BRANCH REPORTS
IHEA VIC/TAS BRANCH REPORT
T
he branch Committee of Management met on 27th October to map out the next 3 months events, given the State is emerging from the COVID lockdowns to a COVID-normal state we are looking at opportunities to meet face to face again.
had up to 90 COVID in-patients drawing down large volumes of oxygen, coupled with the colder climate of Melbourne the bulk oxygen evaporators are working overtime to supply the volume required, and icing of the evaporators, which would trigger low flow alarms.
November 26th
So what did we do?
• Holyoake Case study on supplying a CARES unit to Royal Brisbane Hospital • Branch AGM • Social catch up at Castle hotel
One of the benefits of our bulk oxygen set up is that we have N+1 evaporators, so a short term simple solution was for the engineering team to schedule evaporator changeovers every 3 days to allow for thawing out / de-icing. Our long-term solution engineered by Operations Manager, Jamie Robinson, was to simplify the process and engineer out the problem by setting up a simple de-icing cycle using over the counter sprinkler components circuit to come on at night and warm up the evaporators. The system can be programed for longer more frequent amounts of water in winter where the ambient temperature drops below 5c and icing is more prevalent We all have oxygen enclosures of various sizes and configurations, as seen in photos below, and maybe this simple solution could be easily adapted to suit your enclosure.
Early 2022 (TBC) • Annual social event • Site visit to the Melbourne Metro Project, Parkville Station. As I write this report the local COVID patient numbers continue to increase in Victoria, this has presented a number of challenges for hospital engineers and facility managers in areas such as ventilation, patient transports (internal ward to ward and hospital to home) food services and oxygen demand and flow. Currently The Royal Melbourne Hospital bulk oxygen enclosure, feeds five hospitals of various size (RMH, Peter Mac, RWH, Frances Perry, and Melbourne Private). We have
Michael McCambridge Vic-Tas Branch President
Echuca Hospital Oxygen Enclosure
The Royal Melbourne Hospital Oxygen Enclosure
Epworth Geelong Oxygen Enclosure
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