Telethon $10 million grant brings revolutionary technology closer to home for sick WA kids

Paediatric care in WA is set to be transformed thanks to a $10 million Telethon investment at Perth Children’s Hospital.

The funding will provide the hospital with cutting-edge equipment and facilities that allow seriously ill children to receive the best care possible.

The big-money investment will be used to buy, among other things, a PET-CT scanner, ending the need to send kids to undergo the scans at Charles Gairdner Hospital; an MRI scanner, which will help some 5000 children who require these scans each year; and WA’s first three-dimensional gait analysis lab.

The lab’s specialist technology offers orthopaedic surgeons important insights into movement issues in a range of patients.

It means children like Claire Hewitt no longer have to travel to Melbourne to get access to this equipment.

Claire was diagnosed with cerebral palsy shortly after birth and was one of about 10 children referred to Melbourne each year.

“It was hard,” the 12-year-old said of her 2022 trip. “My mum and my nan kept pushing me to get up, but I knew why they wanted me to get up ... to not get too stuck in one position.”

Claire’s mum Jackie Hewitt said being assessed locally would make things so much easier for families like hers.

“It means that they can come up, they can get the scan done, and then they can continue on to where they need to go,” she said.

“If they’re flying in from rural WA you’ve got the support of the Ronald McDonald House and everything else for them to be able to stay the night and be able to turn around and then go home the next day.”

PCH orthopaedic surgeon and Cerebral Palsy Mobility Service co-director Kate Stannage said the equipment was “absolutely essential”.

“We’re trying to keep kids on their feet and walking as they enter into adult life,” she said.

“So just like you wouldn’t want a neurosurgeon doing a brain operation without an MRI scan of their brain, you wouldn’t want to have an orthopaedic surgeon operating on a child’s gait, or walking, without this walking test or 3D gait analysis.”

Dr Stannage said the gait lab would also be used to help children who’d had amputations, suffered sports-knee injuries and those with other neuromuscular conditions.

Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the hospital would go from putting about 10 kids through the analysis each year, to more than 100.

“This incredibly generous donation from Telethon will genuinely change the lives of many of our patients,” Ms Sanderson said.

This year’s Telethon weekend, where the entire State will unite to raise money for WA’s most sick and vulnerable kids, will be held on the weekend of October 19 and 20. It will shown live on 7 and 7+. To donate, click here.