Tamworth ED benefits from Lions donation

7 July 2010

Tamworth Hospital’s Emergency Department will benefit from a generous donation of a new Electrocardiograph (ECG) machine from the Peel Valley Lions Club and the Australian Lions Foundation.

ECG machines are vital in assisting with diagnosis and identifying results to enable clinicians to quickly provide necessary treatment to patients presenting with chest pain, respiratory or cardiac-type signs and symptoms.

Acting General Manager of Tamworth Hospital Chris Coombs said that in the past 12 months, the hospital’s emergency department had seen 44,443 presentations.

“Of these, nearly 1950 people presented with chest pain symptoms and 814 went on to be admitted to Tamworth Hospital’s Coronary Care Unit,” Ms Coombs said.

“An additional ECG machine will mean we can provide more timely diagnosis for more patients and we are extremely grateful to the members of the Peel Valley Lions Club for this generous donation.”

The ECG is worth just over $10,000 and $5160 was donated by the Peel Valley Lions Club, who applied for an Australian Lions Foundation grant to fund the remaining $5000.

“The support of our community for Tamworth Hospital is greatly appreciated by the staff and we would like to thank everyone who has been involved in this generous donation,” Ms Coombs said.

Media opportunity: Members of the Peel Valley Lions Club will hand over the new ECG machine to the Emergency Department on Wednesday 7th July at 11am at the Tamworth Hospital Board Room. Media are welcome.

Contact: Shannon Ramadge

Phone: 6767 7136