OPERATION OPEN HEART
Operation Open Heart first visited Papua New Guinea in 1993.
Work begins before the team arrives, with local doctors spending many hours screening patients. The screening in rural areas has now been significantly improved for both adult and paediatric teams now having access to portable echo machines. Better selection ensured that less suitable patients were not being transported to Port Moresby and then not being able to have surgery.
The Port Moresby General Hospital, through its own fundraising program, provides the finance for patient accommodation and transport from PNG’s most remote areas.
A team of approximately 50 volunteers is warmly welcomed each year to the country by the PNG Ministry of Health and local media. Sadly the need for specialist cardiac surgery continues to outweigh the work that the team can contribute, both in finance and time. In conjunction with the local staff, the team completes the sometimes heart wrenching work of determining those patients most suitable for surgery.
Under the guidance of the Operation Open Heart team, locally bases cardiac staff are now able to perform some cardiac surgery without the teams assistance which is a satisfying development for all those involved.
Visit the team’s blog on their most recent trip by clicking here.
To support the on-going work of Operation Open Heart in Papua New Guinea, please visit our HealthCare Outreach Donations page.
TRUE STORY
Bainam is 8 months old, and had a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) which is a hole in the muscular wall between two of the chambers (ventricles) in the heart. Without corrective surgery, heart failure was likely for Bainam as his heart and lungs struggle with the high blood flow. Bainam’s surgery was not without incident – a power failure at the hospital midway through the operation cut power to the critical heart-lung machine keeping Bainam alive while the surgeons repaired his heart. For 45 minutes, the team “hand cranked” the machine to keep it running without electricity while the surgeons operated via torch light, and hospital engineers raced to restore power.
Thankfully, the surgery was a success, however Bainam had severe fluid overload and had to remain in Intensive Care with the help of a ventilator to breathe for longer than the team expected. Bainam’s condition remained serious when the team left, and he was left in the care of the local staff and a visiting anaesthetist. About 10 days after returning home, the team received news that Bainam’s condition had significantly improved and he was well on the road to recovery.
“I can tell you, we all felt so happy and relieved to hear that Bainam was okay! It just reinforced that the work we do for programs such as Operation Open Heart is worth it and that we do make a difference to the community.”
Nicola Tsang
What is one special memory you have from the trips you have been involved in?
One of my thousand special memories that I hold dear to my heart, is a simple thank you that I received from a patient’s mother - there was a tear in her eye and a smile that could stop a war.
Kyra Thompson, Cardiac RN
Recent Trips
July 2010: Operation Open Heart - 39 open heart surgery cases completed while teaching local PNG surgeons. 25 closed heart surgeries were performed by local PNG surgeons after years of teaching by the OOH team
May 2009: Operation Open Heart - 34 children received life changing surgery & 17 adult lives were transformed
June 2008: Operation Open Heart - 400 children underwent pre-operative screening, with 60 undergoing surgery
