Michael Magro Foundation Donates VeinViewer Imaging System to Winthrop

Mineola, NY – Thanks to the Michael Magro Foundation in Hicksville, children hospitalized at the Hagedorn Pediatric Inpatient Center at Winthrop-University Hospital will have the benefit of amazing new technology that allows healthcare professionals to view veins through the skin, which facilitates easier and more successful experiences with IVs and blood tests.

The Michael Magro Foundation recently donated a new VeinViewer Imaging System by Luminetx ™ – the first and only patented technology to locate subcutaneous veins and project real-time images of their location onto the surface of the skin. With the patient’s vasculature illuminated, clinicians have the ability to visualize the location of the target area regardless of the patient's age, body type or skin tone.

The VeinViewer uses a combination of near-infrared light and patented technologies to image vascular structures. During prototype development, the device was recognized by TIME magazine as one of the most innovative medical inventions of the year.

“No matter whether a child is admitted to the hospital for a serious condition or a not-so-serious one, blood tests and intravenous treatments are always a major concern for the patient and their parents,” said Dr. Warren Rosenfeld, Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at Winthrop. “The donation of the VeinViewer by the Michael Magro Foundation goes a long way toward making blood work and IVs a lot less stressful for children and parents alike.”

The Michael Magro Foundation was established by the Magro family in honor of Michael Magro, who passed away in July 2004 after a courageous battle with leukemia. The Foundation has donated X-Box game consoles and game cartridges, as well as portable televisions with stands to the Hagedorn Pediatric Inpatient Center at Winthrop, so that children in treatment have the opportunity to play games that allow them to relax and escape for a little while, as well as arts and crafts supplies and books.

The Foundation also provides support and recreational respite to children being treated at Winthrop’s Cancer Center for Kids and their families. The Foundation makes grants to families in hardship, and provides gift cards to area movie theatres, restaurants, Blockbuster stores, gas stations, and more in order to enable families to get out and relax.
For Terrie Magro, donating to the Hospital, its pediatric patients and their families means honoring the memory of her young son who loved helping others. “Michael was good-hearted,” she said. “He would be so happy to know that we are helping other people now – because that is just what he would have wanted to do himself.”

Terrie and her husband Paul dealt with two major blows the year that Michael died. “Just months before, our son Marc had been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease,” Terrie remembers. Marc is now almost three years post-treatment and is deeply involved in the Foundation’s activities.

For more information about the Michael Magro Foundation, call Terrie Magro at (516) 633-5341 or visit www.michaelmagrofoundation.com. For more information about Winthrop’s Hagedorn Pediatric Inpatient Center call 1-866-WINTHROP.