Thursday, November 20, 2008

Back in Rwanda


Team Heart members Ceeya Patton-Bolman, Suellen Breakey and Kayla Quinn (above) are back in Rwanda this week, working alongside and learning from Australia's Operation Open Heart Team, which is performing life-saving heart surgery on Rwandan children at King Faisal Hospital.

Ceeya writes:

Our small team of three arrived in Kigali last week to join Operation Open Heart. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to evaluate our educational goals for next April and synchronize with the Australian team. The supplies we left here are intact, and the unit looks great with Brigham-donated monitors. Many thanks to Kumar and his Kigali-based team of bio-meds.

We are having a wonderful time meeting up with old friends and colleagues, and we were delighted to see two of our patients doing well. A highlight was seeing Erneste reunite with his dad for the first time in six months upon our arrival at the airport. He was VERY happy, as he says! I visited a potential boarding school with him and was pleased with the emphasis on academics and good physical facilities. Both will be good for him. Read the full post.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear things are going well! Erneste looks happy and healthy. Nice pics Kayla. All of you take care.
-Denise

Unknown said...

Hi!!

My name is Sean Mitchell, I'm an Australian medical student in Rwanda at the moment. It was great to get up to Kigali and see you guys in action. A very worthy cause!

Do you have any statistics on the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in Rwanda, or info on any current management plans in the country? I would be most grateful for any help you could offer!

Warm Regards,
Sean Mitchell
s4028906@student.uq.edu.au