Please support our
COVID-19 APPEAL

COVID-19 is currently at the forefront of our minds.
Now, more than ever, we need your support.

Your hospitals:
On the Corona frontline

COVID-19 is currently at the forefront of our minds. Our local hospitals are steadily preparing for a huge increase in patients needing critical care due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

During this time, our hospitals are under unprecedented demand. Our doctors and nurses are working around the clock and are taking every precaution to ensure that we sustainably contain the virus while giving those affected the best possible care.

In the coming weeks we will need to scale up our service in a way we never had before. Now, more than ever, we need your support.

Blacktown Hospital is quickly creating a dedicated COVID-19 ward to meet the anticipated demand. Our testing facility is available to the public and open from 7am – 11pm every day to ensure we identify as many cases as possible and act accordingly.

Our aim is to ensure that affected patients can be treated in this specialised, isolated clinic, not only for COVID-19 but for any other conditions that patient may have. For example, if a patient has a heart condition and is diagnose with COVID-19, the hospital needs can no longer send them to the cardiac ward to avoid infecting other patients so we need to be full equipped to manage all their health issues from the dedicated ward. To do this successfully, we urgently need additional equipment. While the State Government has funded some vital equipment, we need more life-saving machines to help our doctors and nurses on the frontline deliver best quality care to our community.

Critical Equipment Requirements

Here is a list of the most critical equipment that the hospitals need to adequately treat patients during this time.

  1. Infusion pumps – In order to ensure we can administer medicine to critically ill patients, we require infusion pumps (otherwise known as a drip) to administer several medications at the same time and in the most efficient way.  We currently need 40 and each machine costs $1,500.
  2. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV)- NIV is used to administer ventilatory support. It is expected that a high percentage of COVID positive patients will require respiratory support. These machines cost $10,000 each and we currently need 10 machines.
  3. What we know about COVID-19 is that it is primarily evident in elderly patients and is further complicated in patients with cardiovascular disease. The ability to be able to continuously monitor a patient’s cardiac activity by way of an electrocardiograph (ECG), is crucial in the management of a patient’s condition. The cost of a portable telemetry monitor is $4,000 and the hospital needs 10.
  4. Point of care testing machine – This Point of Care testing machine will allow us to reduce test sample processing from 2-3 days to within 30 minutes. This will allow us to process much higher volumes of tests and respond faster to the COVID-19 challenge. We are looking to purchase 1 machine at $100,000.

With your support, we can ensure that our hospitals are equipped and ready to take on this crisis.