Jaundice should not kill children. Khmelnytskyi

After the baby is born into the world, his body adapts to completely different environmental conditions and undergoes many changes. One of the adaptation mechanisms is jaundice of newborns. During the fetal life of a child, its blood contains much more erythrocytes than an adult's. This is due to the fact that he gets oxygen from the mother's blood through the umbilical cord, and sufficient saturation requires a large amount of hemoglobin, which is part of the red blood cells since it is hemoglobin that carries oxygen to organs and tissues.

After the birth of a child, his body no longer needs such a large number of red blood cells, they collapse, releasing fetal hemoglobin, which in turn breaks down and frets bilirubin, and a large number of free bilirubin stains the mucous membranes and the skin in yellow. Physiological jaundice usually appears on 3rd, 4th days of life and disappears in 2-3 weeks.
Bilirubin is a toxic substance. The body tries to withdraw it, linking with albumin. But if there is much more bilirubin than albumin, it affects the nervous system, causing a "nuclear jaundice". In addition to physiological jaundice, there are pathological forms: Conjunctival hereditary jaundice, hemolytic neonatal disease, infectious-toxic liver jaundice.

One of the most effective methods for reducing the toxicity of bilirubin is healing with light or phototherapy.
Phototherapy is one of the procedures of physiotherapy, based on the therapeutic effect of the ultraviolet spectrum of sunlight with a wavelength of 400-550 nm.

Under the influence of the light wave of the required range, bilirubin is converted into an isomer, which body of the newborn is able to withdraw with the physiological secretions, which reduces the level of bilirubin in the blood and protects the body from its toxic effects. With this lamp, a newborn can be treated with phototherapy in a bed, lying on a special lamp coating. And if a lower-type lamp is used with a top-type lamp, this will help increase the irradiation area, and the level of bilirubin will decrease in a matter of hours. Just imagine, these little grateful kids will not suffer from the negative effects of "evil bilirubin".

There are already two phototherapy lamps for preterm infants, but this is a very small number. Many babies simply "wait in line" to get phototherapy. It should not be so! It is not possible to choose whom to be healthy, and whom not. All children should have the same chance of being healthy!

Therefore, we ask for your help in purchasing a phototherapy lamp for the department of post-intensive care and nursing of the newborn of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Hospital!