Reviewing equipment before the first case
Now that everyone is back in the groove of the WCI-UHI collaboration things are continuing to go well. The cath lab is busy and the UHI staff is performing procedures more independently. One of the UHI nurses gushed with appreciation for the teaching perspective with which the World Children’s Initiative providers approach doing the cases. They are excited to keep improving their skills and ability to care for sick children. One of the WCI cath lab nurses who has made several training trips commented on the improvement in the skill level and the confidence among the UHI nurses that he sees each year. WCI’s Dr. Ratnayaka was equally pleased to be able to take more of a supervisory role as UHI’s Dr. Lubega performs the catheterizations. It is rewarding to see the development of the independent cardiac catheterization program WCI envisioned when we started working with UHI.
Lincoln in the pediatric ward.
Today was the last day of catheterizations strictly for evaluation of disease. Some of the kids will go on to get surgery to correct their heart problems. It is amazing that some of these families have to travel seventeen hours to see a specialist and get life-saving treatment. Lincoln, one of the children from our first day of catheterizations, lives so far away from the hospital he and his mother will stay at the Uganda Heart Institute for at least another week before he has heart surgery. After that, he will be admitted for as long as it takes for him to recover from open heart surgery. While that seems like a burden to those of us in the U.S., it is still better than the alternative of no treatment or flying to another country to get the necessary therapy.
Christine is scheduled for a treatment procedure later this week.
Thankfully, there are some heart defects that can be fixed forever in a minimally invasive way. Starting on Wednesday, the cath team will start performing therapeutic procedures that can heal hearts and extend lives. Being able to get that type of procedure done in one’s own country is a benefit we in the U.S. take for granted. UHI is working diligently with their cardiac catheterization program to make that a reasonable possibility for the children of Uganda. WCI is doing what we can to assist UHI in helping the children of Uganda play harder and live longer.
