WHO IS HEALING HEARTS NORTHWEST?

Healing Hearts Northwest is a fully equipped medical-surgical team from Sacred Heart, Deaconess and Kootenai Medical Centers who will perform 15 cardiac surgeries on young adults afflicted with rheumatic heart disease. We are led by Dr. Hal Goldberg, Cardiologist and Drs. Leland Siwek and Neil Worrall, Cardiothoracic Surgeons. We are one of three medical mission programs invited to perform cardiac surgery on a rotating quarterly basis by King Faisal Hospital’s Director General.

We are traveling to Kigali, Rwanda this February for a Medical Mission with Healing Hearts Northwest (HHNW) to help rebuild the Rwandan healthcare system. Seventy-five percent of the Rwandan medical community was murdered or fled the country during the 1994 genocide, resulting in the destruction of their existing medical systems of hospitals, medical schools and trained medical personnel. Thus, Rwandan physicians founded the Health Development Initiative (HDI), an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization. HDI has partnered with UJAMA, a diverse group of Spokane physicians, including HHNW, to help eradicate rheumatic heart disease. Rheumatic heart disease, one of the most common medical problems in Africa, leaves young adults suffering for years, on the brink of death as a result of injured heart valves from untreated strep throat. Rwanda lacks the resources to deliver chronic interventions, such as penicillin, and the operations to save the most critical patients since they only have 2.5 cardiologists and zero cardiothoracic surgeons for 10 million Rwandans.

In collaboration with UJAMAA, King Faisal Hospital in Kigali and the Rwandan Ministry of Health, HHNW aims to develop a comprehensive program to address prevention and treatment of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease and also help King Faisal Hospital set up a self-sustaining cardiac surgery program to serve the thousands of Rwandans desperately in need of life-saving heart surgery.

During our two-week stay in February, HHNW will work side-by-side with doctors, nurses and staff educating and mentoring them in anesthesia, cardiac surgery and post-operative care. Our 40 member team consists of cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, anesthetists, an operating room team, CICU nurses, telemetry nurses and other support staff. We are paying our own way and using vacation time to serve, but as you can imagine, prosthetic heart valves, ventilators, and every single piece of medical equipment from cardiopulmonary bypass machines to gauze will not be cheap. And then we have to fly it to Rwanda.

Even though HHNW is applying for grants, there are many ways you can help us achieve our goals. Gifts of cash, medical equipment and medications, medical journals and nursing textbooks or fundraising sponsorship are appreciated and go a long way in making our effort successful. With your donation, many medical personnel will receive quality training. Your contribution will not only help make Healing Hearts Northwest’s initial trip a success, but also help guarantee that we may continue returning to Rwanda to provide ongoing supplies, education and training until staff at King Faisal Hospital are able to support their own cardiac surgery program.