Riley Hospital heart team saves hundreds with pro bono heart surgeries
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Riley Hospital for Children‘s heart team does more than just save lives while they are at work in Indiana.
Multiple times a year, a crew travels abroad to do pro bono heart surgeries on children who would have died without this critical care.
The bulk of this life-saving work is done in Amman, Jordan. People from all over the region desperate for medical care flock to the city to get the help they otherwise would have died without.
Dr. Mark Turrentine, a pediatric cardio-thoracic surgeon at Riley Hospital, does all of the operations during these international missions.
“We’re all very fortunate here, and I think a lot of us don’t realize it until you get a chance to go over there and realize what it means to these people,” Turrentine said. “There’s no difference between anybody in any country. We have the opportunity to take some time and gift back to those that are very much less fortunate.”
These trips would not happen without Turrentine. He is the only surgeon on the team and the backbone of the operation. He brings other physicians, nurses, and nurse practitioners to help both in the operating room, and with patient care before and after surgery.
Heather Dornbusch is a registered nurse at Riley Hospital. She has been on four missions with Turrentine, and she spoke highly of his dedication to this cause.
“He is extremely committed to this,” Dornbusch said. “I had worked in the cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) for a while before I went on a trip, and everyone would always talk about it and how he would go and how happy he would see on the trips, and I think a lot of people always want to go and it’s always, you feel very honored to get to go. And it’s just a rewarding experience. And he spends a lot of time doing this. Not only just going and using his time to go but all the planning a preparation that goes into it.”
Turrentine goes abroad, using his vacation time at least three times a year. He even adds a fourth trip when needed.
His pro bono work is primarily in the Middle East, but has occasionally brought him to other places like Uganda and China. He estimates he has done 400 operations over about 50 trips.
“It’s just the relay team,” Turrentine said. “It’s just our team here. So, we’re really an extension of our team here over to there. And that makes it very easy for us to work together.”
Some of the team members are Syrian physicians who trained and settled in the United States.
“It is quite hard to say honestly how it felt going back because it does go way beyond closing a hole in a heart or fixing a value,” said Dr. Riad Lutfi, a physician and director for the Riley Hospital Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit. “It actually speaks of the disparity in resources, and how we can even touch human life and tell people in that region who are going through a lot of struggles that still there is a people outside of that region who care about you and care about your children.”
“This is the most rewarding thing. This is really amazing. Being able to go there. Helping these poor families and feeling like you are doing something significant,” said Dr. Mouhammad Yabrodi, a physician at Riley Hospital. “Sometimes [it is] a very simple procedure for Dr. Turrentine. For them, it’s a huge one-time surgery, and this will be a healthy child, healthy adult, and will [live to be] 70, 80 [years old].”
Being chosen for these trips is a big deal among the heart team at Riley Hospital. In August, Amanda Lengerich, a nurse practitioner, joined the team. At first, she was unsure, but she came back and said the trip changed her life.
“Not having been to that part of the world, it was a whole perspective shift coming back,” Lengerich said. “And not to sound cliché, but I’ve definitely come back more refreshed and enjoying and, more thankful for life here too.”
These trips do more than change the course of a child’s health journey. They can change hearts and minds about the way people feel about the states abroad, and change how Americans feel about the Middle East.
“It’s the whole reason that I got into medicine and taking care of patients and people as a whole,” said Casey Culley, a nurse practitioner at Riley Hospital. “I think it’s just raw humanity. You see people for their best. I mean everything is just humanity at its best. It’s nice to do surgery, and parents are just grateful that we could have potentially have just made that child’s life better.”
“There was a father. I got an email. He was from Iraq, and this was back when things were still tense,” Turrentine said. “He sent a message back. His thanks to the Jordanian team and our team. So, he went back to Iraq, and he put the Jordanian flag and the US flag on top of his house out of respect for the efforts. So, I think those are the kind of things that feedback to us and give us the sense of gratitude I think for the opportunity to be able to do this.”
These trips are not free, costing $50,000 per visit in hospital fees for every 10 operations. That is covered by donors in the Middle East, while others in Indiana cover hotels, food, and travel. The healthcare providers donate their time.
Anyone can help out by donating directly to Riley International Heart Missions through the Riley Children’s Foundation.
Their next trip is scheduled for December, but Turrentine said he is always ready for an emergency follow-up trip.