Tenwek Hospital Cardiothoracic Training

This project will serve the young African doctors and other health care workers who are training to care for patients requiring the services of a cardiothoracic surgical team. Ultimately, of course, this helps tens of thousands of needy patients in Sub-Saharan Africa who need this life-saving care. Funds donated to this account will cover the costs of living and training for these Christian healthcare workers.

Currently Tenwek Hospital is the only site in Sub-Saharan Africa that provides consistent, continual training of cardiothoracic surgeons. We are also preparing to begin training perfusionists (the specialty dealing with running the heart/lung bypass machine during open heart surgery), cardiothoracic anesthetists, and cardiac care nurses.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs e.g. high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, esophagus, and lung cancer) have often been neglected in providing care to Sub-Saharan Africa, with more emphasis placed on communicable disease (e.g. malaria, HIV, pneumonia, tuberculosis). While communicable diseases still present significant challenges to us here in Africa, NCDs have been shown to account for far more deaths and loss of productivity. For example, rheumatic heart disease (RHD, which is related to childhood infections from strep throat, and eventually leads to destruction of heart valves) is estimated to affect 34 million people worldwide. The vast majority of these patients live in Sub-Saharan Africa. The average age of death from this condition is 26 years old. We have the capability to prevent many of the cases, and to appropriately treat those needing medical or surgical care, providing a normal life span. We really have a great opportunity to impact the bodies, hearts, and souls of great masses of people. Our care is combined with the very clear message that Jesus loves each of these patients and has a plan of salvation for both body and spirit. In most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is essentially no hope for these patients. We can be the leading institution in the entire region to change this!