Bury St Edmunds: Vital equipment bought by swine flu family

The family of a young mother who lost her battle with swine flu visited West Suffolk Hospital to see the equipment which has been purchased with �20,000 raise in her memory.

Sarah Applin died at the hospital in January 2011.

Following her death, her husband Richard and parents Barry and Jane Waterman spearheaded a major campaign to raise money to buy a specialist electric profiling bed for the Critical Care Unit.

The bed helps provide therapy to patients with critical illnesses to speed up their recovery.

Particularly useful for those with severe lung conditions, it can be set in many positions and can rotate and turn patients to help reduce complications.

Although enough money has been raised for the bed, the Applin family are keeping the fund open to any further donations.

Dr Jon Cardy, clinical director for A&E and consultant in critical care medicine, said: “We are extremely grateful to Sarah’s family and everyone who has been involved in raising this money.

“As well as offering complete flexibility to move patients into a variety of positions for comfort, these electric profiling beds are invaluable for providing rotational, percussion and vibration therapies which can make as valuable a contribution to a patients recovery as antibiotics and other conventional treatments.

“We are delighted that thanks to the generosity of Sarah’s family and friends, even more patients will be able to benefit by receiving care on these beds in the future.”