Team Heart

Dear Friends,

In this past quarter we completed our eleventh surgical trip, impacting lives in a positive way. At this moment we would like to provide you with an update on a few items that the team has been focusing on in the last months.

We identified a need to support patients post-operatively so they could communicate their status to medical staff and avoid delays and inaccuracies. To facilitate this, a cellphone SMS-based system is being designed which would be a low cost and reliable way to gather patient information. Patients can be flagged as needing follow-up. For example, when a local pharmacy does not supply their needed medication, a team representative would be notified and correct action can be taken. Trials are being planned and this would integrate into our strategy for supporting cardiac surgery patients in Rwanda.

Team Heart is helping out in non-medical areas as well. There are patients which are unfortunately homeless due to many reasons and we are helping pay their school fees. Our commitment goes beyond medical care. Our goal is to ensure that these patients return to their communities and become productive members of society.

We also continue to provide long-term support to our past patients. It's always exicting to seem them yearly when they come for the patient reunion. Regine, one of our long-standing patients, has recently been identified as needing her bio-prosthetic valve replaced. The team is supporting her trip to India for the surgery. It will be amazing one day when this type of follow-up can be done in-country. This is one of the many reasons we are hoping to build a cardiac hospital in Rwanda!

Thank you for your continued support and dedication in this shared vision.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at liliabacu@yahoo.com

Regards,
Lilia