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NEOPUFFs: A breath of life for new babies in need

At least twice a day, babies born at St. Charles Bend struggle to breathe on their own and require resuscitation by the hospital's highly trained staff. To aid in that resuscitation, explained Mara Kerr, Director of Mother and Child Services for Cascade Healthcare Community, caregivers use valuable equipment including a machine known as a Neopuff.

"It controls the amount of pressure used to inflate the baby's lungs and the amount of oxygen used," Kerr said. "It's really important when you are resuscitating pre-term kids. It keeps their lungs from over-inflating, and prevents exposure to high levels of oxygen that may cause permanent damage to their retinas or their hearing."

St. Charles Bend has one Neopuff in every labor and delivery room, Kerr said, along with six in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The goal is to buy 18 additional Neopuffs for the NICU ­— at a cost of more than $1,000 each — to support 24 infants at one time if necessary. Thanks to a grant from the local Ronald McDonald House and money raised by Mr. RHS students at Redmond High School, that goal will soon be a reality.

"The technology needed to care for these babies is very costly," Kerr said, "and we appreciate the efforts of these programs in providing a state-of-the-art unit."