Pequeno Príncipe will have a new ICU with eight beds
The resources for the new wing are being donated by Volkswagen through the “Paraná Competitivo” program, sponsored by the State Government
The largest exclusively pediatric hospital in Brazil, Pequeno Príncipe now has 68 beds in intensive care units, the ICUs. These beds are divided into Neonatal ICU, Cardiology ICU, Surgical ICU and General ICU. What the four units have in common is that they receive patients who are in serious condition or who are recovering from major and complex surgeries.
The Volkswagen company will donate US$ 960,000 to the Hospital, through the Paraná Competitivo program, of the State Government, for the implementation of a new ICU, which will have eight beds. Paraná Competitivo is one of the main investment attraction programs for the state, which offers well-structured benefits to large industries, supported by law. The program has a series of measures, such as extending deadlines for ICMS payment (abbreviation in Portuguese for a Brazilian income related to the circulation of goods and the provision of services), incentives for improving infrastructure, foreign trade, reducing bureaucracy and professional training.
With the eight new beds, the Hospital will increase its capacity to care for boys and girls in critical health situations by 11%.
The Pequeno Príncipe ICUs are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, such as high-precision respirators, machines for hemodialysis in the bed, portable X-rays, infusion pumps that make it possible to strictly control the entry of medication through the vein, even in very small, weighing less than a kilo, and ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), a device that acts as a lung and heart, keeping the patient alive when these essential organs are not working. They also have highly specialized multiprofessional teams, made up of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, nutritionists, psychologists, among others.
Wesllen fought for his life in the Cardiology ICU
Wesllen Nunes, a 17-year-old teenager, felt his heart racing and sought medical help in early November 2022. From the health center, he was referred to the Pequeno Príncipe ICU. In addition to the severe arrhythmia, doctors discovered that the heart’s function was compromised. He had cardiac arrest and was on the heart transplant line.
As the situation was very serious, while waiting for a heart to be donated, Wesllen spent 16 days on ECMO. The teenager still needed hemodialysis and state-of-the-art medicines to be kept alive.
“I did not know if he was going to make it out of that alive. The team fighting all the time, everyone dedicating themselves. All I could do was to thank the team,” declares her mother, Raquel Nunes. On November 24th, a heart was donated to Wesllen. “The first thing I did when the doctor told me was to kneel in the ICU and thank God for giving my son a second chance,” she says. The transplant was performed, and the recovery surprised everyone. In total, he was hospitalized for 36 days in the Cardiology ICU of Pequeno Príncipe.
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