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CardioStart volunteer Jodi Gunther recently participated in a unique fundraiser for organization. A Chicago area radio station features a program called “Unsung Heroes”. Local residents are nominated for their volunteer efforts. Each month the radio station chooses 2 participants who are entered into a voting contest. The participant with the most votes wins $500 for their charity.
Jodi was nominated and picked to be a May participant. “I immediately went home and started sending e-mails to all of my family and friends. I was amazed and overwhelmed at the responses I received. It was such great fun connecting with so many of my CardioStart friends” said Jodi. Even better, Jodi won the contest, and CardioStart will be receiving $500. |
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 From the seat of my flight from Amsterdam, I couldn’t contain my excitement looking over the vast expanse of the Sahara Desert. “This is Africa, this is Africa,” I kept saying to myself. It didn’t feel real, I felt as if I was living inside some movie. Ever since I was a kid, I saw Africa as some far and distant place. Sure I read Joseph Conrad’s “The Heart of Darkness” in high school and watched “Out of Africa” but I never actually pictured myself traveling there until the opportunity with Cardiostart arose. So after discussing with my lovely wife the idea of me leaving her and our one year old son to do mission work, she pretty much said it was an opportunity of a lifetime that I couldn’t pass up. This was my first mission trip and I was little apprehensive not knowing exactly what to expect. Cardiostart had various objectives and goals for the trip to Ghana and as part of that team, I’d like to share with you my perspective of the achievements Qasim Simmons and I were able to accomplish.
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 Is your work getting boring? Worse yet, are you feeling burnt out?
A change may be in order for you. The problem is, how do you know what you want to try? Most U.S. facilities do not have programs that let you shadow another specialty. The answer - try a medical mission.
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 Before the New Year began, a team of 26 college students, including 2 members of University of South Florida’s Chemistry Club, journeyed to Santa Cruz, Bolivia to help the local people. T hrough donations of medical supplies and disposables provided by CardioStart and Tampa General Hospital, the group was able to establish a basic medical clinic in a church in a rural part of the city. Over 150 patients were helped that week by evaluations, basic medical care and education. Apart from this, the group was able to enjoy some fun with many children of the area. “By the end of the week, they all knew us and we were all much attached. The experience was life changing and all parties benefit when a group goes to serve those in need in third-world areas.” - Karim Hanna, USF volunteer. |
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My experience with the CardioStart mission to perform the first adult open heart surgeries in Kumasi, Ghana was so intense that it seems surreal to sit in my armchair in western Oregon and reminisce. I never had much desire to go to Africa, and despite my fairly extensive world travel history (Europe, Asia, Mexico), I was ignorant of the locale of Ghana, much less its history and customs. While I was relatively confident of being able to adapt to the environment and get the job done, since I was a surgical cardiovascular ICU nurse with over 24 years experience, there were still many unknowns. My mantra for the trip was to remain “helpful, hardy and humble.”
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