As anyone who has ever dealt with aa sick baby will tell you, even something as simple as holding the child still can present a challenge that can be as hard on you as it is on the baby.
Now, a device recently purchased jointly by the Kipling & District Health Foundation and the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) will make it easier to do effective chest X-rays on infants and young children at the Kipling Integrated Health Centre.
As Laboratory & X-Ray Technician Tommi Kish explains, “The PIGG-O-STAT is a Pediatric Immobilizer that is used to hold infants and young children (from newborn up to two years of age) in an upright position when we have to do a chest X-ray, without a parent or someone else having to try and hold them still on their lap.
“Up until now, when we had to do a chest X-ray on a baby or young child that couldn’t stand on their own, usually mom or dad had to hold them on their lap, or we had to lay them down.
“When we tried to do an X-ray with someone holding the child, we’d sometimes end up with an X-ray of the adult’s arm and have to do it again. And when the baby is lying down, you can’t see the fluid that might be in their lungs. So, you might miss pneumonia.
“But if the child is upright, you can see the fluid. And the PIGG-O-STAT will also allow us to turn the child sideways and get a lateral image and that will also help us to see fluid that might be in their lungs.”
Rita Dash (Chair – Kipling & District Health Foundation) says “the final purchase price for the PIGG-O-STAT was around $11,000 with the foundation contributing a set amount of $5,000 towards that”.
