Sunday was the day the World Children’s Initiative team of pediatric cardiac catheterization specialists gave way to the surgeons.  A combined team of pediatric cardiac surgeons from DC and the Uganda Heart Institute will spend the next week doing open heart surgery on patients.  Some of the patients who had catheterization procedures last week to assess their hearts are on the list for surgery.  There was a conference on Sunday morning to review the cases for the upcoming week and to discuss the specific findings on the caths for those who had them.

There was also a debriefing of the events of the previous week of cardiac cath cases.  With both the Ugandan and WCI teams present we reviewed the positive and challenging aspects of the week.  In addition to praising all the advancements in execution by the UHI team over the week, the US physicians voiced the aspects of care that can be and need to be improved to continue the process of building a cardiac center of excellence.  The Ugandan cardiologists and UHI administrators seemed appreciative of and receptive to the constructive criticism.  It was a very collegial meeting.

WCI & UHI staffs chatting after the conference.

Once the official business was over, the cath team took time to bid farewell to the physicians, nurses and other staff we had worked with during the week.  They all expressed their gratitude for our time and efforts and look forward to welcoming us back for our next clinical service and training trip.

Samaritan’s Purse Dinner

The last scheduled activity of the trip was a farewell/welcome dinner sponsored by partner organization, Samaritan’s Purse.  The cath team got to say our goodbyes to their representatives who had helped us by providing lunches, snacks, and interpreters among other support throughout the previous week.  The surgical team was able to meet the people they would be seeing all week.  Those of us who were catching the flight out of Entebbe that evening were able to fill our stomachs on tasty Ugandan food before embarking on our 24 hour journey home.  The week in Uganda was emotional, educational and humbling.  It was the privilege of the WCI team to go the UHI and do what we can to help children play harder and live longer.