"Round-the-clock in the County of Århus" er en 24 sider stor brochure med 19 artikler, der hver især handler om én af den daværende Århus Amts offentlige opgaver.
Jeg oversatte brochuren fra dansk til engelsk, så den kunne uddeles til de mange udenlandske besøgende, der ønsker at høre mere om det danske socialsystem. Nedenfor er en af de oversatte artikler; der handler om det amtslige sygehussystem.
11:58. The minutes tick on towards noon in operating theatre 5.
Kidney transplant specialist Steffen Ellebæk Petersen is preparing for surgery, together with a colleague and two theatre sisters.
Today's operation at Skejby Hospital in Århus will give new life to the 27 year old patient now lying on the operating table.
An anaesthetist monitors the young man's breathing, temperature and pulse. Keeping a watchful eye on her alarm system, she carefully administers the anaesthesia.
Terse commands regulate the transfer of instruments from nurse to surgeon. A sharp beam of light from above focuses on the left side of the patient's pelvis.
A close relative has donated one of his kidneys for this operation.
The organ was removed an hour ago by another surgical team, and the procedure was very successful.
The kidney is now ready to be transplanted. The surgeon makes a long incision in the patient's left side. The kidney will now be sutured in place at three different points, after which the organ should begin to function normally.
A little hole is cut in the large pelvic artery, and now the first suture to the kidney's own artery has begun.
The next suture connects the kidney to the vein leading blood back to the heart. The clamps that have stopped the flow of blood during this process are now released.
Immediately the kidney assumes a healthy pink colour as it fills with blood and begins to produce urine.
The third suture is made, connecting the kidney to the bladder via the ureter.
In just under four hours, the operation is completed and the new kidney is filtering waste and excess water from the patient's blood.
The 27 year old is a victim of chronic kidney failure. He has been waiting two and a half years for a new kidney.
During this time, he has received dialysis treatment three times a week to clean his blood. Each treatment at the facility in Skejby takes three to five hours. But hopefully, these treatments are now a thing of the past.
"The most critical phase for a kidney transplant patient is the first couple of weeks after the operation. That's when the risk of rejection by the body is greatest, in spite of preventive medical treatment," explains chief surgeon Steffen Ellebæk Petersen.
"Close to half of our patients will need extra treatment in this period to prevent rejection," he continues. "But if the transplant is successful, the patient will soon lead a practically normal life."
A total of 55 kidney transplant operations were performed at Skejby Hospital in 1991. Most of the new kidneys were taken from brain dead persons in northwestern Denmark. But the waiting list for a new kidney grows longer every day.
"The number of donors fell drastically in 1987, when issues about brain death were brought into public focus. Now our supply of organs cannot nearly meet the demand," says Steffen Ellerbæk Petersen.
The only solution, he adds, is for many more to become registered organ donors. In 1992, doctors from the university system in Århus created a team of experts ready to remove heart, liver and kidneys from brain dead persons anywhere in western Denmark.
The team can go to work on just a few hours' notice, bringing a final gift of life to one of their many waiting patients.
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Århus University Hospital is the term used for a system of four hospitals in Århus: Skejby Hospital, Århus Municipal Hospital,
Århus County Hospital and the Psychiatric Hospital.
These hospitals receive patients from much of the country. They provide advanced treatment of rare or complicated illnesses.
Among other things, these hospitals offer cancer treatment, neurosurgery, organ transplants and heart surgery. But the University Hospital also treats the more routine illnesses of citizens in the Århus area.
Together these four hospitals have about 1,900 beds. The number of patients admitted in 1991 was 18,651, while the number of out-patients was 334,379.
Towards the end of 1992, doctors at the University Hospital performed their first liver and heart transplants.
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