Life saving gift by local community trust

The Pink Silks Trust has presented a crucial piece of medical equipment to Coffs Harbour Health Campus' recently refurbished Intensive Care Unit.

CHHC Intensive Care Unit's Nicole Pymont and Anthony Searle with the $60,000 Prismaflex and Pink Silks Committee members Stacy Jessup, Alison Blanshard and (right) Chair Tanya Johnson. Picture: Lynn Lelean

ONE of Coffs Harbour's hardest working health charities, the Pink Silks Trust has presented a crucial piece of medical equipment to Coffs Harbour Health Campus' recently refurbished Intensive Care Unit.

The trust's gift, a $60,000 Prismaflex unit, acts much the same way as the body's kidney function.

The machine pumps blood from a critically ill patient through a filter and back into the patient's circulatory system.

The donation brings the Trust's community fundraising efforts over the past 12 years to $850,000, with Coffs Harbour Health Campus and its patients being one of the major beneficiaries.

Pink Silks Committee Chair Tanya Johnson said the donation would not have been possible without community support for the Trust's fundraisers, including last October's Ladies and Tradies function.

"We want to thank everyone who supported that event, from the tradies and businesses who auctioned their services to the patrons who not only made the night a wonderful social success, but also an amazingly successful fundraiser," she said.

"The result was a combined effort from all the businesses and people of our community wanting to make a difference in the lives of others."

ICU Nursing Unit Manager Nicole Pymont said she and her colleagues never ceased to be amazed by the generosity of the Coffs community and the hard work of the Pink Silks Committee, particularly where its donations have helped the hospital's and the Mid North Coast Cancer Institute's patients.

"We are indebted to the Pink Silks. They work tirelessly to help improve the health outcomes of locals," Ms Pymont said.

"Their hard work directly benefits the Coffs Coast community, and it would be impossible to put a value on the impact of their support on hundreds of patients over the past dozen years.

"Thank you seems such an insignificant and inadequate response to the trust's latest donation, but we are truly grateful. The Prismaflex will make a huge difference in our recently expanded ICU department and, quite simply, you can't put a dollar value on that kind of support."