Help save these islanders; Eight need urgent heart surgery
It’s not often we can join together to literally help save the lives of our fellow human beings… but here is our chance.
On his team’s most recent visit to Christmas Island (Kiritimati) in the central Pacific in March, Pacific Islands Medical Aid volunteer cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. David Moore and cardiac sonographer Michael Rampoldi examined more than 300 islanders … found many needing follow up care and eight needing life-saving heart surgery.
Of the eight, most require open-heart surgery to replace or repair heart valves. Dr. Moore explains that most suffer the consequences of early undetected and untreated rheumatic fever as children… resulting in heart disease as young adults.
Baylor Heart Hospital in Plano, Texas, together with Dr. Moore and the hospital physicians and staff there have agreed to provide all the medical care as part of their humanitarian outreach program. We at Pacific Islands Medical Aid need to arrange and pay for local housing, meals and transportation for the patients during their five-week stay in the Plano area.
As plans stand now, the entire group plus a chaperone physician from the Kiribati Ministry of Health, Dr. Baranika Temariti, are scheduled to depart Christmas Island, fly to Honolulu and onward to Dallas, arriving in the early morning of June 1.
Dr. Moore said surgeries for most will be scheduled for the first week, with outpatient care and recovery time afterward. He said he expects the patients will be able to return home about July 4.
“Here is a chance to do something direct and meaningful to help save lives,” said Carlton Smith, president of Pacific Islands Medical Aid. “We ask our friends to join together by making a contribution to this worthy project.”
Meet the Patients
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