donation to the South Cariboo Health Foundation (SCHF).
Acute care nurse manager Patti Boyd says the Bipap can be used to great benefit when people suffer from Chronic Obstructive Puliminary Disease (COPD).
"This can save them from having to actually be intubated and on a ventilator - it's kind of the step before."
The bipap differs significantly from an oxygen mask, but she says it basically pressurizes and regulates the patient's airflow.
"That's one of the benefits of it, it is noninvasive. It's just the mask that they put on, and it helps with their breathing. It gives them a rest because they are not fighting to [breathe]."
Preventing or delaying intubation is a main goal of the hospital nurses, she explains, but they also really like the Bipap because it's easy to use.
"As soon as we intubate someone and put them on a ventilator, we have to send them out. They can't stay in 100 Mile, they need to go to an ICU [Intensive Care Unit]."
Usually COPD is related to emphysema and some breathing disorders resulting from heavy smoking, but Boyd adds the Bipap is also sometimes used in cases of acute pneumonia.
There is an older model at the local hospital, and Boyd notes she has worked with other Bipaps in the past, but this updated model is the best she's used.
"These masks are more comfortable for the patient. Bipaps can be really uncomfortable - they can cover your whole face, they can be claustrophobic."
SCHF co-ordinator M-J Cousins says when SCHF accumulates funds for equipment purchases, each proposal is first developed by senior Interior Health managers at the hospital. Once they approve it in principal, it then goes to the Cariboo-Chilcotin Regional Hospital District (CCRHD) board for the go-ahead for joint funding.
"Our shopping list is pre-approved by the time it comes to the foundation board."
Any SCHF hospital equipment purchases over $5,000 are made with 60 per cent of its own funds, she explains, and 40 per cent CCRHD funding.
The Bipap purchase cost of $24,063 was covered by a charitable community member's anonymous donation of $14,438 and CCRHD funding of $9,625.
"The health foundation is extremely grateful to the anonymous donor who made this equipment purchase possible. This is not her first anonymous donation, we got another big piece of equipment from her before. It is very generous."