Do You Know the Size of a Newborn Baby’s Heart?
Do You Know the Size of a Newborn Baby’s Heart? When you count the reasons to celebrate this season, please add one more to your list. On December 3, Hazell was born in Managua. But quickly, the doctors realized that something was wrong with her heart. Without surgery, Hazell had about 48 hours to live. She was rushed to our Heart Center at La Mascota, where, fortunately a team from Denver was on a training mission for the week. Dr. James Jaggers, a dedicated member of our board and a renowned surgeon, decided in agreement with the team to operate on this baby right away. The heart of a newborn is the size of a walnut. Because of the complexity of her case, Hazell was the only patient that Dr. Jaggers operated on from the right side of the operating table (as the leading surgeon during this mission). All the other patients were operated on by the Nicaraguan surgeons under Dr. Jaggers mentorship. The operation continued for five hours. Everything went very well. Hazell will be with her family at Christmas! When you donate this holiday season, you support a program that enables babies like Hazell to grow up into happy, active boys and girls. We are fortunate to have a generous Board doubling every gift to the Foundation until December 31, up to $10,000. Click here to make your tax-deductible gift during this season of giving, and the Board will double it to maximize your impact. This season is about giving and hope, and Surgeons of Hope is committed to both. Thank you for being part of it. Every 30 seconds a baby is born with a life-threatening but highly treatable heart defect. Help us expand access to life-saving heart care around the world.
Thank You for Your Support and Enduring Friendship
Dear Friend and Supporter of Surgeons of Hope, With profound gratitude, we are celebrating continuing progress in Latin America. With your help, we are narrowing the gap between pediatric heart care available in our world, but out of reach for children born into impoverished circumstances in the poorest countries. Please continue your interest in Surgeons of Hope. The end of the year is approaching, and you may be thinking of how to direct your end-of-the-year giving. A donation to Surgeons of Hope (a 501(c)(3) organization) is fully tax-deductible. Progress this year has been beyond our expectations. 2015 has seen multiple surgical mission teams traveling from Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Colombia, France and the US to provide surgery and training at our new Pediatric Heart Center in Managua. Our Center is seeing greater numbers of patients thanks to increased staffing levels, bringing us nearer to the final phases of our work there. The new catheterization laboratory is functioning, and we are now organizing missions to provide healing interventions using this technology. Also, we are envisioning a program of prevention of rheumatic fever to keep the young children from developing heart problems due to the ravaging effect of this disease on cardiac valves. In January, we are sending a team from New York Presbyterian Hospital to Costa Rica to advise and help an existing pediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery program improving outcomes and quality processes. The Costa Rican program will become a lighthouse within the future Central American Network of Cardiac Care, our ultimate objective in the region. In 2016, we will also begin a multi-phase commitment in Peru, where quality heart care is presently out of the reach of poor children in remote rural regions. As you can imagine, participation at all financial levels can truly make a difference. A small donation will help to buy much-needed supplies; a larger commitment will provide a giant step forward in our program, helping to finance a mission or purchase a piece of expensive equipment. It is all vital. Equally important to us and to the Latin American children and their families is that you are with us in spirit, as well as supporting us. When you make a year-end gift, please let us know the name of your employer, so that we may apply for a matching gift, if your employer offers that benefit. As a further inducement, our board members have contributed a fund of $10,000 to be used for matching your donation to this campaign scheduled to end on December 31 or whenever the board fund is fully expended. Give now to make your dollars go even further! Thank you for your support and enduring friendship. With gratitude, Dr. Eduardo Da CruzPresident, Surgeons of Hope Please make checks payable to: Surgeons of Hope and mail to Surgeons of Hope Foundation, One Penn Plaza, 5th Floor, Suite 400; New York, NY 10119; or to donate online by credit card: www.surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com Pr. Fragata remained at the bedside of little Ariel (11) throughout the long night following a rigorous two surgeries that day on other children. He is a renowned pediatric heart surgeon. His dedication in concert with his whole team is evident in this remarkable photo, taken in the ICU. The child came through just fine and is now at home. This is why we do what we do, and why we ask you to help us now. Your Support Means Everything The new Heart Center in Nicaragua is a public hospital that offers care to less fortunate families whose children suffer from a variety of heart ailments and malformations. From baby-warming blankets to x-rays, your donations have made and will continue to make a tremendous difference. Please click here to donate, or send a check (payable to Surgeons of Hope) to:Surgeons of Hope FoundationAttn: C. E. CatherineOne Penn Plaza, 5th Floor, suite 400New York, NY 10119 Your support means everything to us. The children of Nicaragua thank you! Please visit our website at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.comDonate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com/donate
Meet Yasser
Not far from the border between Nicaragua and Honduras lives Yasser and his family. He is from a little town, 9 hours by bus from Managua, with a population of 8,000 people. Yasser is six years old, weighs 48 pounds and was born with a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. Tetralogy of Fallot is a rare heart defect that occurs in 5 out of every 10,000 babies. Circumstances like these would be challenging for any family. Unfortunately, Yasser’s family faces an even greater barrier: living in a remote and poverty-stricken region of Nicaragua where most survive on less than $2 a day. Yasser’s opportunity: An important sign of Tetralogy of Fallot is cyanosis, a bluish tint to the skin, lips, and fingernails caused by low levels of oxygen in the blood. When Yasser’s fingertips turned blue, Yasser’s father, a carpenter, decided to make the long trip to the capital to have his six year old son examined by a pediatric cardiologist at La Mascota Hospital, where poor patients are treated for free. Thanks to the support of Surgeons of Hope, this hospital has excellent equipment. Yasser’s case was serious, the operation was going to be difficult. Pr. Jose Fragata was in Nicaragua earlier this month, leading a mission sponsored by Surgeons of Hope and he decided to operate Yasser on November 2. The results: We are proud to say that last week, Yasser left the hospital with a huge smile after a successful operation! Soon he will be able to play with his older brother. None of this would have been possible without the support of our donors such as you. This Saturday, when most of us will be recovering from our Thanksgiving dinner, a team from Denver will go to Managua to operate on another 10 children just like Yasser. They will also train the local team, so that between our medical missions, they can continue to operate on simpler cases. A mission costs about $25,000, yes, $25,000 to save 10 lives and train doctors that will save many more lives in the future! A matching fund of 10,000.00 is available until December 31, 2015. If you donate now, every dollar will be matched up to $10,000. Please donate now to make your dollars go even further! Donate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com/donate Cost of a mission: • Plane tickets: $15,000 • Medical supplies: $5,000 • Lodging: $4,500 • Insurance: $500 Your Support Means Everything The new Heart Center in Nicaragua is a public hospital that offers care to less fortunate families whose children suffer from a variety of heart ailments and malformations. From baby-warming blankets to x-rays, your donations have made and will continue to make a tremendous difference. Please click here to donate, or send a check (payable to Surgeons of Hope) to:Surgeons of Hope FoundationAttn: C. E. CatherineOne Penn Plaza, 5th Floor, suite 400New York, NY 10119 Your support means everything to us. The children of Nicaragua thank you! Please visit our website at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.comDonate to our cause at surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com/donate
A Marathon for the Children of Latin America
Building a heart center in Latin America requires a lot of stamina, and on November 1, I will run 26 miles and 385 yards to raise money for this incredible project. It will be my first Marathon, but as you can see on this video, i’m getting ready ! Any amount you can give is so appreciated. Your donation will help hundreds of children in need across Latin America. Click here to support me in my endeavor !
Reflecting on Our Amazing Journey Thus Far
Dear Friend, For the past week, I have been in Nicaragua connecting with hard-working people who are directly implementing, participating in, and benefiting from our program. This is life-changing work made possible by your support, and I want to take this opportunity to thank you. Our new Pediatric Heart Center of Nicaragua, a major advance, is breathtaking in its capacity to provide care and training in a modern facility. During my visit, the new catheterization room donated by Philips Medical, performed its first procedure on a 4-year-old boy. The moment was historic and intensely energizing for me and the local medical staff. The photo above introduces you to little Andro, following his heart surgery when he discovered the fun of blowing soap bubbles–also a good lung exercise. Andro was operated on by the team visiting our heart center from Gregorio-Maranon Hospital in Madrid, Spain. Along with our partners, we’re working hand-in-hand with the local medical team in Managua to improve their working processes. The end result will be narrowing the gap that exists between care readily available to children in the developed world and care that is not available to the poorest countries on our side of the world. When people work together, extraordinary progress is possible, making a difference in the lives of children, their families, and their communities. You are part of our amazing journey. Visit our website (www.surgeonsofhope.iconstrategiesbpo.com), to see stories and videos of our work in Latin-America. You can also like our Facebook page to get frequent updates, and why not “Follow” us on Twitter, too? If you attended our May 1 Gala Dinner in New York, special thanks. But above all, thank you for your ongoing commitment to us at Surgeons of Hope. Sincerely, Charles-Edouard CATHERINE Executive Director Surgeons of Hope Foundation Every 30 seconds a baby is born with a life-threatening but highly treatable heart defect. Help us expand access to life-saving heart care around the world.
NYPH-Columbia Medical Center team visits SoH Heart Center
Completing their first mission to our new Pediatric Heart Center in Managua, Nicaragua, a 15-member team from New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia Medical Center (NYPH), led by Dr. Paul Chai who heads their Pediatric Cardiac Department, has returned safely to New York from their week-long mission. Nine infants and children received critically-needed open-heart surgery at the hands of the team as they collaborated with the local surgical staff at the Heart Center. Specialized training in essential surgical procedures was an integral part of the week’s work. Our mission was the first humanitarian mission undertaken by NYPH in the country of Nicaragua, according to Philippe Lerch, Surgeons of Hope’s Nicaragua Program Director, in a preliminary report received today. “The NYPH mission definitely established the important role of our Heart Center and its future in Managua and surrounding regions in Central America,” Mr. Lerch said. NYPH has volunteered teams for SoH missions in the past and the collaboration has been immensely productive in providing the best in heart care for the poorest children in other parts of the world. In 2004, when Surgeons of Hope was a young organization, the first four missions ever accomplished by us were led by NYPH teams traveling to Asia and Africa (Cambodia, Afghanistan, and Senegal). Jillian Kirkpatrick, RN, head nurse on Dr. Chai’s Nicaragua mission team, was also a team member for those 2004 missions. Since the early years, Surgeons of Hope has focused on Latin America and sends teams from other leading hospitals in the US and Europe. Our history boasts about the steady, sure growth that our program provides, thanks to the help and support of our loyal supporters. For that we thank you all. Your donations continue to make our work possible for these kids. Team members Dien Vu, MD (anesthesia); Carmen Martinez and Melissa Varrone, RNs, sent along some photos which we know you will enjoy.
Philips Catheterization Lab Installed in Managua
A $1M Catheterization Lab donated by the manufacturer, Philips Healthcare, is now installed at our Pediatric Heart Center in Managua, Nicaragua. We gratefully celebrate this new arrival at our hospital! A Cath Lab (as it is known for short) is a super-sophisticated piece of equipment that allows doctors to perform less invasive diagnosis of complex cardiac problems
