Toby Cooling Kit Campaign
Last year the Luton and Dunstable Hospital cared for over 900 premature and sick babies in its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The hospital is building a new, bigger intensive care unit which will have 46 cots, state of the art equipment and improved facilities for babies and their parents. The NHS is paying £7 million for the new Unit but the Hospital wants to buy an additional Toby Cooling Kit to have on the unit so that two babies can be treated at the same time when necessary. That is where your Pennies come in. The campaign, in collaboration with Meatballs restaurant, is the first example of Pennies being focused on a specific charitable purchase.
Toby Cooling is a pioneering, life saving technique where the baby’s body temperature is cooled right down after it has been starved of oxygen during birth. It saves lives and reduces disability. The baby’s body is cooled to 33.5C (normal body temperature is 37C) for 72 hours and for the treatment to be effective, it has to be started within six hours of birth.
Each kit costs around £8,000 so if you are feeling hungry, where better to enjoy a meal than Meatballs then round up the bill to the nearest pound to help fund a Toby Cooling Kit.
Luton and Dunstable Hospital has been one of the highest performing hospitals across the UK in 2011, and hopes to continue that effort. Last year they treated:
- Over 70,000 in-patients and day case patients requiring surgery or medical treatment
- Over 219,000 outpatients who attended clinics
- Over 59,000 people who attended the Emergency Department
- Over 6,000 babies who are born here
