Projection Technology Travels the Globe and Helps Save Lives
For six years Dr. William Wang has been saving the lives of children in orphanages across China. Enduring long airplane flights, a demanding travel schedule and conducting difficult, meticulous surgeries are a small price to pay in comparison to the hope he has brought to the lives of 56 Chinese children suffering from congenital heart disease. As the director of the Saving Asian Children Foundation, Dr. Wang travels to China four times a year, for 10-day stays and performs six to ten open-heart surgeries every trip.
“Many of these children were abandoned by their families because they didn’t have the money or resources to care for a child with congenital heart disease. Giving hope to children in these orphanages is the least I can do with my abilities as a surgeon,” said Dr. Wang.
Dr. Wang is an open heart surgeon at Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego, Calif. When he travels to China with the Saving Asian Children Foundation, Dr. Wang also teaches local Chinese doctors to perform open heart surgeries, bringing hope to the lives of children he is not able to reach. In six years, Dr. Wang has taught approximately 130 to 200 local Chinese doctors to execute these difficult surgeries.
With the detail and complexity involved in explaining and teaching open heart surgery, Dr. Wang has found success with his InFocus LP640 projector.
“Projection has proven time and time again to have the power to break the communication barrier,” said Wang. “A good example is the lecture on Acute Aortic Dissection that I presented in Shanghai to a class of medical doctors. As expected there was some difficulty in explaining some of the more complex medical images and surgical skill, but when I showed them the pictures and videos that accompanied my speech, I could see the comprehension emerge on their faces.”
The InFocus LP640 has allowed Dr. Wang to concentrate more on the presentation itself than the preparation. The real-life pictures that are displayed add a reality to explaining these techniques that would not be possible without actually performing the surgery during class.
“It is so rewarding when these doctors understand a complicated surgical technique through visuals. The insightful questions, the nodding of an audience member as they begin to understand and even a disagreement from one of my listeners all demonstrate that I have done my job,” said Wang.
Looking into the future of medicine in China, Dr. Wang sees hope for Chinese children and the medical services that are available to them. Although the InFocus LP640 is a small portion of the solution, it has proven to be a very important tool in providing medical services to Chinese children suffering from congenital heart disease.
