TEN is the magic number today as the dream of buying a piece of specialist equipment for Ipswich Hospital has moved a step closer thanks to a pack of lions.

TEN is the magic number today as the dream of buying a piece of specialist equipment for Ipswich Hospital has moved a step closer thanks to a pack of lions.

This year's Evening Star Christmas appeal, Lifesaver, has been boosted thanks to The Lions Club of Ipswich which has agreed to donate ten per cent of the £22,000 needed to pay for the cardiac ultrasound machine.

It brings the total raised so far to more than £7330.

Lions member Laddie Doggett said he knew better than most the importance of the specialist equipment.

He said: “I had a quadruple heart bypass two-and-a-half years ago so I know about the need for these things.

“We think it's a very worthy cause to support. We like to raise money for local causes such as this.

“And the hospital needs these sorts of facilities.”

The club has raised money for the hospital in the past, providing the funding for an optical laser machine and a defibrillator.

The group's 23 members annually raise between £30,000 and £40,000 for charities.

The cash for the Lions' latest kind-hearted donation has come from a number of fundraising activities including car boot sales and quizzes.

The money will help the Star buy a cardiac ultrasound machine which helps doctors diagnose acute cardiac conditions, including heart failure, and is expected to help around 1,000 people every year in A&E.

Currently, the hospital relies on older technology such as x-rays. It has other ultrasound machines in the radiology department but often A&E patients need a scan immediately and the new machine will be on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

The state-of-the-art machine can also do other ultrasound scans besides those for the heart.

The Star is bidding to reach its £22,000 target by mid January.

Weblinks:

www.eveningstar.co.uk/lifesaver

www.ipswich-lions.anglianet.co.uk

DESPITE generous donations flooding in for Lifesaver, we still need you to help reach the £22,000 target.

There are several ways you can lend your support.

Those who would like to make a donation can send cheques made out to Lifesaver: Evening Star Christmas Appeal 2006, to 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4 1AN.

People with internet access can log onto the Star website at www.eveningstar.co.uk/lifesaver and make a donation online.

The East of England Co-operative Society is offering its members the chance to help out by using the special dividend number 977.

Shoppers can quote 977 and their own number, or use their dividend card, at the till, and the dividend payable on the purchase will be donated to the appeal.

We are also looking for people to organise fundraising events in aid of the appeal. Call Hazel Byford on 01473 324788, or e-mail hazel.byford@eveningtstar.co.uk if you would like to hold an event, and we will help you publicise it.

IPSWICH Hopsital today showed us this picture to reveal just how far technology has come since the introduction of ultrasound in medicine.

The picture was taken around 1954, at the time medical ultrasound was first introduced.

David Lewis, a consultant at Ipswich Hospital, said: “Medical ultrasound has been around for about 50 years but in emergency departments in the UK it's only really been available for about five years.

“We are gradually training all our doctors how to use ultrasound to diagnose emergency conditions.

“We run a course at the hospital which is one of only three or four in the country for focused emergency ultrasound training and we train specialists around the country.

“A growing number of emergency departments use ultrasound now, probably about 25pc, but only 5 to 10pc have machines as advanced as the one we are hoping for.”

The picture says “a sonarlike device produces pictures of the human body's soft tissues which are invisible to x-rays.”