Peru. Sept. 18th - Oct. 2nd, 2010 (2 weeks)

The International Management Committee takes pleasure in announcing the 2010 return mission to Peru.  We invite your participation on the team.  During this mission, we will return to our previous work at the Honorio Delgado Hospital in Arequipa, Peru and continue development of the Pediatric and Adult Cardiac Development Programs. Volunteers with serious medical conditions should carefully consider obtaining consultation/approval from their doctor prior to joining the mission as the altitude will vary from 8,000 ft. at the hospital to up to 13,000 ft. at outreach projects.

General features of the Mission

In addition to the medical work at the Honorio Delgado Hospital in Arequipa, Peru, we will also complete outreach work in developing Emergency Services at Colca Canyon. All team members must arrive in Arequipa by no later than Sunday Sept. 19th, 2010 for the evening team orientation.

CardioStart teams have assisted the people of Peru on full medical missions 10 times during the last 14 years. Arequipa is an ancient city positioned at 8500 feet in the Andes close to the border with Chile and Bolivia. In addition to the local regional population of over 3.5 million residents, the surrounding communities contribute to over the 8 million people who have no other recourse to specialist medical care. Many Bolivians make the weekly journey across the border to trade.  They suffer medical conditions for which there is no other available medical assistance in the region. There are currently a large number of children and adults needing evaluation; for several regions linked to Arequipa, tertiary evaluation is 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 dire poverty; preventive healthcare is very limited, as is, the pre- and post-natal care available for expectant mothers. The life expectancy at birth is around 50%.  Those with cardiac problems usually do not survive long.  Those who do survive are extremely lucky if they are diagnosed and successfully get their names on a waiting list. The families and the healthcare ministry do not have enough funds available to provide proper care for the indigent, so this group often only receives assistance from occasional international visiting teams. In the adult population at risk, heart valve disease is very severe, with rheumatic causes amounting to a large section of those presenting, and late in the disease process. The heavy burden carried by the associated families has encouraged us to develop the outreach assistance program.

A] TEAM ONE: ADULT CARDIAC SURGERY (Two Weeks)

• TEAM NEEDS: 2 cardiac surgeons (one w/ pediatric experience); 1-2 anesthesiologists (one w/ pediatric experience); 1 adult perfusionist; 1 physician’s assistant; 1-2 Cardiologists (one w/ pediatric experience); 6 adult CICU nurses; 1 biomed engineer; 1 respiratory therapist, 2 OR - 1 circulating and 1 scrub tech/nurse; 1 echo tech; 1-2 patient database staff.

CardioStart, working with the local team, has now established the adult program at the hospital and set benchmarks to help the hospital move forward to becoming a tertiary referral center. We will be assisting development with more complex intra-operative cases, demonstrations and intense surgical training, and comprehensive adult cardiology management.  Cardiologists will advise in the outside clinic and primary care cardiology clinics being established in the region.

B] TEAM TWO: PEDIATRIC HEART SURGERY (First Week Only)

Honorio Delgado Hospital has agreed to become a provisional second center for pediatric heart surgery development, and all services for children will continue to be offered free. CardioStart pediatric volunteers will help reproduce the excellent progress made on the ground-breaking mission in the Fall of 2009 in which CardioStart did the first pediatric on pump open heart surgery, in conjunction with some members of the existing Lima-based Peruvian pediatric cardiac surgical team.

• TEAM NEEDS: 1 pediatric cardiac surgeon; 1 anesthesiologist (pediatric cardiac experienced); 1 perfusionist (pediatric experienced); 2 - 4 pediatric CV-ICU nurses.

C] TEAM THREE: OUTREACH AND NON-MEDICAL PROJECTS

On this mission, we plan two major projects-Colca Canyon and/or Orphanage outreach. These will be accomplished by regional clinic medical staff and by non-medical volunteers who are routinely welcomed on our missions.

The Colca Canyon Regional Clinic (please note altitude of 13-15000 feet) (Week 2 only)

• TEAM NEEDS: 1 physician (OB/GYN physician and/or a Nurse midwife); 2 medical/non-medical volunteers to assist local physicians in women’s health issues and delivery methods.

Mission 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. Domestic travel can be negotiated separately and often, much cheaper. FLIGHTS ARE NOT TO BE BOOKED UNTIL YOU ARE A CONFIRMED PARTICIPANT ON OUR TEAM!

Lodging: CardioStart is negotiating housing in Arequipa and Colca Canyon. We are looking into funding to subsidize the costs. However, it is possible that there may be a surcharge to cover the total cost. We will advise you as soon as this issue is resolved. CardioStart seeks certain minimum standards to ensure volunteer safety and comfort as well as keeping the team together.  Volunteers should expect same-sex room sharing in order to help reduce the costs.

Meals: During the day, meals will be available at the hospital.   Evening meals/snacks, etc. are available in the many excellent restaurants in Arequipa, at the volunteer’s own expense, and are of a high standard, safe to eat and very inexpensive ($5-8). Those working outreach will need to fund their meals when they are out on excursions.

Travel/touring: 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 air, then a train from Cusco (situated at 11,000 ft.) to Machu Piccu as a day excursion.  Before making your flight arrangements, consider if you want an all inclusive package, or you can usually obtain a cheap travel package during the week of your arrival. 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.

How to Apply

If you wish to participate and become a team member, do contact us immediately by sending a copy of your resume/CV (required for all medical participants) to our Team Development Coordinator, Linda Parker at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

If you are non-medical, please contact Linda and request a CardioStart application.

Selection will be on a "first come - first served" basis, however, CV/Resumes and applications will be reviewed by our Mission Director for approval. You will be notified within 2 weeks of your status, and if selected for the team, you will receive the Team Registration Packet with full instructions from our main office in Tampa, Florida.

Subsequent information will be sent by e-mail; therefore, we request that you provide us with a personal email address. (Volunteers using hospital or company web servers have sometimes found that their institution’s spam filters block attachments).

Warm regards,

Mariano Brizzio, MD

CardioStart Peru Mission Director