Filmmaker and Actor Diego Luna Works to Bring Greater Access to Pediatric Heart Surgery in Latin America: Nonprofit Surgeons of Hope names Luna as its first Heart Ambassador.
Filmmaker, actor and humanitarian, Diego Luna is partnering with the Surgeons of Hope Foundation to raise awareness of the growing need for children and babies to have access to life-saving heart surgeries, regardless of where they call home. Diego Luna is most notorious for his work in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Flatliners, and Narcos (a popular Netflix produced show). He is the organization’s first Heart Ambassador, a role in which he will travel to Latin America on a service mission to witness the Surgeons of Hope team demonstrate their impact firsthand. Click HERE to watch Diego Luna’s message to our supporters. We hope that with the help of the Mexico City native this global health issue will have the exposure it so rightfully needs. Worldwide, over one million children are born with congenital heart disease every year. Millions more are affected by rheumatic heart disease. While most heart defects can be corrected or improved, children in developing countries are routinely denied life-saving cardiac surgery simply because they live in a region without access to adequate and affordable pediatric care. “Both Diego and our organization believe that no child should die of a broken heart,” said Surgeons of Hope’s Executive Director Charles-Edouard Catherine. “It is an unconscionable loss that a child dies anywhere in the world from a heart defect due to lack of resources or proper care, and he’s helping us to further achieve this vision over the next year thanks to his commitment and leadership.” Luna will travel with a team on an upcoming mission with the intentions of strengthening our cause and furthering our objective. This past year, Surgeons of Hope has helped save the lives of 486 children and performed over 18,000 screenings. At Surgeons of Hope, we believe that what matters isn’t what we bring, it’s what we leave behind; by providing training to local doctors, surgeons and nurses we facilitate the progressive growth to conquer this issue. “I am inspired by the incredible work done by the doctors and volunteers who work with the Foundation on a daily basis” said Luna. “I was born in Mexico City and I know how important this is for Latin America. I’m honored and excited to announce that I am becoming a Heart Ambassador for Surgeons of Hope. I am looking forward to joining their next mission to Costa Rica in September, there are many families and patients who need our help!” Click here to learn more about this amazing partnership. About the Surgeons of Hope Foundation The Surgeons of Hope Foundation is a New York-based nonprofit established in 2001. The organization aims to ensure every infant and child with a damaged heart has equal opportunity to receive life-saving surgery. Surgeons of Hope provides urgently needed treatment, trains medical teams, and builds health centers in under-resourced communities around the world. https://surgeonsofhope.org/
New milestones in our global fight against heart disease
Dear friend, Last week, I had the privilege to visit a new pediatric program in Lima, Peru, where together with Hearts with Hope, our volunteers have done over 100 screenings, and performed open heart surgery and interventional cardiology for 12 hours each day. I wish I could tell you what it’s like to meet our patients, their families, and to see them leave the hospital with a smile and a healthy heart just a few days later! All the programs that are mentioned in this Newsletter are accomplished by unpaid volunteers who give generously of their time and talents. However without the support of our generous donors giving large and small contributions these attempts to help so many children could not happen. Our board members, volunteers and friends would like to thank all who give for the first time or many times over the years. I hope to see those of you who live in New York City at our Holiday Party on November 30, I would love to be able to thank you in person! “The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” Oscar Wilde Our first mission in Peru: Thank you to our volunteers for their amazing work last week in Lima. This mission was a great success! Thank you for your courage and your conviction, for leaving behind all that is familiar and comfortable to serve others. Thank you also for realizing that the experiences you lived and the people you met taught you more than you could have imagined. Thank you for your patience, respect and perseverance, change is never easy. But most of all thank you for your kindness, care and love and for being the inspiration the world needs. And of course, thank you to the Children of Peru Foundation for their generous support and to Hearts with Hope for leading this project. Here is a picture of Yarifee, she is now home with a healthy heart! A milestone for our program in Nicaragua: We are very proud to announce that Dr. Téllez and Dr. Narváez, two Nicaraguan surgeons who were trained by our teams successfully performed a Glenn procedure last week in total autonomy in Managua for the very first time. As you can see, the patient is doing really well! The Glenn procedure is a complex surgery, this success is an important milestone for our program. At Surgeons of Hope we believe that what matters isn’t what we bring, it’s what we leave behind. Dr. Téllez and Dr. Narváez are two young talented surgeons, we are very proud to support them and their team. Together, we will save many more lives. Surgeons of Hope’s Holiday Party: Join us on November 30 to kick off the Holiday Season! This year our Holiday Party will be held at the Bulgarian Consulate in NYC. The reception will begin with a cocktail party as we come together to celebrate and raise money for the Foundation. Then, two talented pianist, Georgy Lenovo and Lora Al will amaze us with a short recital. French opera star David Serero will conclude the evening with a selection of French and American Christmas Carols to kick off the Holiday Season! You can book your tickets here Our offer to you: Two weeks ago, a member of our Board of Directors, Michael Katz has offered to personally match every dollar (up to $10,000) that is contributed to Surgeons of Hope from now until December 31, 2017. Michael is not only an active member of the Board, but has a unique connection to the organization. His daughter was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. Through his personal experience Michael realized how millions of families across the world are not as lucky to have access to pediatric cardiac care. In just two weeks, we already raised $4,291, thank you! If you haven’t done so already, please click here to make your tax-deductible donation to Surgeons of Hope. Give before December 31, and Mr. Katz will personally match your gift and double the impact of your support! Gratefully, Charles-Edouard Catherine Executive Director Surgeons of Hope Foundation Your support means everything to us Please visit our website at surgeonsofhope.org Donate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.org/donate
Our Offer To You
Dear Friend, As you already know, Surgeons of Hope has a crucial mission, saving the lives of babies and children affected with heart disease. Uniquely, Surgeons of Hope also has a sustainable long term model that enables local communities to, over time, have self-sustaining pediatric cardiac programs with limited to no further involvement from Surgeons of Hope. This model scales and can be implemented worldwide to ensure high quality care for the next generations. Because what matters isn’t what we bring, it’s what we leave behind. A member of our Board of Directors, Michael Katz has offered to personally match every dollar (up to $10,000) that is contributed to Surgeons of Hope from now until December 31, 2017. Michael is not only an active member of the Board, but has a unique connection to the organization. His daughter, Alexandra, was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. Through his personal experience Michael realized how millions of families across the world are not as lucky to have access to pediatric cardiac care. As a result, he and his wife were drawn to the mission of the Surgeons of Hope Foundation. With your help, we can continue to develop this model and provide care throughout the world. So please click here to make your tax-deductible donation to Surgeons of Hope. Give before December 31, and Mr. Katz will personally match your gift, up to $10,000 and double the impact of your support! Gratefully, Charles-Edouard Catherine Executive Director Surgeons of Hope Foundation Your support means everything to us Please visit our website at surgeonsofhope.org Donate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.org/donate
Meet Our Heroes: Medical Volunteers and Surgeons
Dear friend, We have some exciting news! Thanks to the Association des Français Fonctionnaires Internationaux de New York (AFFIN), we will hold our next event on September 12th at 6:30pm! The focus of the evening will be a panel of some of the amazing and inspiring doctors who volunteer with Surgeons of Hope. They will discuss their experiences and answer any questions you may have. In addition to the panel, there will be a meet and greet with our team and a showing of a video that captures all of the wonderful work done by Surgeons of Hope. The panel will include: Emile Bacha, MD (Chief, Pediatric and Adult Cardiac Surgery, NY Presbyterian Hospital) Charles Catherine (Executive Director, Surgeons of Hope Foundation) Eva Cheung, MD (Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Medical Director, Pediatric ECMO Columbia University Medical Center) Sibylle Eschapasse (President, Association des Français Fonctionnaires Internationaux de New York and Moderator) His Excellency Mr. Juan Carlos Mendoza Garcia (Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations) Shannan Pearsall (Mended Little Hearts National Steering Committee Member, MLH of Long Island Group Coordinator) Her Excellency Mrs. Maria Rubiales de Chamorro (Permanent Representative of Nicaragua to the United Nations) The event will take place on Tuesday September 12, 2017 at 630 PM in conference room 8 at the UN Headquarters (46th Street and 1st Avenue). Sign Up Now
New Steps Forward in Our Global Fight Against Heart Disease
Dear friend, We are making progress! Surgeons of Hope is focusing on continuing work established in primary sites while simultaneously beginning new projects to broaden the horizon of pediatric cardiac care in Latin America. In addition to over 180 and 240 surgeries projected to take place in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, respectively, we will be sending an assessment team to Paraguay this upcoming September to begin work there. Additionally, thanks to the support of the Children of Peru Foundation, we will be sending our first mission to Lima in November! Current Status of Pediatric Congenital Heart DiseaseAccording to the National Center for Health Statistics, there are approximately 1,064,000 children born with CHD every year, unfortunately, 90% of these children are born in underserved countries. Hence, 957,600 of these children will not have access to modern treatment. 30% of these children will die in their first years of life. it is much easier to access open heart surgery in America, a country with 2,087 pediatric cardiologists, than in Nicaragua, a country that has merely four pediatric cardiologists for its population of six million! But thanks to your support, Surgeons of Hope is able to provide life-saving care to these children in need. Missions are continually being sent to Latin America, allowing over 10 surgeries to be performed in as little as one week. Furthermore, close to 20,000 screenings are performed by our teams each year to ensure that the proper pediatric care is delivered to those in need. Global Giving Essential Pumps ProjectDo you want to have a hand in helping a heart? Syringe pumps are key to affording a child critical life-altering heart surgery. Medicines need to be dispensed at just the right intervals and in just the right dosage to maintain the infant’s life balance during surgery and in the days after surgery. Success is when the tubes come out. In the picture below, OR and ICU nurse Ana Rosa dedicates her life to the infants and children under her care at our heart center in Nicaragua. She needs new syringe pumps for her patients and you can click the link below to support her. Every piece of equipment is a step ahead; the result is lasting progress. Here is the Global Giving link with more details of our project. Think of Surgeons of Hope for Father’s Day!Pictured below is little Yvonne and her father Danny. Thanks to your support, they are able to spend Father’s Day together this weekend. Amazon Smile is a simple way to support Surgeons of Hope every time you use Amazon to shop. Click here to find out more. Thanks to your generosity, our teams are saving more children than ever before. We are deeply grateful for your spirit, dedication, and commitment to Surgeons of Hope. Please visit our website at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.comDonate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com/donate Address postal inquiries to: Surgeons of Hope Foundation One Penn Plaza – 5th floor, suite 400 New York, NY 10119 Your support means everything to us. Your support means everything to us. Please visit our website at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com Donate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com/donate
Wine Tasting Benefit Night
Dear friend, Please join us on Wednesday, June 21st for a MAGNVM OPVS Tasting Concert to support Surgeons of Hope in conjunction with On Site Opera! The event will take place from 6:00pm to 8:00pm in the Salon Rose of the Consulate General of France. At a MAGNVM OPVS tasting concert, audiences are guided through a traditional wine tasting process, an exploration which uses the senses of sight, smell, taste, and touch. The wine tastings are built around specific singers, presenting specially curated wines alongside musical selections specifically chosen to highlight the parallels in both voice and wine. Tickets to attend this event can be purchased via the link below. Proceeds from the benefit night will go towards saving the lives of children with congenital heart disease! For more information about the event, please click here. As always, your continued support is wonderful! Buy Tickets NowPlease purchase tickets by June 15. Your support means everything to us. Please visit our website at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.comDonate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com/donate Address postal inquiries to: Surgeons of Hope Foundation One Penn Plaza – 5th floor, suite 400 New York, NY 10119 Your support means everything to us. Please visit our website at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com Donate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com/donate
Anyone can be a victim of congenital heart disease, even the most fortunate
Two weeks ago the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show, which usually welcomes millions of viewers daily, went silent. After a week without any public appearance, Kimmel came back on his show on Monday, explaining that he had just spent the most difficult days of his life following the birth of his son, born with a congenital heart disease. He went through the details of the procedures, from the moment a nurse detected the heart murmur to the surgery, and finally to bringing little Billy back home. Thankfully, Kimmel had many resources and contacted different doctors and surgeons to provide the best surgery and care for his newborn son, but it doesn’t take away the fear and helplessness he must’ve felt. In his very emotional monologue, which has been seen (as of today) 10.5 million times on YouTube, Jimmy Kimmel stresses the financial and political support that children’s hospitals need to save children in situations like these. Of course, Jimmy Kimmel is fortunate enough to have an easy access to the complex surgeries that heart diseases require, but for many it’s a luxury that few can afford. Surgeons of Hope strives to give every sick child and their parents the same chance and the same resources for cardiac surgery, so that no life gets stopped short because of limited opportunities. We send our warmest thoughts to Jimmy Kimmel and his family, and thank him for shining a light on congenital heart disease and its implications. You can watch the video HERE. Donate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.org/donate
This is a very busy week for the Foundation!
On Tuesday, our Executive Director, Charles Catherine received a Humanitarian Prize at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris. It was a very inspiring night! France 24 will broadcast this beautiful segment on Sunday about Surgeons of Hope (it’s in French): Watch it here. Tomorrow morning, a team from the Hospital Infantil de Mexico led by Dr. Sergio Ruiz González will fly to Nicaragua to support our Heart Center in Managua. It will be the first team from Mexico to ever join our program. Please think of those wonderful volunteers this weekend, they will donate a week of their time to train our doctors and to operate on many children! If you want to support our next mission, you can make a donation here. And don’t forget to like our Facebook page! We will post a lot of pictures here. We are on a powerful dynamic, thank you for your support. Together, we are saving many lives!
INVIVOX and the SURGEONS of HOPE Foundation team up to facilitate the training of Doctors
New York, 1st of March French-American start-up Invivox.com and the New York based foundation « Surgeons of Hope » are delighted to announce their partnership in the field of Medical Education. Since its inception in Sept 2016, Invivox offers the global Medical community the possibility to connect on its platform in order to find practical training with another doctor (expert in his/her field). Invivox is referred to as the ‘airbnb’ of continuing medical training. Surgeons of Hope sponsors surgical teams to travel to developing countries and operate on children, equipping and supplying the local hospital as needed. While there, the teaching team works in collaboration with the local medical team to provide training in and access to modern procedures. That training provides the seeds for sustainability. “In addition to medical education, the Experts trainers on Invivox willing to support the Surgeons of Hope Foundation now have the possibility to donate the revenues of the trainings to the Foundation. By doing so, they offer their financial contribution to the medical training of their colleagues in developing countries” adds JulienDelpech, CEO of Invivox. According to Charles-Edouard Catherine, executive Director of Surgeons of Hope, “Invivox and Surgeons of Hope clearly have a lot in common. We both focus on Medical Education, we have the same audience, and we both want to create synergies between Doctors who simply want to share their valuable knowledge. This partnership is a perfect fit!” About INVIVOX INVIVOX is a global medical platform that connects medical experts and practitioners to offer practical on-site training (in the operating room) on a one-on-one basis. About SURGEONS of HOPE It is an unconscionable loss that a child dies anywhere in the world from a heart defect due to lack of resources for proper care, when a child living in the most remote area of the U.S. with the same heart defect would be easily cured. SoH seeks to narrow that disparity by living up to its motto: “It’s Not What We Bring. It’s What We Leave Behind“. SoH sponsors surgical teams to travel to developing countries and operate on children, equipping and supplying the local hospital as needed. While there, the teaching team works in collaboration with the local medical team to provide training in and access to modern procedures. That training provides the seeds for sustainability…”What We Leave Behind”. Where appropriate, we also construct, equip, and supply a modern Surgical Center in that country to serve as an educational surgical unit for the surrounding region. In short, we are curing, training, and building as a key to narrowing the medical resource gap between the developed and the developing nations. Contacts Invivox : Julien Delpech, CEO : [email protected] Surgeons of Hope : Charles-Edouard Catherine, Director : [email protected]
2016 – A Record Breaking Year for Surgeons of Hope
Dear friend, With the New Year around the corner, I want to thank you once again for all that you’ve done to support the Surgeons of Hope Foundation and our work. We started the Foundation 15 years ago with one great idea: every child should have access to heart surgery. Today, I am proud to report that 2016 has been a record-breaking year for Surgeons of Hope! Let me illustrate this statement with a few stats: In our program in Costa Rica, the mortality rate is down to 1.4% from 8% in just two years time, and the average hospital stay has been divided in half. In Nicaragua, the number of heart surgeries completed at La Mascota has more than doubled over the past two years, boasting 167 surgeries this year compared to 2014’s 75. And all together, our teams screened 17,776 children this year. That’s right, we impacted many, many lives! Now, I have some great news. If you live in New York City and if you want to stay fit while supporting our cause, then come and join me on January 6! SoulCycle has graciously partnered with us to hold our Cycle for Children’s Hearts event at their 19th Street location. Individuals of all activity levels are encouraged to participate. For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here. You are not into cycling? No worries, you can still come to another great event! Surgeons of Hope will be hosting a charity concert on January 30th at the National America Opera Center, featuring the French opera star David Serero. Don’t miss out on this exciting evening! Tickets are available here. You don’t like music either? Ok, I have one more suggestion. You can give a Meaningful Gift This Holiday Season. A healthy heart, what better gift could there be? Donate Today! I am so proud of our accomplishments, thank you again for your continued support. 2016 was incredible for Surgeons of Hope, I can’t wait to see what we will accomplish together in 2017! 98% of children who die before the age of five are in the developing world.Help us expand access to life-saving heart care. Charles-Edouard CATHERINEExecutive DirectorSurgeons of Hope Foundation
