SIX thousand dollars\u2019 worth of new cardiac equipment at Ballarat Health Services has been funded by a donation from the Ballarat District Bowls Division.<\/p>\n
Every January over the past 33 years, BDBD has held their one-day Heartbeat Bowls Tournament to generate funds for both local hospitals\u2019 cardiac rehabilitation programs.<\/p>\n
The proceeds of the 2020 event have secured three blood pressure monitors for the BHS cardiac-stroke ward.<\/p>\n
BDBD committee member Lionel Calf said the tournament has raised at least $100,000 in its history, and more than $37,000 has been generated in the last six years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree of us run the tournament every year across Ballarat and City Oval bowling clubs. We charge $10 each to play, but we have a lot of raffles. This year we had 28,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe donations from people around the Ballarat area is phenomenal. We\u2019ve got a lot of sponsors, including a major carpet firm that donates $2000 every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had more entries this year than last and the tournament is getting bigger and bigger. The response is always magnificent because Ballarat\u2019s cardiac treatment is great, and we want to continue to help people in our hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n
BHS\u2019s heart-failure clinic and cardiac rehabilitation program also recently secured a portable electrocardiogram machine, which can be used in-house or taken on external residential visits.<\/p>\n
The portable ECG can determine whether a person needs cardiac treatment, or if they are critically unwell.<\/p>\n
This was purchased with funds mostly raised by members of charity, the Heartbeat Victoria Ballarat Branch, who generated money via their volunteer marshalling at the Ballarat Swap Meet, and at a Bunnings sausage sizzle.<\/p>\n
BHS nurse practitioner and Heartbeat Victoria Ballarat Branch president Linda Macaulay said the blood pressure monitors will not only benefit cardiac patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis equipment is also being used for all patients on-ward. That\u2019s a really important thing for Ballarat, and it\u2019s a real community donation, because people can see where their money is going,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a small community, everyone knows everyone, and that means this equipment is being used on people\u2019s parents, grandparents and friends, and not just cardiac patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese machines will save the nursing staff so much time on a busy ward. They are used hundreds of times a day, so having more is really fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n
The ECG can also help BHS to be \u201cmore proactive,\u201d accessing patients that previously may have had to wait a while for appointments.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time, the heart failure clinic has been able to properly manage patients as they leave hospital and transition to home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a very high-risk area where people can become very unwell… so the portable ECG gives us the flexibility to look after the patients properly, rather than waiting for a specialist appointment for three months,\u201d Ms Macaulay said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SIX thousand dollars\u2019 worth of new cardiac equipment at Ballarat Health Services has been funded by a donation from the Ballarat District Bowls Division. Every January over the past 33 years, BDBD has held their one-day Heartbeat Bowls Tournament to generate funds for both local hospitals\u2019 cardiac rehabilitation programs. The proceeds of the 2020 event […]<\/p>\n