American
Cardiac Surgery Team to Gaza
During the last week of April 2001, a six
member team of volunteer American cardiac surgeons worked
at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. Led by Dr.
Imad Tabry, a cardiac surgeon in Florida, the team saved
the lives of nearly two dozen sick patients in Gaza who otherwise
would not get the surgery they needed (see list below).
Working closely with the local staff at Shifa Hospital, Dr.
Tabry's team put in 16 hours days, doing three cardiac operations
a day. It is their second trip to Shifa Hospital since the
Al-Aqsa Intifada began, as they were there for two weeks in
early October 2000, but were only able to do cardiac surgery
for a week due to the high number of injured cases in the
hospital. Dr. Tabry did help with some gunshot injuries then,
but no cardiac surgery has been done in the six months between
visits by Dr. Tabry's team in Gaza.
"It is during difficult times like these that we find
out who our real friends are", Dr. Riyad Zannoun, the
Palestinian Minister of Health, told the team during a meeting
in his office in April. "We are truly grateful for your
courage and dedication to helping our people and hope that
you will continue to work with us in building a good cardiac
program in Gaza".
The six member cardiac team is from the Holy
Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In addition
to Dr. Tabry, who is a well-known cardiac surgeon there, it
also included Dr. Jim Calabrese (anesthesiologist), Neston
Megano (perfusionist), Layna Harper (nurse), Mari Noel Araya
(nurse), and Teresa Miller (nurse). The team brought with
them thousands of dollars worth of donated medical supplies
for cardiac surgery, as well as preparing a shipment of surgery
supplies.
List of Children Treated in April 2001 Mission:
