With the generous help of our church and a team dedicated to the mission. We had an overwhelmingly successful mission to Kenya. It all started with collecting and sterilizing equipment that we would need.
Eileen Nemec and Sarah Sidler helped Ron and I sterilize donated equipment for the trip.
Screening for Rheumatic Heart Disease in Kapsowar Kenya
We were able to begin the training of screeners at Kapsowar Hospital, a small mission hospital in northwest Kenya. Once trained, they will be doing community screening at local schools.
Nurse Liz Koleski will be heading up the program
With the new trainees we were able to screen 154 young people. We identified 4 that will go on monthly penicillin to prevent progression of their disease and one young lady who we would see in Eldoret for a balloon valvuloplasty because of the severity of her disease. The Kapsowar screening program will take time and resources to be up and running. They are still in need of a fully functioning portable ECHO machine. In the mean time they are going through the ECHO course put together by Henry Zong Cardiac Ultrasound expert at Mbingo Hospital in Cameroon and administered by Eileen Nemec, Pediatric Echo Specialist at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis.
This is Perpetua with her mother. We first met Perpetua in Kapsowar when we were doing RHD screening at her school.
Perpetua is 13 years old. She’s a smart girl doing well in school. her favorite subject is math. She is know around the school as the girl who walks slow. For those of you who understand, her valve area was .8 and her gradient was 19 at a heart rate of 76. It’s no wonder she walks slowly. She was a perfect candidate for the balloon procedure. We arranged to her come to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret.
Our team outside of Moi Teaching and referral Hospital. Right to left, Ron Johannsen, Amit Sharma, Gautam Reddy, Eileen Nemec, Ahmad Younes, Colleen Johannsen, Stephanie El Hajj, Kelsey Sharma.
assessing patients for Balloon procedure.
Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, MTRH is a public hospital in Eldoret Kenya which serves the poor. They have been interested in starting a Balloon Valvuloplasty (PTMC) program for some time. This will be the first in a series of trips to train the MTRH cardiologists to do the procedure independently.
Dry lab demonstration of the PTMC process.
Cath lab crowded with teaching and learning
Perpetua after her very successful procedure. She should now be able to live a full life. We are so blessed to participate in this work.