Overview
Team Heart is on a mission to transform cardiovascular care in Rwanda, tackling healthcare challenges head-on. Founded in 2006 by Chip and Ceeya Bolman, Team Heart, in partnership with the Rwanda Biomedical Center, has worked tirelessly with the goal of establishing self-sustaining cardiac care. Since 2008 Team Heart has brought over a surgical team annually of volunteers to perform lifesaving valve surgery for patients with Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD).
In 2010, a group of 14 US cardiac sonographers stayed for two weeks performing school screenings for RHD with the resulting 2700 studies stored on Studycast. With no Rwandan cardiac sonographers, in 2014 Team Heart sonographers trained the first group of non-communicable disease (NCD) nurses from various District Hospitals. These NCD nurses, tasked with running their own clinics, are often the first healthcare providers to identify rural patients with RHD disease and eventually needing surgery. Team Heart’s vision has always been to provide high-quality care and empower local healthcare workers to improve patient outcomes.
When Team Heart faced challenges in managing and reviewing medical images for diagnosis and training, they turned to Studycast to help streamline their processes, enhance training, and ultimately save lives.
Challenges
Before implementing Studycast, Team Heart struggled with several key issues:
- Disorganized image storage: Studies were stored on CDs and shipped to medical readers, lacking a centralized and secure system for managing patient data.
- Limited feedback mechanisms: The absence of a formal review system limited opportunities to improve their skills or receive constructive feedback.
- Training gaps: Rwanda’s healthcare system faced a shortage of qualified nurses or physicians that could perform echocardiograms, making effective training critical for improving care.
Studycast’s Impact on Team Heart’s Success
Studycast provided the perfect solution, offering a secure, scalable cloud-based PACS system to streamline the process of storing, sharing, and reviewing medical images. The key benefits of Studycast that empowered Team Heart include:
Cloud-Based Storage & Secure Access: Studycast offered a centralized, secure platform where patient images were de-identified to comply with local data laws. Medical professionals could now access studies remotely from anywhere, significantly improving workflow and patient care.
Real-Time Feedback for Nurses & Sonographers: The ability to rate and review image quality provided invaluable feedback to nurses and sonographers, empowering them to improve their skills and take an active role in patient care.
Scalability & Flexibility: As Team Heart expanded its reach, Studycast easily scaled to accommodate additional users and clinical sites, ensuring the system could grow alongside their mission.
Transforming Healthcare in Rwanda
Studycast has had a transformative impact on Team Heart, significantly advancing their mission. The platform helped accelerate patient enrollment by enabling the team to enroll 100 patients in just 2.5 weeks, surpassing their initial goals. This streamlined process allowed them to treat more patients in a shorter amount of time, while still maintaining high-quality care.
In terms of training and empowerment, Studycast enabled real-time feedback to the NCD nurses, who previously lacked the tools to share formal evaluations digitally. This feedback has enhanced their skills and confidence, fostering greater collaboration with physicians and leading to better patient outcomes.
Studycast also facilitated secure and compliant data sharing, enabling Team Heart to store and share patient images while complying with local data protection laws. This capability has made it easier to conduct efficient remote consultations while safeguarding patient privacy.
Unexpected Benefits
Team Heart has experienced several unexpected benefits that were not originally part of this project. They knew Studycast would allow for the quick review of images by cardiologists located hours away but did not anticipate how quickly cardiologists and nurses would develop a united goal of improving patient care. Nurses are improving their skills, diagnosing patients earlier, and transferring patients in a timelier manner. The program is building trust in the health care system among patients. For the first time, patients can get a specialist’s opinion on their symptoms without leaving their community.
“Our Rwandan NCD Nurses love Studycast. It is empowering them to take a larger role in the healthcare of their patients, all because they have the feature to have images reviewed and get feedback quickly.”
—Ceeya Patton Bolman, Team Heart Co-Founder & Executive Director
![](https://www.corestudycast.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Ceeya-Patton-Bolman-Team-Heart.avif" "Headshot Ceeya Team Heart 2 | Core Sound Imaging")
A significant outcome has been a shift in perceptions regarding the role of nurses in Rwanda. The feedback provided by Studycast has helped physicians and leaders recognize the value that well-trained nurses bring to patient care, increasing access, improving care and decreasing cost to patients. This change in perspective has fostered a more collaborative approach to healthcare delivery.
Additionally, the success of the Studycast system has garnered the support of Rwanda’s Ministry of Health (MoH). The MoH even issued a letter praising the project as a valuable addition to the country’s healthcare system. This endorsement has opened doors for potential future expansion and regional influence.
With Studycast, Team Heart is not only improving patient care, but also laying the foundation for Rwanda to become the leader in healthcare innovation in sub-Saharan Africa.
Looking Ahead
With Studycast, Team Heart is not only improving patient care but also laying the foundation for Rwanda to become a leader in healthcare innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. Looking ahead, their key goals include proving the value of the PACS system to the Ministry of Health. They aim to showcase how the system enhances prompt and accurate patient care, which could transform the use of medical images throughout the country.
Finally, Team Heart’s success with Studycast has the potential to inspire similar initiatives in neighboring countries. As Rwanda serves as a model, the impact of these efforts could extend regionally, driving further healthcare improvements across sub-Saharan Africa.
A Healthcare Revolution Powered by Studycast
Studycast has been an indispensable component in Team Heart’s mission to improve cardiovascular care in Rwanda. By providing a secure, flexible, and scalable platform for managing medical images and training healthcare professionals, Studycast has not only enhanced clinical workflows but also empowered local nurses to take more of a role in patient care by improving and facilitating communication between the few, but incredibly valuable, cardiologists in Kigali.
With Studycast’s continued support, Team Heart is well-positioned to expand its reach, improve patient outcomes, and set a new standard for healthcare in Rwanda—and beyond. This success story is just the beginning of a healthcare revolution driven by innovation, education, and collaboration.