Airvo will improve breathing

It may look like the love child of a food processer and vacuum cleaner, but the Fisher & Paykel Airvo is actually cutting-edge technology when it comes to helping what most of us take for granted – the simple act of breathing.
The fact that Rarotonga hospital now has two of these machines – donated this week by the George family in memory of Dr Don George – means patients who struggle to breathe will now have a longer life expectancy.
Dr Ted Hughes, a nephew of the late Dr George, was instrumental in bringing the machines to Rarotonga. A practising doctor at Auckland and North Shore hospitals, Hughes is on the executive of the New Zealand Society of Anaesthetists. He visits the Cook Islands several times a year and so is familiar with the lack of equipment and services health professionals face in this country.
“When I came to the Cooks the last few times, it became very clear to me that there is a particular piece of brand new equipment that we have in Auckland that would be fantastic for the Cook Islands,” said Hughes, referring to the Airvo.
An Airvo, Hughes explained, is at its simplest a hair-dryer motor that propels a flow of warm, moist air into a patient’s nose. It’s especially effective for people who suffer from asthma, emphysema or obstructive sleep apnea.
“What this machine does is open up the air passages,” Hughes said. “It forces the walls at the back of the throat apart so that you can breathe better. It’s also useful for when you have fluid in the lungs because the extra pressure helps push the fluid out of the lungs, opens the lungs back up again and fills them with air, so that they work better.”
Hughes said the addition of the Airvo machines is part of a long-term process to improve anaesthesia in intensive care services on Rarontonga.
“The idea is to give the machines to the front-line teams who are looking after people with respiratory illnesses so as to avoid them needing intensive care,” he said. “It’s particularly aimed at the sick ward patient, to try and improve their breathing. We hope that it will save lives.”
Heather Webber-Aitu, director of Hospital Health Services, thanked Hughes for sourcing the machines – worth $3,000 apiece – so his family could donate them.
“We’re very grateful to Ted because he keeps us up-to-date,” she said. “These machines make people well without being ventilated. They’re much more comfortable for the patients. It gives them a better quality of life.”

By John Ireland

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