Mater Foundation seeking help funding new spinal injury equipment

The Mater Foundation is appealing to the public to help fund new Vasopressor monitoring equipment for the Mater Public Hospital’s National Spinal Injuries Unit (NSIU).

The specialised treatment is currently only available in the Mater’s Intensive Care and High Dependency Units.

The foundation says with the provision of new equipment, patients who are admitted with spinal injuries will be able to receive this treatment in the NSIU itself.

This will allow patients access to both the highly specialised team in the NSIU and focused spinal care as much as seven days sooner.

Vasopressor monitoring equipment is vital for patients who suffer a serious spinal injury as it helps the spine to heal and prevents brain damage through keeping the patient’s blood pressure at a specific level.

Paralysed

Steven, a patient who was admitted to the NSIU with severe spinal injuries after a car accident, was paralysed from the chest down.

“I had a 12-hour operation to save my life, and spent 11 days recovering in a coma.

“Once I was awake and off the strong sedatives, the doctors came to speak to me properly about my injuries. I learned that discs in my spine had been severed in the accident. That I was paralysed from the chest down. And I would never walk again.

“I am a positive person, but it was a lot to take in.”

After learning of his diagnosis, Steven was transferred to the NSIU.

“I wouldn’t wish what I went through on my worst enemy. But if the worst does happen to you. And you do end up with a spinal injury like mine... there’s nowhere else you’d want to be.

“The unit is just a different world. In a different league to anything I’ve experienced before, or since.”

The Mater Foundation says the provision of new Vasopressor monitoring equipment would free up an extra 306 bed days in critical care a year.

The foundation hopes to secure €122,720 to cover the equipment.