New Mattress donated by Willetts

Hospice Eastern Bay of Plenty’s latest addition to their equipment collection is a high tech mattress specially designed for preventing and treatment of pressure injuries in high risk patients, kindly donated by the team at Willett’s.

From left: Peter Bassett (Hospice CEO), Steve Butler (Willetts Owner), Pare Corkran (Clinical Services Manager), Kyle Mercer & Kylee Richardson (funeral directors from Willetts), Anna Foley (Palliative Care Nurse)

Pare Corkran, Clinical Services Manager, is thrilled to have an additional mattress for patients. “Our equipment supply is small due to our limited funding resource, and we have to adhere to strict criteria for equipment access to make sure there's enough to go around. Having this mattress in our equipment inventory will make a huge difference in providing relief, comfort and healing to many patients and their families.”

Hospice’s CEO Peter Bassett has expressed sincere thanks on the behalf of the organisation. “As a partially funded non-profit, we rely heavily on the support and initiative of organisations, individuals and volunteers to keep this service running free of charge. We are so grateful to Willetts Funeral Services for their thoughtful and generous donation, improving the quality of life for our patients at a difficult time.”

The “Aeria 8 Pro Dynamic Alternating Mattress Replacement System” is a specialised system made of rows of cells which alternately inflate and deflate, regulated by an electronic control unit with a range of settings. The changing of these cells dramatically improves comfort and good circulation. Used for people who people who spend a lot of time in bed because of their medical condition, this lowers the chance of pressure ulcers. Also known as “bedsores”, pressure ulcers most commonly occur on skin that covers bony areas of the body and are a common risk for patients with a life shortening illness.