Lima, Peru

MAY 20-28th, 2017

PEDIATRIC AND YOUNG ADULTS

We are pleased to announce the 2017 return mission to Lima, Peru. We invite your participation on the team. In this mission we will return to the Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño  (Children’s) Hospital, Lima, where we assisted previously, to continue development of the Pediatric Cardiac Development Programs. This mission will focus on advanced surgical/anesthetic/perfusion and nursing/respiratory care practices to improve outcomes for children currently being operated there.

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE MISSION

All team members must arrive in Lima by no later than May, 20th, 2017 for the evening team orientation and tour of the hospital on Sunday, 21st. This is a one-week mission and will end Saturday, 27^th May.

CardioStart teams have assisted the people of Peru on full medical missions 13 times during the last 19 years. There are currently a large number of children needing evaluation; for several regions, particularly in the interior, tertiary evaluation is still not possible at the moment. The healthcare need for this region continues to be a pressing requirement. Over 50% of the people of Peru live in poverty; preventive healthcare is limited, as is also, the pre- and post-natal care available for expectant mothers. Those with cardiac problems may not survive long. Those who do survive may not be diagnosed and successfully placed on a waiting list. The families, and the healthcare ministry often do not have enough funds available to provide proper care for the indigent and this group is often only able to assistance from occasional international visiting teams.

Pediatric healthcare professionals are warmly invited to take part in this ongoing program-building venture for CardioStart.

TEAM STRUCTURE

Pediatric Surgeons (2)

Pediatric Perfusionist (1)

Pediatric Anesthesiologist (1)

Pediatric Cardiologists (1)

Pediatric Heart Surgery Nurses (6)

Database research (1)

Pediatric Respiratory Therapist (1)

Spanish language skills are helpful but not required.

MISSION GOALS

Surgery

CardioStart will be performing surgical evaluation and treatment of children with congenital heart defects. Some may be valve repair or replacement cases.

Education

Education will be provided to local caregivers by all CardioStart Volunteers in both lecture and bedside teaching methods.

LOGISTICS

Airfare: Airfare costs will be self-funded by each volunteer. Many of us have found that www.lanperu.com from Miami or Los Angeles provides very competitive prices, but for some with air miles to cash in, other options may be preferential. When planning flights consider the most convenient international embarkation point first in calculating fare prices. DO NOT BOOK FLIGHTS UNTIL YOU ARE A CONFIRMED PARTICIPANT ON THE TEAM AFTER RECEIVING YOUR CONFIRMATION LETTER!

Lodging: CardioStart has negotiated free hotel accommodation in Lima. We seek certain minimum standards to ensure volunteer safety and comfort as well as keeping the team together. Volunteers should expect they may be asked to support same-sex room sharing to help reduce the costs for our hosts who will be paying for the hotel.

Meals: During the day, meals will be available at the hospital. Evening meals/snacks, etc. are available in the many excellent restaurants in Lima, at the volunteer’s own expense, and are of a high standard, safe to eat and very inexpensive ($5-8).

Travel/touring after the mission:

Since you will already be in Peru, you may like to take a few days vacation after the mission ends. We encourage you to do so and visit some of the many natural wonders of Peru. This could include the thousand-year-old town of Cusco and the Ancient City of the Incas, the World Heritage Site called Machu Picchu. If you do this, plan an overnight stay in Cusco, which can be reached by a cheap flight to the city, then a train from Cusco, (situated at 12,000 ft.) to Machu Picchu as a day excursion. You may want to consider this before making your flight arrangements. At the end of your stay, if leaving from Cusco to Lima, do leave a day clear in Lima before embarking on your flight. Weather conditions can sometimes lead to cancellation of internal flights.

This time is considered personal vacation time and is not considered part of the CardioStart mission; therefore, you must be responsible for your own tour arrangements and costs. Lima is at sea level, but please note that when you travel within the country, the high elevation (7000-12,000 feet) in Machu Picchu and Cusco, may become an issue with your health caused by altitude sickness. Consult your doctor if you have any medical condition that might compromise your tour.

HOW TO APPLY

Please go to our volunteer interest form and apply through the volunteer page using the drop down button for Peru 2017.

For further questions please contact us at info@cardiostart.org

Those volunteers who have extra time available should note that the mission to Ecuador will follow immediately after, because of the close proximity to Peru. If you are interested in further participation, please contact Janine Henson at Janine.henson@cardiostart.org