Heart Saving Mission Heads From Russia To Vietnam

DANBURY — For Dr Robert Jarrett, a cardiologist at Danbury Hospital, teaching and travel have always been his two passions. Fifteen years ago, he found a way to blend the two, and he is continuing to fulfill his dream, saving hearts from Russia to Vietnam.

Through his work with Healing the Children, Northeast, a nonprofit humanitarian organization based in New Milford, Dr Jarrett has been the primary catalyst for creating the Research Institute of Cardiology at St Petersburg in Russia and is developing a similar sophisticated heart center in Vietnam.

“I fell in love with international work 20 years ago because of the excitement and opportunity to see the world,” said Dr Jarrett. “While traveling, I recognized a serious need to bring the high tech medical care we are offered here in the US abroad to those countries that are less fortunate. Being both a doctor and a teacher, I realized that I could have a significant impact on how cardiovascular medicine is practiced in other countries.”

The Connecticut nonprofit provides medical services to children throughout the world who lack sufficient access to medical services and/or the financial resources to obtain services. To date, more than 75,000 patients have been helped through the organization’s efforts.

Dr Jarrett’s first mission involved rebuilding an outdated and dilapidated hospital in St Petersburg, Russia, and transforming it into a world class cardiovascular medicine and cardiac surgery program. This included educating Russian physicians and surgeons with hands-on training, including open-heart surgery and angioplasty.

In addition, the job required continual oversight in which Dr Jarrett would travel to Russia two to three times each year to ensure quality standards. As a result of his efforts, the Research Institute of Cardiology in St Petersburg has now lowered its cardiac surgical mortality rate from 15–18 percent, down to less than two percent, a level that is similar to open heart surgery programs in the United States.

“Although the St Petersburg project took a total of 26 trips to fully implement, the impressive results have brought this once run-down hospital up to par with America’s finest cardiac facilities,” adds Dr Jarrett.

Dr Jarrett is replicating the St. Petersburg model in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Last July, Dr Jarrett returned from Ho Chi Minh City, having spent the previous week working with the cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at Choray Hospital.

“This will be an ideal hospital in which we can work. They have 1,400 beds and a daily census of 2,800 patients. Their cardiologists and cardiac surgeons are very bright, hardworking, and extremely eager to learn from us,” said Dr Jarrett.

In January, his team planned to head back to Vietnam to continue its mission.

“My work abroad has truly grown into a labor of love and it certainly allows me to keep my life here in the US in perfect perspective,” said Dr Jarrett. “We are very fortunate in this country. Our freedoms and opportunities here are certainly quite vast and although our medical system is far from perfect, it still provides extraordinary quality of care to most Americans.”

Besides Russia and Vietnam, Dr Jarrett’s other missions with Healing the Children Northeast have included adult and pediatric work in Cape Verde, Peru, Colombia, Cambodia, Ukraine, and Bulgaria. He also volunteers at AmeriCares in Danbury.

Dr Jarrett, who resides in Brookfield with his wife and two stepchildren, currently serves on the Board of Directors at Healing the Children Northeast, is a past president of the board, and associate clinical professor at Yale University Medical School.