Andrew James Lodge, M.D. works as a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon who participated in the Children’s Lifeline mission in Ecuador. In the following article, Andrew James Lodge, M.D. discusses how the mission is changing lives, outcomes, and medicine for pediatric patients around the world.
Guayaquil is not your typical destination for a medical mission. This shimmering port city in Ecuador is brimming with sporting and cultural events, universities, state-of-the-art transport, and a burgeoning tourism industry. While hit hard by the pandemic, its hospital system provides a wide range of care to residents, and patients are referred there from near and far.
Andrew James Lodge, M.D. says that the reason the Hospital del Niño Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante invited a special group of medical professionals to Guayaquil is that, despite having a cardiology department, they don’t yet have the infrastructure or human resources to support a full-time heart surgery program for children with congenital heart disease.
March 2023 was not the first time the CardioStart International team visited the city’s youngest and most vulnerable heart patients – and it won’t be the last.
Dr. Andrew James Lodge on the Mission to Improve Cardiac Care
In this case, the administrator of Hospital del Niño Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante reached out to Children’s Lifeline International for help. They tapped CardioStart International’s global volunteer healthcare team for the mission, which was organized by the Fundacion El Cielo Para Los Ninos del Ecuador.
Andrew James Lodge, M.D. states that the hospital’s hope is to maintain its reputation as a regional referral center despite the budget cuts that have affected its ability to grow. It’s one of the reasons they frequently invite cardiac specialists to treat pediatric heart patients.
While a third trip is planned for November, the goal of these voluntary missions is to help the hospital become self-sustaining. That’s why the medical team not only addressed the immediate physical needs of the pediatric patients but trained local healthcare professionals in pediatric cardiac surgery.
Andrew James Lodge, M.D. says that by passing on knowledge and skill sets to Ecuador’s own doctors, nurses, and medical technicians, these missions represent a sustainable approach to addressing the gap in pediatric cardiac care in the region, ensuring the benefits of these missions are long-term.
A New Kind of Medical Mission
The team from CardioStart didn’t go to Ecuador for short-term gains. While they did provide continuity of care to young patients treated on a previous trip, this was also an educational mission that helped the medical facility and local practitioners manage resources, improvise amidst funding challenges, and pave a way forward that still ensures optimal outcomes.
Andrew James Lodge, M.D. notes that helping Hospital del Niño Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante maintain its reputation as a referral facility meant the mission team and hospital staff would have to get creative. As a result, the two groups worked on plans to streamline the pediatric cardiac care process, from diagnosis to follow-up care, and design relevant best practices in patient management, pre-operative preparation, and post-operative care.
During the upcoming mission in November 2023, the team will follow up on the cases handled during the previous visits to provide continuity of care and assess the local team’s application of the skills learned during previous missions, making adjustments if necessary.
Andrew James Lodge, M.D. says that these missions go beyond immediate medical intervention. They are part of a larger objective of capacity building, highlighting how global cooperation can help improve local healthcare systems.
From Education to Outreach
Andrew James Lodge, M.D. explains that the mission trip was not without challenges. Equipment shortages and malfunctions forced scheduling changes in surgeries, and ICU nursing staff cuts meant there was a potential for burnout.
To make the best of a tough situation, the mission team turned these shortcomings into learning opportunities (and an opportunity to donate new equipment to the hospital). With no guarantees that resources will improve, getting creative and finding ways to work around them is the only option.
In addition to the in-hospital work, the mission team conducted outreach programs in clinics and care homes in Guayaquil and the surrounding areas. Andrew James Lodge, M.D. also mentioned that they visited more remote villages, where they screened patients, conducted general medical evaluations, delivered food, and handed out toys to children.
Summary
Eduador’s Hospital del Niño Dr. Francisco de Icaza Bustamante is striving to become a self-sustaining center of excellence in pediatric cardiac care. To help in this endeavor, Children’s Lifeline International and CardioStart International have sent healthcare teams to the city of Guayaquil to partner with local care teams to provide support.
Andrew James Lodge, M.D. reports that not only do the mission teams treat pediatric cardiac patients, but they also help the local practitioners deal with resource constraints like faulty equipment and a lack of funding and staffing.
