Dominican Republic Day Six
Day six is upon us! This week in the Dominican Republic would not have been possible without Chain of Hope UK, Latiendo por Ti, and the Rotary Club of Santo Domingo. Together, we’re changing lives for children in the Dominican Republic!
We started the morning off, as always, with rounds.
Rounds this morning.
Afterwards, we started the day of heart healing procedures!
More Hearts to Heal, More Lives to Change
Today, our medical teams operated on two patients and performed cath procedures on three.
Roger and his Gift of Life International teddy bear.
The local cardiologists diagnosed Roger with severe coarctation (narrowing of the aorta) only two weeks before our planned training visit. The surgeons operated on Roger this morning. He is just two months old!
Yeldani before her surgery.
The surgical team also operated on Yeldani this morning. Yeldani is 5 months old. Cardiologists diagnosed her with a ventricular septal defect (VSD). The surgeons healed her heart by placing a patch over the hole between the two lower chambers in her heart!
Arlet before her operation.
Interventionist Dr. John Breinholt performed his first catheterization procedure of the day on Arlet. Dr. Breinholt closed a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in Arlet’s heart using a catheter with a device on the end of it!
Raidi before her procedure.
Raidi was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot. Dr. Breinholt and Dr. Baez implanted a stent (a small wire and mesh tube) into her heart to help restore blood flow!
Mariangel before her procedure.
Mariangel was diagnosed with a ventricular septal defect (VSD), or a hole between the lower chambers of the heart. Dr. Baez and Dr. Breinholt used a catheter to insert a device into this hole, effectively closing it!
Bea’s Heart Healing Perspective
Bea is a rising sophomore at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS) majoring in public health with a minor in child advocacy. Bea is planning to attend medical school after graduating college. Although she does not know exactly what specialty she wants to go into, she knows it is something in women’s studies or helping children.
Bea was ready to get into the cath lab!
Bea found out about our internship program through Handshake, a platform that HWS uses to help students find internship and job opportunities! “I thought it would be an amazing experience,” she said.
Bea observed the doctors working in the cath lab.
At the beginning of the week, Bea said that she was most excited to shadow in the operating room! “It’s something new I have not seen before. I obviously have not seen open heart surgery. So, I think it will be a really unique experience that a lot of people do not get to do. I am most excited for surgery and interacting with the kids,” she told us.
Bea observed in the cath lab.
This was Bea’s first time that she can remember travelling out of the country, besides a flight to Canada when she was around four years old. “This was my first time on a plane in probably ten years. It was amazing!”
Dr. Breinholt explained to Bea how the procedure she was about to watch is done.
Today, Bea shadowed Dr. John Breinholt, visiting interventionist, and the local interventionist, Dr. Adabeyda Baez, in the catheterization lab! Before the procedures began, Dr. Breinholt explained to Bea what catheterization was and how it works. He also explained which device the team would use for each procedure.
Dr. Breinholt showed Bea the different types of devices that can be used for each procedure.
Bea was able to be inside the lab, watching each of the three procedures done today from behind Dr. Breinholt and Dr. Baez. The interventionists explained what was going on to Bea throughout. Bea was also able to ask questions!
Dr. Breinholt and Dr. Baez explained to Bea what kind of device they were using for this patient and why.
At the end of the day, we caught up with Bea and asked her what she thought about her experience!
Dr. Breinholt and Dr. Baez during their second procedure yesterday.
“My first thought was I was very impressed by the engineering of the devices, the biomedical engineering. I just thought that was really awesome,” Bea said. “Before this, I never really knew how to visualize catheterization procedures. So, it is really cool to actually see it in person. Live X-ray is crazy! Honestly, I was most excited for surgery, but I think cath and surgery ended up being equal for me because it was just so cool and fascinating.”
Healed Hearts Moving On
The visiting medical team has successfully operated on all of the children, whether through surgery or catheterization, and each child has recovered well so far. While some children are recovering more slowly than others, their varying rates of recovery reflect the different types of heart disease they faced and their individual health conditions before their procedures.
Ian was walked to the step down unit by the local medical team.
The medical team has moved only one surgical patient to the step-down unit so far.
This patient is Ian, our seasoned heart warrior! Yesterday, Ian was able to move from the intensive care unit to the step down unit to continue his recovery in a less intense environment.
Juliza with Ian.
Our intern Juliza was able to watch Ian’s surgery on Tuesday. Today, she got to talk with him in the step down unit and see his heart healing progress!
The ICU team with Darianny.
Darianny had a catheterization procedure this week. Afterward, the medical team transferred her to the ICU for a few days because her procedure was one of the most complex catheterization cases of the week. Darianny recovered very well after her procedure. She was breathing easier, chatting, and smiling with the team!
Adriana’s mother held her all day, while her father sat close by in the room whenever he could between work.
The medical team has already sent almost all of our catheterization patients home, with only those who underwent procedures yesterday or today, and those scheduled for tomorrow’s procedures, remaining under our care.
Ismar is doing well and should be more awake and moving around by tomorrow. Meanwhile, Roger and Yeldari are recovering in the ICU and we will have more updates on them tomorrow.
Closing Out a Week of Life-Changing Care
We have one more day of heart healing to go! Tomorrow, two children will have surgery and three cath procedures will be done.
The interns stand together in their scrubs at the end of the day.
We will see you back here tomorrow for our final day of surgeries and procedures. We will still return Saturday morning to say farewell to the children, their families, and local medical team!
Click here to read Day One.
Click here to read Day Two.
Click here to read Day Three.
Click here to read Day Four.
Click here to read Day Five.
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