Avera Memorial Day Campaign

TOTAL CARE BED-R.N. Heather Pardun poses with the total care bed.

St. Anthony's Hospital Foundation Board is working on their upcoming Memorial Day Campaign. Last year's campaign funds were devoted to the TotalCare Bed purchase. Heather Pardun, clinical manager at Avera St. Anthony's Hospital, acknowledges the great benefits of the bed both from a professional and a personal perspective.

Heather's father, Shorty Miles, utilized the TotalCare Bed while he was hospitalized. "With a broken arm and a broken hip, it was very painful and difficult to transfer him. The specialty bed provided an easier opportunity to move him into a sitting position. It weighed him and also provided vibration to his back to help treat the pneumonia. We take care of many elderly patients who also have diabetes, and preventing skin breakdown is critical to them - this bed is a state-of-the-art prevention tool. We are grateful to have it available."

The 2006 Memorial Day Campaign funds will be dedicated toward another top of the line medical feature called the "Avera eICU".

The Avera eICU technology links intensivists (physicians who specialize in the care of critically ill patients) and ICU nurses at a centralized workstation at Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls, SD, to a critical patient admitted to Avera St. Anthony's. Workstations in the patient's room are equipped with high-resolution cameras, phones and specially designed software that allow clinicians at Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls to directly monitor the patient. The camera is sophisticated enough to observe physical details of the patient and monitor equipment like cardiac readings and ventilator settings.

Access to Avera eICU has already helped to keep "some patients from having to be transferred to a larger heath care facility - making hospitalization easier oil patients and their families. The service is provided at no additional cost to the patient. "We have utilized Avera's eICU frequently since it's been installed," Pardun commented. "The doctors and nurses in Sioux Falls can access the lab work completed here and closely monitor-the patient because they actually see what we see. In particular. the nephrology consults they have provided have been :very beneficial. They also took- for potential drug interactions and are very good about calling us with new orders. They also call back to follow up. In the middle of the night, it's helpful to have another clinician with so much experience working with you and the patient's local physician to address their needs. It's an incredibly valuable tool."

If you have a desire to remember a loved one or to honor someone who's touched your life in a special way, you might consider a donation to the St. Anthony's Hospital Foundation this Memorial Day. Your contribution may be tax deductible. You may send your donation to St. Anthony's Hospital Foundation, 300 North 2nd Street, PO Box 270, O'Neill, NE 68763.