(Local nurses leaning the in's and out's)
Some of the coolest experiences that I've had here have come from watching the local medical staff and our international staff interact and learn from each other. ICHF's goal is to make themselves obsolete in whatever country they are trying to help. So instead of just dropping in, performing a few heart surgeries, and then leaving, they attempt every time to make the local team completely independent of ICHF. And since I have been here, this approach has been very evident. The local nurses, perfusionist, anesthesiologists, doctors, and surgeons have been the main performers of every operation, and form what I have heard about past operations, this is a major milestone for pediatric heart care in Iraq.
As one can imagine, when performing heart surgery, these moments of learning can become very tense, but when is heart surgery not intense. Allowing the Iraqi surgeons to take the reigns in these most tense situations, is what will continue to save the lives of children in Iraq, even while ICHF and PLC are not in country.
The medical professionals of Nasiriyah, Iraq are making huge advancements in the care of children with congenital heart disease every day while we're here, and this will soon continue to be the case after we're gone. By ICHF and these local medical professionals making the investment in time and money now, Iraqi children will be running and playing with healthy hearts in the future.
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