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News - Colchester General Hospital, Colchester Essex UK |
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| Spire Roding Hospital |
| New Colchester business backs heart scanner appeal |
| Date : - 13/07/2009 |
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American-born fashion designer Ben de Lisi has helped to raise £650 for an appeal to buy a heart scanner for children at Colchester General Hospital.
The London-based designer, who has created dresses for Kate Winslet and Elizabeth Hurley, was the guest of honour last month (June) at one of two launch nights for a new Colchester bathroom business.
Guests raised £650 for the Children's Heart Scanner Appeal by buying raffle tickets from suppliers of Gallery Bathrooms, which is located on the Whitehall Industrial Estate.
Steve Wimbledon, Managing Director of Gallery Bathrooms, which is part of the Plumb City Group, will on Thursday (16 July) present a giant cheque for £650 to Graham Appleton, Children's Services Fundraising Co-ordinator.
Showroom manager Darryl Reid said: "We held two invitation-only launch events on June 17 and 18 and were keen at the same time to raise money for a cause that would benefit local children.
"After contacting the Children's Ward at Colchester General Hospital, I was told about the Children's Heart Scanner Appeal and, as a father of two young children born at the hospital, I was happy to help and was supported by Steve.
"Our suppliers donated about 15 prizes for a raffle, ranging in value from £45 to well over £600, including bathrobes, shower systems, a four-piece suite, a PlayStation 3, a whole range of bathroom items and a 26-piece dinner set."
Mr Reid said that Ben de Lisi, who was the guest of honour at the second evening, is now designing bathrooms as well as clothes. Gallery Bathrooms is one of only a select few outlets to display his work, he added.
The aim of the Children's Heart Scanner Appeal, which was launched in May, is to raise £60,000 to buy a heart scanner which will be used exclusively for babies and children at Colchester General Hospital. Currently, staff have to borrow a scanner from colleagues in the Cardio-Respiratory Department which can result in delays.
Graham Appleton, Children's Services Fundraising Co-ordinator, said: "We really appreciate Darryl and his team being so enthusiastic about their support for the Children's Heart Scanner Appeal while working hard to establish a new business. We wish Gallery Bathrooms every success!"
A scanner is used to give children an echocardiogram (often shortened to "echo"), which is especially useful for diagnosing heart disease in newborn babies and infants as it is easy to do and painless.
If babies and children had their own scanner, it would cut the waiting-list for non-emergency cases, reducing the anxiety of parents, and fewer children would need to travel to London for a scan - adult patients would benefit too because their service would not be interrupted.
An echocardiogram uses sound waves that echo against structures in the heart to build up a detailed picture of the heart. It is a similar sort of scan to the ultrasound scan used in pregnancy.
Sound-conducting jelly is used with a small probe (recorder) which is placed on the chest. A pulse of high frequency sound is then passed through the skin. The probe picks up the echoes reflected from various parts of the heart and shows them as an echocardiogram - a picture on the screen.
An echocardiogram gives accurate information about the pumping action of the heart, and about the structure of the heart and the valves.
* Cheques made payable to the "Children's Heart Scanner Appeal" can be sent to Graham Appleton, Children's Services Fundraising Co-ordinator, at the Children's Ward, Colchester General Hospital, Turner Road, Colchester CO4 5JL. On the back of the cheque, please write "Account 4L04". Graham can be contacted by phone on 07929 751712 or by email at graham.appleton@ntlworld.com If he is unavailable, staff on the Special Care Baby Unit on 01206 742857 may be able to help.
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| Reference : - www.colchesterhospital.nhs.uk/patient_information_cgh.shtml |
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