The recent purchase of 57 new patient beds for FHN Memorial Hospital will result in a positive domino effect on patients at the Stephenson Nursing Center and for the students in the Health Occupations Youth Apprenticeship (HOYA) program at CareerTEC.
"We’re glad we were able to donate these beds to the Nursing Center and the HOYA students," said Sharon Summers, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "We could have recycled them, of course, but it was important to us to act on this opportunity to give back to the community by helping these area organizations upgrade their beds."
The beds will be transported to the Nursing Center and the CareerTEC facility in three shipments, the first of which was Friday, April 16.
Darnell Fortney, Stephenson Nursing Center administrator, is glad to have the beds. "We had just gone before our committee with a request for updated beds," he said. "Unfortunately, the money just isn’t in the budget. So this couldn’t have been better-timed."
Eight-year HOYA instructor Janet Golden is glad to have more up-to-date training beds. "CareerTEC HOYA is very grateful for this donation," said Golden. "High school juniors and seniors have been using very outdated beds during healthcare training and these beds will provide our students with more modern equipment. In this economy it is always nice to be able to pay it forward, and with FHN’s donation, we were able to give our beds to the Lena Living Center. FHN has always been a long-term supporter of our programs, and we look forward to our continuing relationship."
FHN is getting its replacement beds in three shipments, each timed to be a day before the donation shipments. The new beds are part of normal technology replacement for FHN. According to Bill Coppernoll, director of supply chain management for FHN, they are more computerized and will provide important data about the bed’s occupant on a continual basis, such as patient weight fluctuations, any change in surface dryness, bed head angle, and bed rail position. To help prevent pressure ulcers from lying prone, the beds also use an integrated pressure sensing system to redistribute pressure from the patient’s weight. They are also more motorized to help nurses provide even better care for patients through increased mobility in moving the patient for treatments and procedures.
