News
Massive Bluey Day tally funds ICU equipment
Mon, 16 Sep 2019 05:23:00
An incredible $58,000 has been raised by a Mildura-based Victoria Police fundraising committee to purchase lifesaving equipment for Mildura Base Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit.
Two ventilators and two humidifiers were purchased at a total cost of $48,000 from Blue Ribbon Foundation funds to equip an additional resuscitation unit at the expanded MBH Intensive Care Unit.
Mildura Sergeant and committee chair Narelle Kolpin said the fundraiser was a joint project between the Blue Ribbon Foundation and the local community, through the Mildura branch.
“We’ve had a long partnership in supporting the local community through the Mildura Base Hospital, because as police, we see first-hand the great work done in the Emergency Department and the ICU in resuscitating critically-injured patients,” Sergeant Kolpin said.
“The existing Resuscitation Unit at MBH provides critical care and life support to patients admitted with a range of conditions including road trauma, respiratory distress and heart attack,” she said.
“We’re proud that this donation will equip a second resuscitation unit and that the unit will be named in honor of a fallen member of Victoria Police.”
The John Glen Emergency Resuscitation Unit at MBH was dedicated as a Police Memorial to Constable John Glen who was killed near Geelong in 1956. Constable Glen died after a collision as he rode a police motorcycle and has family members in the Mildura area.
MBH’s representative on the Mildura Blue Ribbon Committee, Adam Stevenson, said MBH was thrilled to receive the donation to allow for an additional fully equipped resuscitation unit.
“We’ve just completed a $2.5 million project to expand the ICU from five to eight beds and having another resuscitation unit will be a tremendous resource,” Mr Stevenson said.
“We look forward to a special ceremony in future to officially name the unit and to properly acknowledge the contribution of the Blue Ribbon Committee and local police to these resources,” he said.
Sergeant Kolpin said most of the funds raised were from the popular annual “Inside Story” event, which features the back-story to key Victoria Police officers and incidents.
The fundraiser is again being held on September 29 this year at Mildura Lawn Tennis Club, and will feature the insights of two police officers:
• Darryl Jones, a former Vic Pol Air Wing crewman, winch operator, observer and, ultimately, pilot who played a role in the rescue of more than 300 people, including five rescues during the ill-fated 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race
• Detective Senior Sergeant Gerard Clancy, who was the lead investigator into the deaths of three boys when their father Robert Farquharson drove his car into a dam at Winchelsea.
Tickets to Inside Story are available online at the Mildura Blue Ribbon Foundation Facebook page and at Event Brite
Pictured:
MBH ICU Nurse Unit Manager Sue Hale and a piece of the equipment purchased, with Mildura Blue Ribbon Committee President Sergeant Narelle Kolpin and Sergeant Aimee Mazza, who is a long-standing committee member and grand daughter of John Glen, the fallen member in whose honor the existing MBH resuscitation room is named.
Also
Bluey Committee member Adam Stevenson (MBH) and MBH CEO Julia Morgan with Mildura Branch President Sergeant Narelle Kolpin and Sergeant Aimee Mazza, who is a long-time committee member and the grand daughter of John Glen, the fallen police member MBH’s first resuscitation room was named after.