Mackenzie arrived.....February 4, 2013

This morning began bright and early at King Faisal Hospital in Kigali for many members of team. Today, surgery begins! The patients have been screened, evaluated, and carefully selected.  Though there are still decisions to be made and some factors to consider for individual patients, the team has set the surgery schedule for the week and patients have begun to filter into the hospital. It’s a day of hazy sunshine with a perfect breeze, the kind that feels like the first day of summer back home, and everyone is smiling.   Jetlagged, exhausted, but smiling—there is a palpable current of pride and purpose in the room where Team Heart has taken over.

The hospital itself is surrounded by some incredible views of Rwanda. There is an open air walkway all along the outside of each floor of the hospital; hazy mountains seem hundreds of miles away, and local men and women farm the land, for potato crops we think, just beyond the hospital property. In between, there is a fascinating mix of sights.  Modest homes with corrugated metal roofs, a sweeping golf course, government buildings, a palatial private residence, and a lake are just a handful of things that fill the countryside. 

Inside the ICU where the team has set up shop, there is a stillness and real sense of anticipation as we await the first patient.  The first surgery of the trip has just finished, and at any moment our first patient will be wheeled in for post op care.  The surgeons come in first, and we’re told that the surgery went well.  Everyone seems relieved, but anxious to begin work! A calm before the storm, they know. This will be the first  patient of 16 over the next week or two, and this ICU room will become increasingly more hectic.

The first patient is wheeled through the door, and Team Heart is all smiles.  The room is quite suddenly bustling and one of the talented surgeons says “First one down…It means everything is working. More or less!” We all get a kick out of the “more or less”.

The mobility here is amazing.  The volunteers have set up what is essentially a portable post op unit, and the team tells me that much of what I see in that ICU room has been brought and donated by Team Heart over the years.  Suitcases and backpacks are stuffed under every surface in the room, a pharmacy is set up on two folding tables set in an “L” shape, and about 20 people have converged around the patient to get him connected to all the machines and monitored. 

The patient is stable, and the anesthesiologist reports on what happened in the operating room.  What we’re seeing is part of a program called ‘PAUSE’, and it is intended to ensure that everyone involved with the patient care is on the same page.  It’s meant to encourage open dialogue between team members and ensure that no detail is overlooked; there’s a real sense of unity and a common goal of success as everyone gathers around to discuss this surgery and the plan of care going forward.

One down, 15 to go!  I met 2 more patients on Team heart’s list today—stay tuned!