UPDATE: You did it! More than 230 donors from across PEI and across the country came together with an outpouring of support for our Island’s tiniest patients. Thanks to you, our dear donors, we’ve met our goal and the QEH Emergency Department will be getting a brand new Panda Warmer!

We are beyond grateful. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Please know that any donations over and above our goal will support additional equipment needs in the Provincial NICU.

We received an emergency request from the team at the Provincial NICU.

There’s been a significant increase in critically ill infants at the QEH Emergency Department — infants less than four weeks old. Without a modern warmer in the ED, health care staff have been running through the hospital with equipment from the NICU. This results in a significant delay in care at a time when every second counts.

We need YOUR help to raise $41,722 to fully fund a Panda Warmer, a piece of equipment vital to newborn resuscitation. We need your help so dedicated health care teams can give these babies the best care possible, rapidly and collectively.

Q&A with Dr. Beth Ellen Brown

Q: What would bring a baby in to the Emergency Department?

A: Some of the most common reasons babies would present with critical illnesses in those first few weeks of life is viruses, particularly Respiratory Syncytial Virus or RSV. We’ve seen a massive uptick of RSV this year. It’s the worst season on record, not only in PEI but across the country.

Another reason would be if a baby had a congenital heart defect that wasn’t picked up before the baby was born or immediately after. Those babies can come in very sick. Other indications would be if a baby had a critically low blood sugar or an inborn error of metabolism, a condition they were born with wherein they can’t process sugars, fats, and proteins in the same way that we can.

Q: Can you explain how this new equipment will help your teams deliver the care these babies need?

A: The Panda Warmer is a very important and essential piece of equipment that allows us to rapidly provide critical care to babies who are very sick. This piece of equipment allows us to keep the babies warm and it allows us to monitor all the baby’s vital signs, like their heart rate and their breathing and their oxygen saturations. Most importantly, it allows all of our team members to assist the baby all at one time and fully surround the baby so we can rapidly and collectively provide them with the best care possible.

Q: Who makes up the health care teams caring for these sick babies?

A: We have a neonatal team. We would respond to any baby that’s sick in the emergency department who is less than four weeks of age. This team includes the physician on call for the NICU, most times that’s myself. We have two neonatal nurses and a neonatal respiratory therapist. We would all be there together to provide help to the emergency room physicians. And our pediatricians are also part of that team. It takes a whole group.