Dawn Pickett with Jim Phillips, Brigetta Overcash, Megan Barone and Donna Barber, in a demonstration of how a baby would be resuscitated while in the hospital’s newest Panda Resuscitation Table donated by several funds held by WCA Foundation. Photo by Joel Marsh

Grants from WCA Foundation affect the delivery of health care to patients throughout UPMC Chautauqua which it directly supports.

One of those grants enables the maternity department of the hospital to assure a warm start to every infant’s life through the use of a Panda Resuscitation Table. It was provided by grants from the Dennis P. Bush Memorial Fund, the Verland and Doris Danielson Fund, the Elizabeth Warner Marvin funds, the Patricia and James Phillips Fund, the Dale C. and Rebecca I. Robbins Fund and the Allen I. and Barbara B. Yahn Fund, which are held at WCA Foundation.

The Panda Resuscitation Table is equipped to be a standalone life support unit for an infant at birth.

“We start with the infant in the operating room then they are transported to the nursery. The specialized table has everything you need,” said Donna Barber, Maternity Unit Manager at UPMC Chautauqua. “It is used for every birth because it has a nice work area for many hands to do the work needed.

“The table helps the workers because it weighs and warms the baby and has oxygen. With all deliveries there is always a risk of the baby needing resuscitation at the time of delivery. The Panda Resuscitation Table provides all the equipment to resuscitate the baby right there, right then,” Barber said. “It is also used to maintain the baby while waiting for higher level of care transport. When we open the new maternity unit being built, I want to have one in every room. We need two more of the $15,000 units so every labor room is equipped with one.”

“The things we do for patients, you don’t do for recognition. So often it comes back to you,” Barber said. “One Christmas I was helping with a delivery and the patient’s mother said, ‘You were with me when I delivered her!’ That’s when it is most rewarding. I had helped with three generations of that family. These are the things that are rewarding and help you know you are making a difference.”