By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

THE Guam Memorial Hospital has forged an arrangement with a team of heart specialists from Modesto, California to travel to Guam on a semi-regular basis to perform cardiac surgery and treatment, reducing the need for local heart patients to seek off-island medical treatment.
The Modesto medical team, led by Dr. Noel Concepcion, will get a yet-undetermined compensation package that covers service fees, travel expenses and accommodations.
“We are basically employees of the hospital. The hospital will pay us a reasonable rate. In that rate, we will have to include travel expenses and accommodations because we don’t pay for those expenses when we are doing our medical practice in Modesto,” Concepcion said in an interview with Variety.
 “The hospital wants us to commit for several plans a year,” he added.
Concepcion said the setup offers a great deal for GMH, which he said could make a windfall out of such investment.
“We are not just doing charity patients. We are also doing insured patients. So the hospital will do better than break even. They will make some money to pay for the (catheterization) equipment that they purchased six months ago,” Concepcion said. “It’s a state-of-the-art machine, which is as good as any equipment you’ll find in the states.”
GMH purchased the catheterization machine for $1.2 million in 2006 through Compact-Impact funds.
The visiting heart specialists performed 102 diagnostic tests and 42 angiogram procedures during their weeklong services at GMH last week.  They also provided advanced training for nurses at GMH.
Members of the team gave a training course for local nurses in performing an intra-aortic balloon pump procedure, which is critical for stabilizing cardiac patients who require surgery off-island, according to Belle Rada, unit supervisor of GMH’s Special Services Department.
Concepcion was assisted by Dr. John Merilat, Dr. Melissa Pearce, and Dr. Andy Ward.  During their visit to Guam in September last year, the heart specialists performed 20 cardio catheterizations and open-heart surgeries at GMH.
“What we did during this latest visit was over double what we did the last time,” Concepcion said.
The Modesto team will return to Guam in April and stay on island for nine to 10 days to perform heart surgeries. The new team will include not only heart surgeons but also ICU and operating room nurses, anaesthesiologists, and technicians.
“This will require a big investment because we will be bringing a team of 15 people. But the hospital should be able to make money out of it,” Concepcion said.
“One of the airlines is interested in working with us for discounted rates. The hotel association has been helping us to cut down the cost of accommodations,” he added.
Concepcion, however, said the team will only treat good-risk cases. “We will only do patients that we can send home within four to five days. The high-risk cases will continue to go off island because it is not the right time do high-risk cases under the program right now,” he said.
During an appreciation and farewell dinner for the medical team hosted by JMI vice president John Ilao in Barrigada Heights Sunday night, Merilat and Concepcion credited the competence and efficiency of the hospital staff that worked with the team throughout the week.
“It’s encouraging to hear experts say good things about our own hospital staff. It’s encouraging to know that with a properly trained staff and the right equipment, our hospital can provide good service,” Lt. Gov. Mike Cruz said in his brief remarks at the dinner party.
“In the end, it’s not about a new building or the best technology. It’s about the people. With dedicated people, we can provide the best quality healthcare to the people of Guam,” he added.
Guam’s only hospital has been the butt of jokes among critics, who quip that GMH stands for “Get Murdered Here” or “Get Me to Hawaii” in reference to patients who would rather go to hospitals in Hawaii, California or the Philippines for medical treatment.
 “In the past, GMH stood for many different things. The goal that the governor is aiming for is to turn GMH into a facility that provides ‘Great Medicine Here’. Now, GMH stands for, we ‘Got Modesto Here’,” Cruz said.
Cruz said under GMH’s arrangement with the Modesto group, the hospital will be able to gain proceeds within a year from the investments that it has made in new equipment.