Bob Gravenhall weighed less than a kilogram when he was born six weeks premature.
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Within moments of his birth, he went into respiratory distress and was taken by St John of God Hospital staff to the neonatal unit.
He was connected to the unit’s newly installed Bubble CPAP, a state-of-the-art respiratory machine that works by providing continuous pressure to a baby’s lungs, which allows an infant to maintain breathing independently. Bob stayed connected to the machine for more than 24 hours until his breathing had regulated on its own.
The hospital is leading the way in neonatal care in regional Victoria with the non-invasive ventilation strategy used for newborns with infant respiratory distress syndrome.
Bob’s mum, Eliza Gravenhall, said the situation had been frightening, but having Bob stay at the hospital in Ballarat put her mind at ease.
“It was really scary when we first had him because they put the mask on him straight away,” Ms Gravenhall said.
“They said there was a chance he might have to go to Melbourne that night because his lungs were under so much pressure and so at that point we didn’t know what was going to happen and we just wanted to have him close to us.”
Maternity clinical manager Kerryn Curnow said without the Bubble CPAP, which was implemented by the hospital this year, Bob would have have been rushed to Melbourne for medical care.
While the hospital has always had a manual CPAP, Ms Curnow said this method operated without human assistance and was the most effective ever used in the hospital.
“The best principle with newborn babies is to be hands off. The more you touch them, the more energy they will use,” Ms Curnow said.
The treatment reduced pressure on resources including the Neonatal Emergency Transport Service to Melbourne hospitals and reduced transfers to the Ballarat Base Hospital by lessening the pressure on beds within the public hospital system, she said.
“But most importantly it allows the babies to stay near their parents,” Ms Cunrow said.
“It gives them a better outcome for recovery because it allows them to be cared for in their own hometown surrounded by their family.”