Updated at 7:01 a.m., Monday, June 4, 2007
Kaiser expands newborn heart-lung program
Advertiser Staff
A medical device built by Kaiser Permanente Hawai'i that is used to save infants in danger of cardiac or respiratory failure may get wider use because of a federal grant.The heart and lung device, according to Kaiser, was created in six hours in October 2003 to save the life of a newborn when no medical air transport to the Mainland for specialty care was available. The device is known as Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, or ECMO.
At noon on Wednesday, four families whose children were helped by the device are scheduled to appear at a news conference at Kaiser's Moanalua Medical Center to announce the expansion of the ECMO program.
A federal grant, obtained through the help of U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, D-Hawai'i, will expand the ECMO program to Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children so more children might benefit.
