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Porter Medical Center > News Room > News > Porter Auxiliary Donates $131,000 to Hospital for State-of-the-Art Patient Monitoring System Upgrade

Porter Auxiliary Donates $131,000 to Hospital for State-of-the-Art Patient Monitoring System Upgrade

Porter Auxiliary Donates $131,000 to Hospital for State-of-the-Art Patient Monitoring System Upgrade Image
Posted on by Porter Medical

Dr. Fred Kniffin, Interim CEO of Porter Medical Center, discusses the need for a new patient monitoring system with PMC Auxiliary President, Jan Bark. 

Last week, the PMC Auxiliary Board of Directors approved a contribution of $131,000 to Porter Hospital in support of a state-of-the-art patient monitoring system upgrade project.

The Porter Medical Center Auxiliary Board of Directors has approved a contribution of $131,000 to Porter Hospital in support of a state-of-the-art patient monitoring system upgrade project. The total cost of the project is $350,000 with the Auxiliary donation providing the final funding portion of what Porter’s interim CEO Dr. Fred Kniffin has called “one of my highest priority projects and a significant step forward for our community hospital.”

“Our nurses and clinical team members provide great care to our patients and are highly-skilled and dedicated to patient care quality and safety,” Kniffin said. “Our role as leaders of the organization is to ensure that these front-line caregivers have the most modern and appropriate tools and technology required to support their clinical work and serve our patients.”

The new telemetry monitoring system represents a significant upgrade from the current system that is used to monitor patients who have cardiac related medical issues on the Medical/Surgical Unit. Through the use of this equipment, nurses will have the ability to continuously visualize their patient’s heart rhythm wherever the nurse or patient is on the floor. Additionally, nurses will receive audible alarms on both fixed monitoring units at the nurses’ station and to their personal hand-held device when they are away from the nurses’ station if potentially worrisome rhythms occur. Two remote visual displays will also be added to the Medical/Surgical Unit in the hallways.

“This is the same system used at the University of Vermont Medical Center and truly is the most modern system now available anywhere in Vermont,” said Porter Chief Nursing Officer Karen Beinhaur. “We are so grateful to the Auxiliary for their significant investment in supporting outstanding patient care at Porter Hospital,” she added.

The PMC Auxiliary Board, chaired by Jan Bark, is a group of area men and women who raise funds via special events and Round Robin Upscale Resale Shop in order to provide financial support to Porter for equipment, renovations or community programs.