History of Healing Hearts Northwest

The Healing Hearts Northwest (HHNW) project of UJAMAA began in January 2009 in response to the initial fact finding mission with the UJAMAA Team. The fact finding mission included visiting Kibagabaga Hospital in Kigali with the cardiac team providing medical/cardiology teaching rounds with Rwandan physicians and medical school students. Lectures were done for medical students and physicians in interpreting EKG recordings, recognizing heart sounds and treating rheumatic heart disease. The team demonstrated a model of continuity of care between care givers and establishing goals and objectives for individual patients.

A meeting at King Faisal Hospital with Dr. Joseph Mucumbitsi led to an invitation to bring a team of cardiac surgeons and staff to operate on patients with rheumatic fever and congenital heart disease. With the involvement of our team, “Healing Hearts Northwest,” we would be the third team operating at King Faisal Hospital, performing cardiac surgery. King Faisal Hospital and the Minister of Health have a plan for four teams to operate with goals to:

  • Teaching general cardiac care and cardiac emergencies
  • Encouraging participation of Rwandan anesthesiologists to learn about evaluation of patients and placement of monitoring catheters
  • Utilizing the Spokane Community College Echocardiography program, to provide teaching to technicians
  • Encouraging participation of nurses in post operative cardiac care to enhance intensive care skills
  • Teaching pacemaker implantation and pacemaker follow up
Ultimately, the presence of cardiac surgical teams along with supporting cardiologists and nurses, elevates the level of intensive care and general medical care.

In April of 2009, one cardiologist from Spokane (involved in the initial fact finding mission) joined a surgical team of 40 from Brigham and Women’s Hospital to plan for the proposed trip in February 2010 to perform surgery for rheumatic heart disease. During this visit, an EKG machine that had been donated by Medtronics, Inc. and a defibrillator purchased by UJAMAA were delivered to Kibagabaga Hospital. Instruction was provided in indications for defibrillation and use of the machine.

In addition to surgery, HHNW plans to begin a program to train HDI physicians and other medical personnel to detect rheumatic heart disease at an early stage. Rheumatic heart disease, currently, is not detected until it is an advanced stage and has already done significant damage to the heart. This program will involve screening school aged children and training HDI physicians, medical students and health care workers in the use of ultrasound for earlier diagnosis of rheumatic heart disease. We are currently exploring a connection with the echocardiology school in Spokane.