Guest Speaker Report
Wednesday 13 October2010
by Rotarian Ian Johnson (reporter)
Our
guest speaker was Hayden Dando who spoke to us about “Operation Open Heart”.
Hayden is a perfusionist and is responsible for operating the heart/lung machine
which is an essential part of open heart surgery. Hayden was introduced by Umesh
Kamkolkar.
Hayden commenced by informing us that one Australian dies every ten minutes from heart disease and that by 2020 heart disease will be the world’s biggest health problem.
Hayden showed us a photo of a heart/lung machine and explained how it works. During surgery the patient’s heart is temporarily stopped and the machine pumps blood around the patient’s body and oxygenates it. Two important parts of the machine are the “heat exchange” and the filter that removes any air bubbles from the blood.
Operation Open Heart sends teams of 35-40 volunteers to needy countries to carry out heart operations. They take the necessary equipment with them. This equipment is obtained from hospitals in Australia when they are updating their equipment.
Hayden advised us that they usually seek a commitment from the local hospital in the country they are visiting to develop their own program over time. Often the local surgeons are sent to India for the necessary training.
Prior to commencement the patients are assessed to determine if they are suitable for the program. Usually the operations are limited to straight forward procedures where the patients are likely to have a quick recovery time due to limited ICU facilities being available.
Hayden told us of his trip to Rwanda for the program. The country is still recovering from the horrific genocide which occurred there in recent years. The plan for the trip was to operate on twenty patients over five days, fifteen of which were to be open heart operations. Hayden told us that the patients generally have a very good immune system and seldom get infected. The patients rapidly recover and are soon able to support their families rather than being a burden on them.
In conclusion Hayden advised us that each trip costs $250,000 to $400,000. The volunteers have to arrange leave from their jobs and pay. their own fares. Hayden Dando was thanked by PP Rod McDougall