A recent $10,000 donation from North Vancouver City Fire Department Local 296 and District of North Vancouver Fire Department Local 1183 is helping improve care for the most critically ill and injured  patients who arrive at Lions Gate Hospital’s Emergency Department.

The money, which the firefighters raised through their annual Holiday Hi-Lite Festival at Park and Tilford, has gone directly to the Resuscitation Room to purchase IV fluid warmers, lead barriers and a special monitor.

“We donate to a lot of charities, but a large chunk has gone to Lions Gate Hospital in the past couple of years in our effort to try and keep donations localized,” said Jeremy Brodtrick of the North Vancouver City Firefighters.

Emergency Department staff are thrilled with the donation

“What I’m most excited about is the installation of the monitor in the trauma area for simulation training,” said Michelle Connell, RN, a 12-year veteran of the Emergency Department. “We’ve started doing mock codes every week since we had it installed to improve our response times and improve patient care.”

This is the second $10,000 donation to the “Resus Room” from the firefighters in the last year. Staff in the ED used the first donation to redesign the room to improve efficiencies, buy a large cabinet for better supply organization, and revamp a poster detailing roles and responsibilities.

“We are very grateful to the firefighters for their donation,” said Michelle. “It’s had a very significant impact. We are a much more efficient ED thanks to the new equipment we were able to buy with the money.”