BDayVyklyk: First Breath project donated infant resuscitators to Cradles of Hope centres in Dnipro and Lviv

In August 2021, two more Cradles of Hope partner centres of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, operating at the Dnipropetrovsk and Lviv regional perinatal centres, received Neopuff^TM RD900 infant resuscitators thanks to the BDayVyklyk: First Breath charity initiated by Ukrainian benefactor Kateryna Sadova.

The BDayVyklyk: First Breath project has already managed to raise UAH 1,727,981.36. By now, 13 devices have been bought for Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Uzhhorod, Chernihiv, Khmelnytsky (regional and city perinatal centres), Odesa, Kropyvnytsky, Vinnytsya, Sumy, Zaporizhzhya, Lviv and Dnipro. Another Neopuff is to be installed in the Cradles of Hope partner centre in Rivne. You can support the project on the online fundraising charity platform dobro.ua.

The Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk regional perinatal centres are the leading maternity facilities in their respective areas, handling high-risk patients and preterm births. Annually, they account for an average of 4,300 and 3,650 births respectively. More preterm births take place every year, resulting in the growing number of extremely low birth-weight babies born prematurely (500-999 g). The most difficult cases are handled by neonatal intensive care units, with over 200 such babies being treated annually at the Dnipropetrovsk regional perinatal centre and over 400 at the Lviv regional perinatal centre. The Victor Pinchuk Foundation contributed to the modernisation of both units, having purchased medical equipment worth UAH 4.17 mln for the Dnipropetrovsk regional perinatal centre in 2012 and UAH 6.46 mln for the Lviv regional perinatal centre in 2018.

It is a fact that the first minutes of life are the most important for the treatment of premature babies, when the results of nursing and further quality of life depend on the timely and quality medical care provided. Sustained lung inflation ensured by the Neopuff^TM RD900 infant resuscitator is a modern method of addressing babies' respiratory problems directly in the delivery room. This method has proved highly effective in selected perinatal centres. It significantly reduces the need for classical artificial ventilation by intubating babies' trachea, saves on expensive surfactant, reduces the time babies spend on respiratory support and thus the number of complications associated with prolonged artificial ventilation.