Libby in Libya - Exploits in Establishing a Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Center
Hiccups, bumps in the road, rough sailing. Call it what you will. Our first day at the hospital has been enlightening - One ventilator. One available ICU nurse. No local intensivist. No blood gas machine. No step down ICU. Only one functioning suction system. Three bed spaces total.
When I thought about the start of the ICHF year long program in Benghazi, I assumed that it would not face the standard problems of most new programs. Since we had had three previous trips to this same hospital, and since I had been here on the last trip and had seen how well (or not well) the units can run, I had set the bar fairly high for the fist few weeks. So much for assumptions.
It's going to be a tough, slow beginning. A push start. A slog. A long uphill struggle post holing through a severely glaciated, heavily serac'd, constantly exfoliating mountain-side with 80lb haul bags on our backs and broken trekking poles.
Tomorrow we aspire to do two surgeries - a pumonary stenosis case and a VSD. But we lack ventilators. I'm not even sure we'll have a nurse (let alone two) with whom to do the take backs. Amongst all the other issues. But this is just the beginning. The summit looks far away and unattainbable but the crux is getting going. Hopefully at some point we'll have the new unit. And the new nurses from the Philippines will arrive. And they'll find a doctor for us to train to the ICU. We'll get a better lay of the land and in the process fix a few hearts. Here's to trying.
READY - SET - GO...
The VSD for tomorrow. Very cute!
When I thought about the start of the ICHF year long program in Benghazi, I assumed that it would not face the standard problems of most new programs. Since we had had three previous trips to this same hospital, and since I had been here on the last trip and had seen how well (or not well) the units can run, I had set the bar fairly high for the fist few weeks. So much for assumptions.
It's going to be a tough, slow beginning. A push start. A slog. A long uphill struggle post holing through a severely glaciated, heavily serac'd, constantly exfoliating mountain-side with 80lb haul bags on our backs and broken trekking poles.
Tomorrow we aspire to do two surgeries - a pumonary stenosis case and a VSD. But we lack ventilators. I'm not even sure we'll have a nurse (let alone two) with whom to do the take backs. Amongst all the other issues. But this is just the beginning. The summit looks far away and unattainbable but the crux is getting going. Hopefully at some point we'll have the new unit. And the new nurses from the Philippines will arrive. And they'll find a doctor for us to train to the ICU. We'll get a better lay of the land and in the process fix a few hearts. Here's to trying.
READY - SET - GO...
The VSD for tomorrow. Very cute!
