A father's marathon efforts will ensure more premature babies will be treated in Orange after his fundraising initiative secured life-saving technology for the hospital's Special Care Nursery.
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Glenn Atkinson pushed a pram from Orange Hospital to the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney for Glenn's Push from the Bush as part of Running for Premature Babies in order to secure funding for the equipment.
The arduous journey started on January 3 and he arrived at Randwick on January 9 during which he raised $211,000 to buy specialised equipment for premature babies.
He was inspired to take on the challenge and raise the funds by the birth of his now almost 17-month-old twin daughters Eleanor and Zoe.
"Our girls were born at Randwick and spent two or three weeks," he said, after that they came to Orange where they spent more time in the hospital's nursery.
Now months on, the equipment purchased with those funds has arrived at the Orange Hospital Special Care Nursery with staff being trained in its use last week.
By getting the equipment to Orange, Mr Atkinson said more families would be able to return to Orange sooner instead or they might not need to travel to Sydney at all.
Mr Atkinson said the equipment includes a Panda Resuscitation Cot that provides warmth and resuscitation for newborns that arrives in the world struggling to breathe. The newborn is placed on the Panda Warmer immediately after birth, and the machine's hands-free technology allows the Paediatric Specialist to focus solely on providing direct care.
The Bililux phototherapy light means for the first time babies at Orange can receive phototherapy while in their cot, which also means babies won't need to be removed from a humidicrib. Mr Atkinson said they are particularly useful for treating babies that have jaundice.
The Drager Baby Leo Humidicrib, is "an incredibly sophisticated humidicrib" which has been described as "the next best thing to the womb," is giving premature babies in Orange the very best start to their lives possible.
According to the product description, The Babyleo is used to provide the correct environment, temperature, noise and light levels for the newborn as an incubator, which allows staff to focus their attention on the baby. It also allows mothers to be closer to their newborns, and is also designed with infection prevention as a priority.
"I don't know how many regional hospitals would have one of these," Mr Atkinson said.
"It's a big deal for Orange Hospital. They are also worth $75,000, they are not easy to get."
Mr Atkinson said it was great to see the equipment up and running following all the hard work that went into raising the funds for its purchase and for training hospital staff on its use.
"It's great to now that something has come from the fund raising and that equipment is going to be used locally for premi babies and jaundice and all kinds of things," Mr Atkinson said.
"I walked for seven days, I think I did six marathons and the last day was a bit less."
Orange Health Service general manager Catherine Nowlan said the special curse nursery was fortunate to have the support of Push for the Bush, this equipment supports our teams to provide world-class healthcare to premature babies.
"Our maternity unit has experienced a consistent increase in the number of births in recent years, and our Special Care Nursery is a vital service to support premature babies born both here in Orange, or those returning from a metropolitan neonatal intensive care unit," she said.
"On top of the state-of-the-art machines and technology, Glenn's support has provided, specific training to use the new Babyleo machine has also been provided to staff which was sponsored by his donation."
As well as supplying new equipment for Orange, Glenn's Push for the Bush also provided neonatal equipment for the Royal Hospital for Women at Sydney, and the Bathurst Hospital Special Care Nursery.
It's great to now that something has come from the fund raising and that equipment is going to be used locally for premi babies and jaundice and all kinds of things.
- Glenn Atkinson
"We will be donating a brand new ventilator to Bathurst Hospital to replace a piece of equipment that's 20 years old," Mr Atkinson said.
"Our focus was on keeping money in the region."
The former Bathurst Charles Sturt University graduate also said he received great support from the Bathurst community in his endeavour, particularly in regard to the number of participants who joined him on his walk around Mount Panorama.
"I walked form 5am to 4pm, I only think 31 kilometres around Mount Panorama," he said.
However, with the effort of pushing a double pram up the mountain and holding it back going down hill he said his feet were "on fire" during the 10 kilometre walk back to his accommodation.
Although he has cut back on walking since his mammoth effort in January, Mr Atkinson will join his wife Renee and their twin girls Eleanor and Zoe in the City 2 Surf for raise more funds for Running for Premature Babies on August 14.
While in Sydney, Mr Atkinson said he hopes to also get to the Royal Hospital for Women to see the humidicribs but it will depend on the COVID situation.
Since Glenn's Push from the Bush, Mr Atkinson has increased his involvement with Running for Premature Babies to become a NSW Ambassador and he will also take part in the upcoming Dubbo Stampede and Mount Panorama Punish.
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