Citizens of the New South Wales (Australia) town of Canowindra took the unusual step of using crowdfunding to raise money to purchase a Sonosite Edge ultrasound for their rural hospital.
Crowdfunding is a method for raising money through small donations from a large number of people, usually through the Internet. Although smaller-scale fundraising for medical causes has a long history in Canowindra, the town was able to quickly and effectively raise money for the ultrasound machine through GoFundMe, a popular crowdfunding website.
The Canowindra Hospital first learned of Sonosite ultrasound machines through an educational ultrasound workshop hosted at another facility, roughly an hour’s drive away.
After the online fundraising efforts were launched, locals were still surprised to see how quickly the funds were raised. Donations ranged from $5 to $5,000 (AUS) and came from around the world. Even after the funds were raised, the machine’s purchase still needed to be approved by the POCUS Committee of the Western New South Wales Local Health District.
“With the explosion of clinician-performed ultrasound, it’s important to ensure that recognized standards of [POCUS] practice are being met to ensure patient safety,” explains Dr. Shamus Shepherd, a member of the Committee who enthusiastically supported the hospital’s purchase of the Sonosite Edge.
“Cost and portability, as well as Sonosite’s after-sales service experience, were the defining considerations [in the Committee’s purchase approval]. I recommended the Edge as it is easy to use, durable, and well proven in POCUS,” says Dr. Shepherd, who previously served as the Director of Emergency Medicine at Liverpool Hospital (NSW) for 2 years, and who has worked with ultrasound in the point-of-care setting for 17 years.
The Canowindra hospital is now equipped with a Sonosite Edge, which can be used for a wide variety of POCUS exams.
