Media WriterThe Percy Junor Hospital (PJH) in North East Manchester has received a high-flow nasal cannula machine valued at US $10, 000, to support COVID-19 patients who need oxygen, particularly during this surge in cases.
The life-saving machine, which gives patients oxygen under a high flow rate and at a warm temperature, which is easier for the body to absorb, was donated by retired American businesswoman Cynthia Johnston and handed over to the hospital on Tuesday, January 18.
Senior Medical Officer at the PJH, Dr. Carlos Wilson thanked Mrs. Johnston for her generous donation, noting that patients will benefit tremendously from this donation.
“It allows us to warm oxygen at a high flow basically pushing it down the nostrils so it can get into the lungs so that it can wash out the old air that is there and bring fresh oxygen in so that patients can try and get as much oxygen as possible into their system. Not only COVID but especially in COVID ill patients, they are robbed of oxygen. Just imagine that you want to breathe and when you take a breath you are not getting that feeling of oxygen and it’s almost as if you are being starved” Dr. Wilson said.
He added that: “This machine can prevent patients from going on a ventilator because once you get to the stage where you are on a ventilator, it is extremely difficult to get off. It is truly a life-saving machine not just in COVID but in patients with heart failure, heart disease and anyone who is being robbed of oxygen.”
Pastor from the Houston Seventh-Day Adventist Church in the USA, Dr. Denton Rhone explained that his father was a patient at the PJH and needed the high-flow nasal cannula machine to assist with his recovery, adding that he informed his congregation and Mrs. Johnston responded.
“Dr. Stephen Chung stepped in tremendously to assist my father and made the appeal that he needed that machine to help with treating him. Sis. Johnston stepped in and went and fully funded this machine. My father never needed this machine after because he recovered but Dr. Chung said there are many COVID patients who this machine can assist significantly and so Sis. Johnston said let it stay at the hospital and you can do it in memory of my husband Hank Johnston” Dr. Rhone explained.
Mrs. Johnston, who has only visited Jamaica twice said: “When Pastor Rhone first talked about his father being in the hospital and he talked about a machine I was not there when he discussed this machine. However, when I came back into town and heard about the machine I asked for the specifics and Pastor Rhone’s love and concern came through for his father loud and clear and having lost someone I love I knew that pain. The Lord used Pastor Rhone to touch my heart to give to the Jamaican hospital where he was in the hospital to help the doctors and patients there. My husband loved helping people and I was able to use what my husband had provided for my family to bless others” Mrs. Johnston said.
