Cohuna, Victoria, is a rural town situated on the Gunbower Creek, a branch of the Murray River.
At Easter, the forest had a camp at every bend on the river. We had a few thousand happy campers as well as a few thousand extra in the town. As expected, the visitors brought smiles and money – but also a range of knocks, scrapes and illnesses.
Among the campfire burns and walking wounded were a few embedded fishhooks and one little boy named Sullivan. His mum and dad, both ambulance officers, were up for the holidays from Bannockburn, visiting family with baby Sullivan. Born by caesarean section five weeks earlier in Geelong, Sullivan woke one morning on holiday coughing and wheezing.
Sullivan was immediately red-flagged by the experienced nurses in the Urgent Care Centre due to an oxygen saturation of 88% (rather than the hoped for 96%), a fast heart rate and a fast respiratory rate. There was no doubt assistance was needed.
What a relief to have pulled out the donated Humpty’s Breath of Life* Neonatal Resuscitation Kit! We rapidly returned Sullivan's vital signs to the correct range, transforming this 4 kg little baby boy back into a happy camper before arranging transfer to a paediatric facility.
Phone calls to Bendigo and to the Victorian paediatric retrieval service led to an accepted referral to the Base Hospital, and the ambulance arrived soon after. We initially planned to place baby Sullivan in his parent's car capsule in the ambulance with the Breath of Life attached to the power point and oxygen. Unfortunately, these safety-conscious parents had a car capsule affixed to a mat without a seat belt attachment, which could not be used in a standard ambulance. Our rural ambulance wasn’t equipped with a webbing harness to secure a 4 kg child, (note to Humpty!) so the retrieval service requested we get the regional transport humidicrib from Echuca and transport Sullivan in that.
The 90 minute wait while the ambulance went to retrieve the humidicrib and install Sullivan wasn’t stressful as we were stable with our modified Airvo. It would have been a highly stressful couple of hours without Humpty’s help!
I’m pleased to say that Sullivan spent just 24 hours in the Base Hospital before returning to Cohuna, where his parents decided it was safer than at their home, halfway between Ballarat and Geelong. This 'Good Egg’ story ended with our young family eating Easter treats with family in Cohuna. Thank you Humpty!
*Humpty’s Breath of Life is a specially designed package and includes a Neopuff Infant Resuscitator, Low Flow Bird Blender and MR950 Humidifier on a mobile stand. This lifesaving equipment provides humidified air to a sick baby or child during respiratory support, maintaining them with a safe type of ventilation during transfer.
Please see this equipment on HUMPTY’S WISH LIST if you are in a position to help
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By Dr Peter Barker OAM