2025 UGMC PAEDIATRIC CARDIAC COLLABORATIVE PROJECT with HEARTS and MINDS of GHANA/BOSTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL

Partnership Projects of Children’s Lifeline™

Hearts and Minds of Ghana (HMOG) sponsored medical volunteer teams from Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) team led by Francis Fynn-Thompson, Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon. Here is a summary of their accomplishments:

• The team assisted with five pediatric cardiac surgical cases, all of which were carefully selected to be somewhat more complex than the Center is normally capable of handling. The diagnoses included TOF with a coronary, DORV, DCRV, and coarctation of the aorta.
• The team reviewed the cases with the Center and then made daily rounds. All the patients recovered well and have been discharged home.
• Ongoing nursing education in the ICU continued with daily teaching sessions and CPR simulations.
• The team shipped an additional heart/lung bypass machine from Boston Children’s Hospital, which the two perfusionists assembled and set up during the week to provide them with a backup machine.
• The team observed a clear improvement in the quality of care and the confidence the local team displayed in the perioperative management of patients.
• Last year, the Center performed 130 pediatric cases, marking the largest number in the 35-year history of the Center, largely due to the collaboration with the team from Boston Children’s Hospital.

Below are some of the key photos from this important mission.

Conclusion

We are honored to be a part of NCTC’s pediatric cardiac program’s development and evolution. We look forward to building on the program’s solid foundation and vision for the future and moving it toward providing more advanced and specialized care with optimal outcomes for children born with CHD in Ghana. Due to the training visits by HMOG in 2024, the National Cardiothoracic Center in Accra is on pace to do over 100 pediatric cardiac surgical cases in 2025, a record number for the center over its 30-year history.

Francis Fynn-Thompson, MD
Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgeon
Department of Cardiac Surgery
Boston Children’s Hospital