KDH Foundation funds new anesethesia ventilators

In July 2023, KDH received three new anesthesia ventilators funded by the KDH Foundation.

“Anesthesia ventilators are essentially the machinery that keeps the patient alive during surgery,” explained Dr. Colin Sentongo, who served KDH as Chief of Anesthesiology for six years before being appointed Chief of Staff in 2021.

“They breathe for the patient; they administer the gases that keep the patient asleep,” he added. “So I am biased in the sense that I think it’s probably the most important equipment that you can have an operating room. Everything else in my opinion, is secondary.”

Pictured (left to right): Taylor Shelp, RN; Jennifer Ellis, Vice President, Nursing/Clinical Services and Chief Nursing Executive; Tanya Deans, RN, Manager, Clinical Programs; Dr. Colin Sentongo, Chief of Staff; Kelly Richer, RN, Surgical Care Unit Team Leader; Chelsey Green, RN, Epic Coordinator; Margret Norenberg, Foundation Board Chair; Frank Vassallo, CEO.

The new ventilators are an upgrade from KDH’s previous anesthesia machines, which Dr. Sentongo described as outdated. “Extra perks” of the ventilators, according to Tanya Deans, RN, KDH’s Manager of Clinical Programs, are “less anesthetic gas usage with more precise delivery and new monitoring cables for patients needing paralytics [powerful muscle relaxants used to prevent muscle movement] during their procedures.”  In addition, the new ventilators are familiar to many of the Anesthesiologists who provide services at KDH as they also use them in The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) ORs.

The KDH Foundation provided $250,000 for the purchase of the new Ventilators; these funds were raised in the tremendously supportive communities that KDH serves.

It is very important to KDH that our clinical teams have the equipment they need to provide the best possible care to our patients; as such, we would like to express our heartfelt thanks to the Foundation for providing the funding for the anaesthesia ventilators, and for their continued support in enhancing the quality of care provided at KDH.