Keeping Babies’ Oxygen Levels Under Control

In an intensive care unit, a tiny patient’s condition can change very quickly. A baby cannot yet say that they are having difficulty breathing, feeling worse, or not getting enough air. That is why vital signs monitored continuously by doctors must “speak” for them.

To provide this kind of monitoring, St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital in Lviv needs special sensors designed for infants and newborns. They help medical teams monitor how well a baby’s body is being supplied with oxygen and detect changes that may indicate a deterioration in their condition.

This is particularly important for critically ill babies in intensive care, children with breathing difficulties, and patients who require continuous medical supervision. In such situations, checking a baby’s condition only from time to time is not enough. Doctors need to see what is happening in the child’s body continuously so that they can adjust treatment immediately when necessary.

For the baby, this type of monitoring is painless: the sensor is attached to the body and transmits the necessary readings to a monitor. This allows doctors to receive important information without additional procedures and monitor the child’s condition in real time.

These sensors are currently needed at St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital of the First Medical Union of Lviv, which treats children from different regions of Ukraine. Amid the full-scale war, the pressure on Ukrainian children’s hospitals remains extremely high, and so does the ongoing need for consumable supplies for modern medical equipment.

This project aims to purchase 20 single-use Masimo sensors for infants and newborns at a total cost of UAH 145,420.

Because the sensors are single-use, their supply must be replenished regularly. At first glance, they may seem like just a small medical consumable. Yet in intensive care, it is precisely equipment like this that enables doctors to continuously monitor a child’s condition and provide timely medical assistance.

Please support this project so that doctors have everything they need to care for their smallest patients. And so that parents waiting beside their child’s hospital bed can have what matters most: the chance to hear the words they are hoping for as soon as possible: their baby is getting better.