GRASEBY MR10 APNOEA ALARMS
NARA have used Graseby MR10 monitors since 1984. They are fully portable which means they can be used not only in a cot but wherever you want to take baby. Proven over many years of use to bring complete reliability to infant monitoring both in hospital, ideal for in the home and on the move. The MR10 is a single channel respiration monitor with a choice of a 10 or 20 second apnoea delay. A breathing signal is picked up by the soft, foam filled Sensor (Respiration Sensor) attached to the infant’s abdomen. During breathing, expansion of the abdominal wall causes a small amount of air to pass through the Sensor and tube to the Monitor. During breathing the Monitor will also make an audible click and give a simultaneous visual indication. If the selected alarm time (20sec.) is breached (i.e. if no breath is detected after 20sec.) an audio-visual alarm is triggered.
Sadly, our trusted MR10’s is being phased out as they are no longer being manufactured. This is a big wrench for us as a charity as these are the reason NARA exist, but we look forward, trialling new equipment to replace the terrific work that the MR10 did and thank it for all the lives saved.
PULSEGUARD
For the last few years we have been trialling a new piece of equipment, called a PulseGuard. This equipment is based around a mini iPad and sensor strap and covers a wider range of conditions than apnoea alone, but apnoea can be caused by many complex conditions, so this has meant we have been able to help more very sick babies and children with such conditions. The results so far from parents using these are very positive and all are now using them happily without the support of the MR10. Although this is good, these machines come at a high cost which means we are not able to help as many babies and children as we would like.
TRIALLING
We are still looking and trialling other equipment alongside the MR10’s we have left. We are looking for something that covers all the areas we had with the MR10, the main things being reliability and portability (babies do not just stop breathing in a cot). The whole aim of the charity is to give people a better quality of life with their condition so portable equipment is paramount for us to achieve our aims. We hope that alongside the PulseGuard we will soon find a piece of equipment that covers all the areas we need.