West Nipissing General Hospital has a new piece of equipment designed specifically to hold little kids steady as they receive an X-Ray. It’s called a child friendly pedia poser, and it helps to secure a child—infants to four-year old’s—as they pose for the X-Ray machine.
“The comfort of our patients is top priority,” the hospital noted on its website, “and this holds true for all who walk into our hospital, regardless of age.” Extra comfort certainly puts the young ones at ease in the face of an X-Ray, but as all parents know, stillness is not a child’s default state, and the new chair helps keep them from moving.
The hospital’s president and CEO, Cynthia Desormiers, mentioned that before the chair arrived—which was about a month ago—parents or staff would simply hold the child before the X-Ray, but the added stability has really improved the experience for everyone. Plus, the possibility of having extra bones in a photo—let’s say a dad’s forearm as he steadies his kid—is eliminated.
“We’ve had a really good outcome with it,” Desormiers said. “It’s making a big difference, and it’s a great way to keep them safe while getting the best picture possible.” And the clearer the image the better, as those pictures help diagnose issues related to the spine, the chest, airways, and the abdomen. Plus, all the little bones are clearly visible to check for fractures, breaks, or other anomalies. And clear images on the first shot also cuts down on the X-Ray radiation passing through the child’s body—no need for a second picture.
The chair is a hit with staff, parents, and little patients. “It’s like night and day,” Desormiers said, when comparing how things were before the new equipment. “We’ve had nothing but positive comments since we started to use it.”
In fact, the idea to get the chair came about from recommendations from the community. Desormiers noted how over the past year parents or grandparents would comment on the X-Rays, and suggest there might be a better way, so staff were consulted, and some research was done to see what options were out there.
And the chair was found, and staff decided “that we really need to invest in this,” Desormiers said, so they purchased one at a cost of under $10,000 and the funds came from the hospital’s capitol budget. “I think every dollar was very well-spent.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.