The journey of 8,281 miles begins with a single C-arm

C-arms are important for surgery – especially surgeries involving the joints and the spine. The machine, which provides detailed images of the surgical site area, allows surgeons and clinicians to see bones, joints, and soft tissue in “real time” (as the surgery is happening). St. Joseph Hospital in Moshi, Tanzania, has a surgery department with several rooms; however, they did not have a C-arm. This piece of equipment was a missing component for an otherwise outstanding team of surgeons, nurses, and other clinical support professionals.

When a hospital in central Illinois was updating its surgical facilities last year, the donation of a C-arm was made to Mission Outreach. The need of a C-arm at St. Joseph Hospital -- and the clinical team’s ability to successfully receive, use, and maintain the equipment – meant they were a great match for this critical resource.

Our biomedical engineer, Ratish Kumar, tested and prepared the C-arm. Our operations team (which includes our recipient services manager Vicki Detmers, our volunteer specialists Joe Hardwick and Michaela Szpulak, and our army of volunteers) ensured we sent the appropriate supplies and surgical instruments to support a robust surgical department. The C-arm was ready to go to Tanzania.

Here’s the thing: C-arms are both delicate and heavy. There are two major pieces to the C-arm, and even the slightest damage could render it unusable. And it weighs about 2,000 pounds. How are we going to get it to St. Joseph in one, working piece?

Enter our warehouse team. David Wilcox hand-built a crate to keep every part of the C-arm protected throughout the entire journey. Jay Rees and Lou Cueto packed the crate with supplies and scrubs to further stabilize and cushion the machine. Nick Amdor and Ken Ware design the packing of the container to ensure the weight distribution is even, and all the pieces – which includes hospital beds, fetal monitors, IV poles, and hundreds of boxes of supplies – arrive in excellent condition. 

The journey from Springfield to Moshi, Tanzania, is 8,281 miles. The C-arm was first loaded from the Mission Outreach warehouse into a 40’ container in December. It was then transported by train to the port, where it was loaded onto a ship headed for Dar Es Salaam. Then, after being received into the port and passing inspection, it was loaded on another truck and driven eight hours to St. Joseph Hospital. On May 12, the container was opened and unloaded – and the C-arm went from the container to a forklift to a truck bed, taken across a bumpy street, then was unloaded by hand and wheeled into the operating room, where it was installed. 

(If you don’t believe this last part, here is a quick video showing you exactly how the unloading happens. And here’s the 20-minute version that shows the entire unloading step-by-step.) 

The journey isn’t over – while the C-arm is functional, St. Joseph is continuing to make updates to their operating room electrical infrastructure to support it (and other surgical equipment) for years to come, and Mission Outreach is helping them modernize their surgical services. However, the team celebrated this advancement of a new C-arm. It was a long 8,281 miles getting the C-arm from here to there – but for the surgeons who will use it to give their patients the best surgical outcomes possible, it meant the world.