Value of a Lifebox

Anaesthesia without a pulse oximeter is like flying a plane without a radar, or skydiving without an emergency parachute.  Would you?

At Lifebox®, we believe that everyone is entitled to safer anaesthesia and surgery.  So patient by patient, hospital by hospital, country by country, we’re closing the pulse oximetry gap.

But we’ve got zero interest sending machines that are heading straight for the ‘equipment graveyard’, so we follow some very important steps…

 

Computers sitting in an equipment warehouseIntelligent design: up to 70% of medical equipment in low-resource settings is out of use. Wrong plug, wrong temperature, wrong environment.  These are expensive purchases, or generous donations – and they’re useless.

 

 

Surgery by torch light at Juba Teaching Hospital_2010_SudanOur machine responds to the challenges it’ll face every working day in low-resource settings. Robust, re-batteries the screen stays on even when the lights go out.

 

 

 

AAGBI donation, Black Lion, Addis_2011_Ethiopia_chain of hope (1)And when the anaesthesia provider in a rural hospital has a question, our multi-language education materials sent with each box help guide safer decisions.

 

 

 

Needs assessment screenshotThe Lifebox® needs assessment ensures we send the right number of oximeters to the frontline of the crisis in unsafe surgery.

 

 

 

Mozambique_questions from the audienceBut equipment doesn’t save lives; the people who use it do. Most of our oximeters get delivered through large-scale training workshops, building community support, professional leaders – and empowered, educated teams.

 

 

Zambia delegate mapHow do we know? Because we’re part of a global community working to make surgery safer, and we talk to our colleagues. Email, by phone, in person – we stay in touch, making sure the oximeters keep working and the training stays current.