CHC volunteers donate equipment to hospital

Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. CEO Esther Muna, Commonwealth Health Center administrator Jesse Tudela, CHC Volunteers Association president John Oliver Gonzalez, and the dedicated members of the CHC Volunteers Association pose with the donated medical equipment, Alaris IV system. (Bea Cabrera)

Patients at the Commonwealth Health Center who have trouble eating or taking in medicines can thank the CHC Volunteers Association for its donation of an equipment that now enables the hospital to infuse necessary fluids into a patient’s veins.

Yesterday, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. held a recognition program at the CHC gift shop for the CHC Volunteers Association to thank the group for its efforts.

The CHC Volunteers Association board had raised $120,000 that it donated to CHC for the purchase of the special equipment called Alaris IV system.

The Alaris IV system is used in order to infuse fluids such as nutritional formulas and drugs directly into a patient’s veins to substitute the traditional eating and ingesting of nutrients and medications for patients who are incapable of doing so.

Hospital administrator Jesse Tudela said the corporation wrote the association to ask for its financial help around September last year.

“We met as a group with association president John Oliver Gonzales and they decided to donate $120,000,” said Tudela. “They donated in October 2016 and we immediately started the procurement process for the Alaris IV system and the device arrived in May this year.”

“We did training for the nurses, including the pharmacy, toward the end of May on how to use the system. This device is currently being used in the ICU and neonatal ICU. We also deploy the device to the emergency room so if the person is a critical care patient that will end up in ICU, this device is utilized.” Tudela added.

The Alaris IV system also serves as a safety net so there is less human error.

“We want to create a culture of human safety and reduce medical error which goes unnoticed when there is no safety net. With this device, it covers all those points,” Tudela said.

The CHC Volunteers Association raised the money from sales at the CHC gift shop, which the association runs inside CHC, and from other fundraising efforts.

“The CHC Volunteers Association has been a true partner for our public hospital throughout the years,” said CHC Volunteers Association president John Oliver Gonzales said. “By working together, there is mutual benefit. We serve as the fundraising, public relations, [and] marketing arm of the government hospital. This way, we are able to receive donations and public endowments to defray the costs of much needed equipment of the government hospital, above and over its public funding.”

Medical equipment at CHC need to be updated. The hospital needs a total of $600,000 to complete its overhaul of medical equipment. The association’s donation alleviated that amount.

CHC CEO Esther Muna said, “We are very happy with the new equipment. It replaced the equipment that has been here since 1986. That’s why today, we want to show our appreciation to the association.”