Mother-of-two Rina lives in the remote Northern Territory community of Gunbalanya, a 4 hour drive from Darwin.
It’s a long way from specialist neonatal care, especially during the wet season when the roads are impassable because the river crossing is far too high and full of crocodiles.
Just over midway through her second pregnancy Rina felt unwell and went to the health clinic in Gunbalanya. Doctors realised the situation for her baby was critical, so Rina was flown to Royal Darwin Hospital (RDH) in the middle of the night, having to leave her 4 year old and partner at home. It was, understandably, a frightening experience.
Baby Lakiah was born at 5 am after just 25 weeks of pregnancy, 15 weeks before her due date, weighing a tiny 452 grams, about the same as a small loaf of bread.
The RDH Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is fortunate to have several pieces of equipment donated from the Humpty Dumpty Foundation. This equipment helped baby Lakiah survive and start to thrive.
The Dräger 8000 Incubator, the Dräger VN500 Ventilator* and the Video Laryngoscope** have all been a part of Lakiah’s journey. At the time of writing, Lakiah was 4 weeks old and putting on weight. At a mighty 666 grams, she loves those important cuddles with her mum Rina.
*The Dräger VN500 Ventilator is gentle on our smallest babies, allowing us to protect their lungs. The display is user friendly for clinicians to see how well the baby is being ventilated. It can stay with the baby as they stabilise and their lungs improve, effortlessly supporting their breathing and development.
**The Video Laryngoscope helps save the lives of Territory babies and assists in our response to emergencies to resuscitate small babies. With its video feedback the procedure can be viewed on a screen in real time by a supervisor who can provide feedback to the doctor doing the intubation. Our neonatologists tell us this is also a fantastic teaching tool to be able to see the vocal cords on a screen as the device acts as a second pair of eyes and allows senior doctors to teach junior doctors what to look for and how to intubate a tiny baby.
By Alexandra Matthews
Neonatal Clinical Nurse Educator
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