Warren feeding Summer the lamb
The Ramsay Way 2017 | 03 9
HOSPITAL NEWS
INSPIRIS RESILIA Valve offers younger
patients significantly improved lifestyle...
Gaiton Kananou with Professor Paul Bannon
A dream come true
for St George Private
Sleep Unit
Dr Dimitrios (Jim) Papadopoulos and every little patient’s best
hospital friend - Sully the sleep monster. Dr Papadopoulos was
instrumental in driving the NATA accreditation. NATA is Australia’s
national body for the accreditation of labs, inspection bodies,
calibration certification and NATA accreditation is considered the
“guarantee of excellence” in health care.
Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) is a common aetiology
for early development of valvular pathologies. In many
indigenous communities there is often a lack of access or
awareness of disease prevention which in turn increases the
risk of preventable premature death. Gaiton Kananou is an
indigenous patient from New Caledonia who was diagnosed
with RHD at just 13 years and by 18 years his echocardiogram
revealed left ventricular hypertrophy and dilation and without
surgical intervention it was clear Gaiton’s condition would
continue to deteriorate.
Traditionally Gaiton, like most young patients, would be a
candidate for a mechanical valve. Unfortunately these valves
DUDLEY HAS A LITTLE LAMB
You know you are in the country when you have a lamb as
therapy…meet Summer, the latest addition to the Dudley
Clinic team.
Summer was rejected by his mother soon after birth
and has been cared for by the Nursing Unit Manager of
Dudley’s Mental Health Unit. Staff and patients have all
taken a proactive role in feeding summer and ensuring he
has plenty of necessary TLC.
Summer has been a welcome distraction to patients
suffering mental health illness.
present multiple complications including life-long monitoring
and anti-coagulant drugs, thus limiting Gaiton's lifestyle
significantly.
Professor Paul Bannon (Head of Department of Cardiothoracic
Surgery at Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital) proposed
Gaiton be the first patient to receive Edwards INSPIRIS aortic
tissue valve instead of the mechanical valve option. INSPIRIS
offers Gaiton a significant reduction in the need for multiple
future surgeries and an improved lifestyle in comparison to a
mechanical valve.
Strathfield Private Hospital, together with Ramsay Health Care
Group, have a long standing history of treating indigenous
patients from New Caledonia and on 5 October Gaiton was the
first patient in APAC to successfully undergo an aortic valve
replacement surgery implanting Edwards INSPIRIS.
Professor Bannon was pleased with the surgery and noted:
"INR monitoring is challenging for the indigenous community...
even low INR mechanical valves still require monitoring and the
issue of compliance with this is only one factor these patients
face; many are also geographically isolated, cultural differences
are difficult to overcome and language barriers also exist. All
of this conspires to put these patients at significant risk for
bleeding and/or thromboembolic events. The choice of a tissue
valve over a mechanical valve in patients with RHD is optimal,
however comes with the trade-off of long-term durability being
a challenge. This is the first valve to offer the promise of more
resistance to failure due to calcification as well as having key
features which will enable future percutaneous intervention to be
performed."
HOLLYWOOD IMPROVES
ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT
THROUGH NEW WASTE
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Hollywood Private Hospital (Hollywood) has invested in a
leading waste management system to help reduce the quantity
of leftover food sent to landfill.
Installed in the hospital’s kitchen, the Organic Refuse Conversion
Alternative Waste Management System (ORCA) can digest up to
500 kilos of food waste every day. Within 24 hours, the food is
turned into environmentally safe water that flows straight into the
sewage system.
Hollywood Chief Executive Officer, Peter Mott, said “Following
the introduction of the ORCA, we’ve more than halved the
amount of waste sent to landfill. The catering team previously
sent twenty-six 120 litre waste bins to landfill every day. They
now send only five or six.”
“We know this is benefiting the environment as every two tonnes
of waste diverted from landfill has the same greenhouse gas
reduction effect as taking a car off the road for six months.”
“Hollywood is committed to operating in a sustainable manner
and introducing new processes and technologies that can help
reduce our environmental footprint.”
In addition to utilising the ORCA, Hollywood’s catering team
recycles all plastic lids and packaging and saves vegetable peels
for the hospital’s onsite worm farm.
Hollywood is also proud to donate all unused packaged food
and vegetables grown on campus to OzHarvest, a not for profit
organisation which distributes produce to over 70 charities
across Perth for people in need.
A member of Hollywood’s catering team disposing food waste
into the ORCA
The service was recently commended
by NATA for their expertise in CPAP
therapy. Having a special interest
in orthodontic approaches to OSA
treatment the unit has a strong affiliation
with the Sydney Dental Hospital and
Sydney University Department of
Orthodontics. The unit treats patients
from all over Australia, from both
interstate and regional areas.
Other features of the service include;
short waiting times between two to
four weeks, availability of weekend
sleep study spots and 24/7 emergency
medical and nursing coverage.
St George Private Hospital’s Children’s Sleep
Medicine Service is Sydney’s inaugural NATA
accredited paediatric sleep laboratory, providing
much-needed sleep services for children with
challenging health conditions from the age of
(0-18 years.)
The multidisciplinary staff have extensive experience in sleep
studies for babies and toddlers as well as children with autism,
developmental delays and disabilities as well as the more
challenging children including those with autism, ASD, ADHD,
developmental delays, orthodontic problems and the need for
CPAP treatment.
The hospital’s sleep physicians work hand in glove with
paediatric, ENT and dental surgeons to meet the wide array
of paediatric problems associated with sleep conditions and
the director of the unit Dr DImitrios (Jim) Papadopoulos is also
Australasia’s first accredited Level 2 paediatric sleep physician.