We completed our time out at the small Kapsowar Mission hospital in northwestern Kenya where our focus was training that hospital group in basic cardiology and working with their Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) school screening program. We now have traveled south to Eldoret and the 1000 bed Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) . It provides service to millions of patients with no or minimal insurance. Here we met up with 3 more members of our team, total of 7, to teach procedures that treat severe mitral stenosis, a progressive narrowing of the mitral valve which kills thousands of young Kenyan’s, predominately women, in their adolescence or early adulthood.
While we were at Kapsowar, Perpetua came for her follow-up visit. She is doing very well and has grown inches since we were here in November.
Below is our team working with the Kenyan team learning the procedure. The C shaped x-ray machine wraps around the patient allowing us to visualize the wires and catheters in the heart. 10-15 people in the room to learn their roles was not unusual. The staff at this public hospital appreciated praying for the patient pre-procedure.
The following picture is Colleen working with the OR staff nurse, Alice, teaching the multiple tasks that she does to keep the patient safe and make procedural equipment available. She and her team are the first to identify instability as they work with anesthesia to keep ahead of problems during the case. She is loved and appreciated by the staff and is considered the “mother nurse”
Dr Akwanalo , in the photo below is doing a case with me and intently following the catheters in the heart on the fluoroscopy screen. When I was a young doctor, he was a hard working rural Kenyan school boy bringing water up from the river to sprinkle on the dusty, dirt floor of his elementary school. He is now a Kenyan board certified cardiologist and doing this difficult mitral valve dilation procedure with minimal help.
Eunice and Mary (picture taken with permission) one day post-procedure. Mary, on the right was the sickest weighing only 70 lbs. at age 23. Her heart could no longer effectively circulate nutrients to nourish her cells even though food was available to her (a condition we call cardiac cachexia). Note her stick thin arms. Her 2 hour procedure was successful and she will gain weight and strength quickly.
Our final picture is with most of the US team and Kenyan cardiology team. Looks like we are getting out of jail but this is the supply room next to our cardiology theater (OR) room. We are scheduled to return again to MTRH in November and after that teaching trip they should be fairly independent with this procedure. We have great group of young US cardiology specialist who come on these trips to share training.
Colleen and I get an opportunity to pray with these patients and encourage them to make a difference in the world around them with the extended lives they now have. We are grateful to God for this opportunity to encourage the multicounty teams and the wonderful patients. Grace and peace, R and C
