I got back yesterday p.m. The trip was an unbelievable experience, probably the most intense and powerful of my life. We operated on 11 Rwandan patients, who came from the four corners of the country. Fortunately, despite extremely challenging conditions and various equipment shortages and breakdowns, they all survived and are doing well.These are some of the very most forgotten and disadvantaged people that could be found anywhere. One young man was personally driven to the hospital by Paul Farmer from the refugee camp where he lives in the eastern part of Rwanda. All the patients had huge hearts, and very late stage disease, which was it's own challenge. Our visit coincided with the 14th anniversary of the genocide, so alot of stuff like restaurants, the hotel gym and pool, etc. were closed for the entire week.
The Rwandan nurses and doctors and staff were very helpful, to the limit of their training and background. Our team of 35 people all worked very hard, and, believe it or not, we need a few more to do this without overworking certain elements of the team. It was a remarkable time, and I think everyone found it quite transforming and moving. There was so much we did not know, and to have it ultimately go so well is very gratifying for all of us.
The patients were so brave- they had absolutely no frame of reference for this, as no one in Rwanda has previously had heart surgery, and they let us do huge operations on them. On top of that, we did not even speak their language. They were also quite stoic after surgery. All the patients lost family members in the genocide, some lost their entire families. They, as well as our hosts in the hospital and the Ministry of Health of Rwanda, were all exceedingly grateful to the team for giving them some hope. All in all, an experience unlike any other. As my friend and scrub nurse from Minnesota said, it seemed as if we had been preparing for this for our whole careers.
The members of Team Heart performed above and beyond the call of duty, by any measure I can think of, and all in an environment that was consistently outside their comfort zone, in terms of equipment, communication, monitoring, you name it. I know no one really wants or needs any credit or public praise for their participation, nonetheless, I would like to introduce each team member and her/his role in accomplishing the mission.
Vlad Formanek and Luigi Nascimben- Anesthesiologists
Radhika Dinavahi- Anesthesiology Fellow
These three did every case, and provided superb teaching and clinical support, including transesophageal echo with a finicky TEE probe.
The members of Team Heart performed above and beyond the call of duty, by any measure I can think of, and all in an environment that was consistently outside their comfort zone, in terms of equipment, communication, monitoring, you name it. I know no one really wants or needs any credit or public praise for their participation, nonetheless, I would like to introduce each team member and her/his role in accomplishing the mission.
Vlad Formanek and Luigi Nascimben- Anesthesiologists
Radhika Dinavahi- Anesthesiology Fellow
These three did every case, and provided superb teaching and clinical support, including transesophageal echo with a finicky TEE probe.
Gene Bukhman- Cardiologist
Pat Come- Cardiologist
Gene is 50% at Partners In Health in Rwanda, and he diagnosed and cared for the Rwandan patients. Furthermore, he selected the patients for surgery, and will be providing critical aftercare. Pat provided dedicated, highly-competent and timely cardiology support for all the patients, and helped us make decisions regarding case selection and post-op care.
Brenda Graham- Respiratory Therapist
Felix Gregorian- Respiratory Therapist
These two provided excellent support to our post-op patients, achieving early extubation in virtually all within 2-6 hours, and helping them maintain good pulmonary function.
Mike McAdams- Perfusionist
Amy Patel- Perfusionist
What can I say? They both did all the cases together. They developed successful methods to maintain patient temperature, after the heater-cooler failed. They provided consistent help and good humor, wherever needed.
Katie Morrison- OR Theatre RN
Jonnye Mastel- OR Theatre RN
These two provided great support in the Theatre, setting up, scrubbing, cleaning instruments, unpacking, packing instruments. They were great help for us and the patients, and their dedication was awesome. Jonnye came from Seattle, where she had moved from Minnesota. She was the main cardiac nurse at the U of M when I was in training and later on staff.
Jenn Loayza- Surgical Technician
Jenn was tireless in helping set up and circulate and support the cases in the Theatre.
Nurses- ICU
Susan Gabriel
Susan Hall
Lisa Kelley
Rhonda Martin
Kevin McWha
Leslie Sabatino
These guys were superb. The patients received Brigham-level care, and the Rwandan nurses received a great education.
Nurses- Ward
Marie Caulfield
Pavel Nelyubin
Kayla Quinn
Denise Ricci
Terry Roche
They provided very dedicated care, with not much equipment, and served as an amazing resource for the Rwandan nurses, patients and families.
Susan Gabriel
Susan Hall
Lisa Kelley
Rhonda Martin
Kevin McWha
Leslie Sabatino
These guys were superb. The patients received Brigham-level care, and the Rwandan nurses received a great education.
Nurses- Ward
Marie Caulfield
Pavel Nelyubin
Kayla Quinn
Denise Ricci
Terry Roche
They provided very dedicated care, with not much equipment, and served as an amazing resource for the Rwandan nurses, patients and families.
Suellen Breakey- Nurse Educator
Suellen worked with Egidia Rugwizangoga, our Rwandan nurse at BWH, to develop educational materials in the native Rwandan language, Kinyarwanda, that were a huge hit. It turned out they were the only reading materials in the hospital, and the patients and families, as well as the nurses, read them all the time. She did alot of nursing as part of her education efforts.
Jim Rawn- Cardiac Intensivist
Jim provided very disciplined care, rounded consistently with and taught the Rwandan doctors and nurses, and organized the clinical information electronically, so patient care and followup would be more facile.
Resident Surgeons
John Connell
Jose Zeballos
John worked tirelessly to care for the ICU patients, and to scrub in the Theatre, whenever possible. We finally had to make him leave and go to bed. He stayed in the ICU physically every night we operated. Jose arrived near the end of the trip to provide ICU care.
Barry Shopnick- Surgical PA
Barry was a bulldog. He was in there on every case, beginning to end. Even though Prem and I scrubbed on nearly all the cases so that we could both see all the pathology, Barry was the first assistant almost all the time, this despite not feeling the best at all times.
Jono Devasagayam- Biomed Technician.
Jono was amazing. He came from Australia, having met part of our team in October during their visit to operate on children with CHD. He provided outstanding
technical support, including setting up all the Brigham monitors that were sent over for the ICU, Theatre, and Stepdown. He's also a great guy.
Scott Chassay- service technician
Scott came to service the Sarnes heart-lung machine. He worked with Mike and Amy to keep it functional.
George Shortis- Pharmacist
Also from Australia, George is an entrepreneur who does these trips 6-8 times per year, and does whatever is necessary to help. He also provides great pharmacy support.
Surgeons
Prem Shekar
Yours Truly
We enjoyed working together in case selection, choice of procedure, and scrubbed on most cases together, at least long enough to see the critical anatomy, and to help one another as needed. Thank you, Prem. It was a pleasure and a privilege to work with you, and the patients are definitely the beneficiaries of your expertise.
Diane McCormick- Photographer
Liz Smallcomb- Writer and Video Producer
These two ladies documented the experience and were a true joy to work with. Their enthusiasm, sensitivity and class added greatly to the entire atmosphere.
Trip Coordinators
Jess Lynch
Bill Garside
These two people took care of the countless activities coordinating the non-medical side of things, from checking us into the hotel to arranging transportation, to helping unpack and pack, and many other tasks as well. Jess is my niece, and it was a joy to be with her. Bill manages the NightShift- need I say more?
Last, but certainly not least, the two great ladies who basically made this all possible: Leslie and Ceeya
Rather than try to list their respective contributions to this trip, let me say that the two of them are an incredible team, in their own right. They worked together beautifully for many months, out of the sight of almost everyone, constantly staying on task, making sure nothing was forgotten, fighting the constant procurement battles, the shipping saga, keeping us all focussed on the mission at hand.
Once they arrived in Rwanda, they got everything organized, and provided day-to-day and minute-to-minute encouragement, problem-solving, anything and everything necessary to get the job done, and done right. I have only known Leslie through this process, and I am obviously biased when it come to Ceeya, but I am tremendously proud to have done this with both of you, and know that we truly couldn't have done it without you both. Quite fittingly, at the end of the trip, the two of them ended up being the last two nurses there, working with Jim and Jose and their Rwandan counterparts to ensure a smooth handoff of all the patients. Thank you.
Thank you to all the members of Team Heart for all the great work, and for sharing this unforgettable occasion.
Chip
