Grantchester Charity Runs are Raising Funds for a Nippy Ventilator

Nippy Junior Ventilator

Nippy Junior Ventilator

This year, the Grantchester Charity Runs are teaming with the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust to raise funds for a Nippy Junior Ventilator. What exactly is a Ventilator, you may ask. Well I’m glad you did because I was wondering the same thing….

A medical ventilator is a machine designed to mechanically move breathable air into and out of the lungs, to provide the mechanism of breathing for a patient who is physically unable to breathe, or breathing insufficiently. The first mechanical ventilators (or respirators as they were often called) were various versions of what was eventually called the iron lung. Have you read any Dick Francis novels? Particularly the earlier ones? If you have, the iron lung will be quite familiar as the hero/heroine usually had to save/rescue the good guy/gal who needed the breathing support required by an iron lung from the bad guys (I don’t recall the bad guys ever being bad gals). This involved considerable strength, agility and logistics as the iron lung was heavy, large and largely immobile.

Rows of iron lungs filled hospital wards at the height of the polio outbreaks of the 1940s and 1950s, assisting the breathing of children and adults (mostly children) with polio. A polio patient with paralyzed lungs could spend up to a week inside an iron lung. Not pleasant as you can probably imagine. Vaccination programs have virtually eradicated polio. Along with the development of modern ventilators, and widespread use of tracheotomy, the iron lung has mostly disappeared from modern medicine and is not missed except perhaps by novelists looking for an unexpected plot twist.

As technology has progressed ventilators have become more portable allowing their use in general wards as opposed to specialized respiratory wards. The latest generations are both portable and self powered so patients can use them outside of the hospital. This is particularly important in paediatric medicine as it allows children to go home and travel.

The NIPPY Junior ventilator is intended for use by paediatric patients who require respiratory support via nasal, full-face mask or tracheotomy. It is portable with an internal battery giving up to 12 hours of operation and includes a fully featured alarm package, to allow for safe and effective treatment on the go.

You can read more here

Please support our drive for a Nippy Ventilator at our JustGiving site by clicking the logo below.
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Click on the highlighted links below for more about the Grantchester Charity Runs
Previous Charity Runs
Changes over the Years
10k Results: 2014, 2013, 2012
3k Results: 2014
Photos: 2014, More from 2014, 2013, 2012
Reports: 2014
News Coverage
More about the Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust

Grantchester Charity Runs Gold Sponsor: Flair Catering
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Grantchester Charity Runs Silver Sponsor: HotelResUK
Race numbers and Logistics

Grantchester Charity Runs Supporter: Cambridge Bike Tours
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Grantchester Charity Runs Supporter: CrossFitRNA, Harston
Run Warm-Up & more

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2 comments

    • Giorgio on July 14, 2015 at 9:46 am
    • Reply

    A magnificent project and cause which will, one hopes, benefit immensely from the famed Grantchester generosity. Run hard – dig deep of your safe-deposit boxes. On an inevitably-flippant note, given this correspondent’s alarmingly-advanced years (so readily and sometimes distressingly visible on the field of play) one hopes further that a spare machine might find its way to GCC matches as an act of mercy.
    Daisy, daisy, give me yurrr ansssswerrrrrrr derrrrrrr….. (apologies to S. Kubrick Esq.,)

    • Wiz on July 14, 2015 at 3:47 pm
    • Reply

    Georgio. Good point but you are not the only one who would benefit from a `Nippy Ventilator`. Quite a few of the supporters would too.

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