGHC.  We continue to support Doctor Recruitment inititives and we are pleased that our addition to the Durham Medical Clinic is almost complete. This project is partially funded by a Federal Government grant but the Foundation are responsible for 50% of the building.

How Your Gifts Have Helped

The evidence of the community's generosity is clearly visible all around the SBGHC-Durham Site. CT Scanner, PACS - Picture Archiving & Communication System, Laparoscope, portable ultra sound machine, microscopes, phlebotomy chair, urinalysis analyzer, ECG machine, bone densitometry equipment. These pieces of equipment and more have been purchased with gifts from donors. All upgrades and additional equipment makes access to higher quality health care here in our own community. Service will be quicker and allow for better treatment options and faster recoveries.

 The Durham site requires a new HEMATOLOGY ANALYZER to replace the outmoded blood analyzer, purchased in November 2003 and which had considerable downtime this past year, resulting in delayed test results and additional costs for inter-hospital transportation of samples. 

PURPOSE:The purpose of the HEMATOLOGY ANALYZER is to analyze blood samples from patients by providing:

• White blood cell counts
• Red blood cell counts
• Platelet counts and,
• Hemoglobin readings.

 As well, hematology analyzers differentiate the properties of blood cells, helping to spotlight problems such as abnormal cells, improperly mixed samples or problems introduced when a sample is taken out of the body (cell clumping) and provides a provisional flag on these. This allows the technologist to determine which samples need to be repeated or reviewed manually, or can be released to the physician immediately. This saves time in not having to do a manual review on all samples but only on the flagged abnormals.  

An analyzer produces information essential for physicians to help diagnose disease, make treatment decisions and monitor patients.

CURRENT STATUS:

On average, 20 – 30 blood samples are taken daily by two medical laboratory technologists at the Durham site.  The current analyzer requires considerable manual intervention that can result in lost time and increased costs due to troubleshooting.  Each sample requires uncapping, manually mixing and manual introduction of the sample rather than auto-sampling as intended. 

Significant technologist time is spent on these manual interventions and troubleshooting the same which could be better spent on other duties in the laboratory. 

BENEFITS:

A new analyzer (Beckman Coulter, Abbott or Sysmex) would automatically agitate, aspirate, read and match barcodes, plus save time with continuous sample loading.  This would reduce repeat testing and the necessity of manually reviewing flagged results, as well as provide faster turnaround time in blood analyses which are crucial to physicians and their patients, and could save lives.

Continuing to invest in updating the hospital’s technology as other community facilities are doing, will save time and increase efficiencies.