American Cardiac surgeons, nurses and one dentist ( Dr Ta ) went on a mission to do heart transplants and corrective surgeries for the needy Vietnamese patients and to teach the procedures to a Vietnamese hospital in Hue, Vietnam.
The dentist ( Dr Ta )was needed to examine, evaluate and work with the Vietnamese dental team, on the potential patients for the heart surgeries. These patients could not have active dental infection or diseases before the heart surgeries, or the operations will fail and patients won’t survive afterwards. The mission was also educational,
Since American surgeons will be working side by side with Vietnamese doctors.
Dr Ta oversaw about 100 patients, who were on the list for the heart surgeries. The experience was humbling, when she saw babies and adults, living with their families together, in one large room in the hospital while awaiting their surgeries. Between exams and evaluations, she taught these patients dental hygiene protocols, and gave out dental care packages to orphanages around Huế city.