How pedal power is helping to make surgery safer

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare has come together with clinicians in a joint effort to raise funds for Lifebox, which supports safer healthcare in developing countries.

Lifebox is a non-government organisation dedicated to safer surgery and anaesthesia in low-resource settings and is closely associated with the Association of Anaesthetists for Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI). It links professional, academic and commercial organisations in order to supply pulse oximeters into operating theatres and a Surgical Safety Checklist education programme for clinicians.

Pulse oximeters are monitors that clip onto a patient’s finger and track their oxygen level, and are recognised as a key safety tool during surgery. Patients who are left unmonitored can experience cardic arrest from an undiagnosed lack of oxygen.
 

Comprising a joint team of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare team members and AAGBI members, the charity cycle ride took place from Fisher & Paykel Healthcare’s UK office in Maidenhead to the CARE airway and respiratory convention at Warwick University in June 2017, raising £1000 for Lifebox.

The team of 15 took two days to complete the 220km journey. “The trip took us through the beautiful but hilly Cotswolds." said Sophie Danks, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Sales Manager.
 

“It was a challenging ride and the first long cycle for many of us, but being able to support Lifebox in this way was something we’re very proud of and fortunate to do.”

Sophie Danks, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Sales Manager

This is the second charity cycle the team has been involved in, after cycling from Maidenhead to Paris in 2016 in support of BirthLink, a charity working to improve maternal and neonatal care in developing countries.