BOSTON–Boston Cardiac Foundation team has just completed their 7th Annual Charitable Mission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Africa performing lifesaving heart procedures. The team was headed by Dr. Salil Midha, Chief of Cardiology at Melrose Wakefield Hospital, Melrose, MA and President of Boston Cardiac Foundation.
Along with Dr. Midha were Dr. Leon Ptaszek, Associate Professor from MGH, Dr. Carl Turissini, Interventional Cardiology Director from Melrose and Dr. Timothy Hudson from Oregon. Mission was also supported by Brenda Houde, Gilenesh Haile, Austin Johnson, Greg Simokonis and Lana Toderashko.
From October 5-9, 2019 BCF team have performed 21 pacemakers, defibrillators and coronary stents. Most of these patients will not survive without the procedures. BCF members have been doing missions to India, Paraguay, South America and Africa for over 30 years and have implanted over 1000 pacemakers around the world free of charge. Mission also included education for pacemaker insertions, Balloon angioplasty, ICU rounds and follow-up clinics, while teaching local staff future follow-up practices.
The Boston Cardiac Foundation is a non-profit organization that brings medical technologies and services to less developed countries around the world. The BCF team, made up of physicians, nurses, and technologists, performs cardiac procedures such as pacemaker surgery, defibrillators and coronary stenting/angioplasty free of charge for patients who can’t afford the lifesaving treatment. Members of the BCF team have been traveling around the globe on charitable missions for over 30 years. The BCF motto is ‘helping one heart at a time’.
“For 30 years I’ve gone on missions to help the poor and our team members have implanted pacemakers in those who otherwise could not afford this lifesaving procedure,” Dr. Midha said. “It makes a big impact on people’s lives and that gives me the energy to go forward.” The ability to perform these procedures is due to the support from our communities both in the US and in India, as well as generous donations made by the support from Medtronic.
For more information visit bostoncardiacfoundation.org
