Faces of ICHF 2010

These are merely a few of the faces of ICHF in 2010:

Joy to the World !

Tags: baby, babyheart, birth defect, christmas, congenital, heart, ICHF, Novick, pediatric, philanthropy, third world

Guest Post from Iraq…

This GUEST POST comes from our partners at Preemptive Love Coalition - based in Iraq. This is ICHF‘s 2nd trip to Iraq and the first to Nasiriyah in Southern Iraq. Can you believe that we can save children’s lives and perform open-heart surgery for a cost of $2,500 (free to the patients). Every $2,500 we raise saves another life. Wow. See DONATION button on your right!

These efforts in Iraq are called the REMEDY MISSION.

The mission of the International Children’s Heart Foundation (ICHF) is to bring the skills, technology and knowledge to cure and care for children with congenital heart disease to developing countries. ICHF does this regardless of country of origin, race, religion or gender.

Our goal is to make the need for ICHF obsolete. We work toward this goal through our mission trips where we operate and educate local health care professionals, and provide needed equipment and medications.

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Nasiriyah, Iraq

When we landed, it took us about 2 hours to leave the airport. The team was missing 3 bags – 1 crucial bag that was filled entirely with medication. The airport just called today though and it’s on it’s way down to Nasiriyah. Visas were all handled by the men who met us there in the airport. We left the airport in 8 armored Landcruisers. Leaving the airport was like trying to get out of a maze. As soon as we crossed the last checkpoint we were surrounded by more armored vehicles, this time with 50 cal.’s on top and sirens blaring. We drove to the Green Zone, where we rested at the Iraqi Vice President’s place until ICHF’s Dr William Novick arrived. The VP’s house is a palace that Saddam used to use. Before Saddam it was built for King Faisal. It overlooks the Tigris river and is surrounded by blast walls and machine gun nests. The dining room in the palace is unbelievable. The conference room was massive and it’s apparently where Obama goes to meet when he’s meeting with the VP. After our rest, Dr. Novick came and we ate one more time and then left for Nasiriyah.

The same armored transport took us down South. Leaving the city of Baghdad took a really long time. Baghdad’s huge. The transport had all the sirens going and they somehow had the whole thing choreographed where they would weave in and out of traffic, shove other cars off the road and block entire intersections so we could keep racing South at 140 kmph (87 mph).

Once in Nas we went straight to a compound where everybody’s staying together. There are dozens staying there with us and we all share 2 tiny showers/bathrooms. The people here were incredibly welcoming though and they’re doing anything and everything that’s asked of them. From the start of the mission – I’ve already noticed such a posture of humility among the people here, especially within the hospital. They want this bad. You can tell that they’re giving this trip all that they have.

Today’s the first day in the hospital. It’s much larger than the one in Sulaimaniyah and it actually feels and runs like a hospital. They already had the first patient prepped and ready to be operated on by the time Dr. Novick even walked in. I rushed into the OR to get a photo of the patient before it all started. He just was taken into the ICU and he was given a complete correction. The operating room is tiny, though. It’s basically a closet whereas the one in Sulaimaniyah is first class. When I was in there this morning, there was over 20 people crammed in there.The heart center inside the hospital is only temporary. They’re finishing up on a much larger center that will devoted completely to pediatric cardiology.

In the “war room” here where I’m working and where the doctors relax, the walls are covered with photographs and posters. One poster is dedicated to the kids that went up to Sulaimaniyah to be operated on earlier this year.  We also watched a video this morning that the hospital showed us and it covered some of those same stories as well. I don’t know how to pinpoint it, but it seems like they really just care about the kids here.

I talked with ICHF’s Dr. Novick and his nurse Martina Pavanic today over lunch and asked them what their first impressions have been. They’re impressed. They see a ton of potential here.  The doctors and nurses are all watching and learning. They’re receiving the teaching really well and they’re asking questions. From the top of the leadership in the hospital all the way down to the bottom, everybody’s learning. Dr. Novick said that if they continue like this, the staff and the quality of care here in Nasiriyah is going to be phenomenal.

Where in the World . . .

It is December. People’s thoughts turn to buying Christmas presents, decorating trees and homes, singing at church, and arranging feasts for family and friends.

Some people this year are finding it hard to get all these tasks done in time. Who, you might ask? The staff and volunteers for the International Children’s Heart Foundation.

As you are reading this there are two ICHF teams operating on children overseas. One of our medical teams (led by William Novick, MD) is in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq and the other complete team is in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. They don’t finish these trips until December 18th and then have to make the long journey back to the USA.

This is the kind of dedication it takes to save children who are suffering from Congenital Heart Defects. Please enjoy these initial pictures from the Ethiopia trip sent to us by Erin Brenner.

Maybe…..a Holiday Wish

By Charles Miller

Maybe you know, maybe you don’t.

I know a girl who has had 10 heart surgeries of various types. Her parents don’t even know the number of other times she has been admitted to the hospital for heart related issues. If they change her medicines – admitted. If she has wild arrhythmias – admitted. She needs her tonsils out – admitted. She gets Swine Flu – admitted. Her pacemaker leads disconnect and shock her muscles – admitted with surgery. And the list goes on. Her father has been tempted to call the hospital just to see if he could get a report of the dates of her various admittances over the past 19 years.

A life of heart disease is all this girl has ever known. Heart disease has shaped her entire being.

I wonder how much all of these hospitalizations have cost. $300,000? $600,000? $1,000,000+? What has the family’s economic contribution been after you consider deductibles, co-pays, travel, hotels, prescriptions, etc?  What has been the impact on the insurance company?

10 times. 10 heart surgeries. 10 times going under anesthesia. 10 times going under the knife. 10 times recovering…beginning at 3 months old.  Ten times praying for a good outcome…for life. Ten.

This girl was born in the USA – leader in healthcare. This girl was born in a country where children will get help regardless of their financial situation for the most part. This girl is like 1,000,000 children born each year who just happen to have a heart defect. That number of 1,000,000 makes congenital heart defects the number one birth defect globally!

The vast majority of these heart defects are in children outside the USA.  Some advanced countries are able to treat their children. But there are many countries that don’t have the capabilities or expertise to help their children who have heart defects. They die. That’s it. They die. Do we think their parents grieve any differently than we would?

What’s it worth to save a child from the Number One Birth Defect? $200,000? $50,000? What would you pay to save YOUR child if he had a heart defect and required surgery?

I don’t know the answer to that. That’s why I have never added up our family’s co-pays and deductibles and travel expenses related to our daughter’s 10 heart surgeries. Ten. You see, that’s my daughter mentioned up there.  Her name is Alex. She is why I committed my career to ICHF. There are many “Alex’s” waiting for surgery around the globe.

What do I think is a fair figure to save a child who is dying from a heart defect? I don’t know. I would have given the world to save my daughter. Only you can decide that number. For you maybe it’s $20. Maybe it’s $100. Maybe it’s $50,000. Maybe it’s $25 per month. $100/month.

For each $2,000 we get in donations we save a life. Think about it. $2,000. Some people like lattes and they are $4 each at a well known coffee shop.  If someone gets a latte every work day that’s around $1,000. Hmmmm. Or, $2000 is about $5.50 a day in a donation. Think about it ….. $5.50 a day to save a life. Doesn’t seem that outrageous.

In the USA we are blessed. Pure and simple…we are blessed. ICHF is not asking you to mortgage your house or take money out of a college fund.  As you consider your Year-End giving just think about how blessed you are. Think about how healthy you and your children are. Think about the families literally living in mud huts in 3^rd world countries whose babies need heart surgeries.

Julianna getting help with her post-op wound care at her home from Elizabeth Novick, RN

That’s my Holiday Wish — that we could save more children in 2011 than the 700+ we operated on in 2010.

Just think about the satisfaction and happiness you will have in knowing you actually saved a life!

Maybe you know, maybe you don’t. Maybe you can help. Maybe.

Award Winning Photo

Award Winning Photo by Jon Vidar

ICHF was in Sulimaniyah, Iraq in August performing heart surgeries on children — part of the Remedy Mission in conjunction with the Preemptive Love Coalition. While Dr William Novick was operating, photographer Jon Vidar captured this image of surgery as reflected in a heart monitor machine. The photo received the People’s Choice Award at FotoWeekDC 2010!

Congratulations to Jon Vidar (http://www.jonvidarphotography.com) for capturing some of what our medical teams do in the field!

ICHF will be traveling back to Iraq December 4-18 to operate on more children. It is estimated that there are more than 4,000 children in Iraq waiting for life-saving surgery. Worldwide, more than 1,000,000 children are born each year with a heart defect — making this the number one birth defect globally.

Tags: baby, cardiac, heart, ICHF, Iraq, Medical, pediatric, Photography, third world, Vidar

Volunteer perspective on ICHF

ICHF strives to go to poor countries to operate on children suffering from the world’s #1 birth defect – Congenital Heart Defects. But, ICHF is also committed to helping each country build its own self-sustaining pediatric cardiac care/surgery program over time.  The words below are from medical volunteer, Barry Markovitz, MD.

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As a pediatric intensivist, I wanted to do volunteer medical work for a long time, but never came across an opportunity to practice my skills, the only thing I know – pediatric critical care – until I learned about ICHF. My true passion is pediatric cardiac critical care, and when I found ICHF, I jumped. Big time. This organization has accomplished so much, in so many disparate places, it boggles the mind.

Barry Markovitz, MD with patient in Dominican Republic

Tags: baby heart, cardiac, Dominican Republic, ICHF, Markovitz, pediatric

Monday Night Football with Chicago Bears’ Charles Tillman

                                                   Please join us for this fun event!!

Hope you can make it!

Only adults can make a difference…

Children need not apply. They can’t possibly help an organization like the International Children’s Heart Foundation achieve its mission of bringing the skills, technology and knowledge to cure and care for children with congenital heart disease to developing countries.  Right?

Don’t tell that to ICHF employee Erin Brenner!

Erin Brenner teaching heart health in a USA school

Erin is a Registered Nurse and works for ICHF as the Operating Room Nurse Coordinator. Erin travels on many of ICHF’s international surgery trips.  When not in the O.R. in a third world country, Erin is busy in the USA making a difference. One of the initiatives she started is call the Baby Heart Service Learning Project.

The Baby Heart Service Learning Project began last year at Caywood Elementary School (in Edgewood, KY)  just outside Cincinnati, OH.  Another school, Summit Elementary in Northern Kentucky, found out about it and raised $1200.00 last year.   Then from there a Brownie troop (St. Jude Brownies) in OH got word of it and began to participate.

Kids presenting check to ICHF. This will help provide more surgeries to children in need.

The Baby Heart Service Learning Project serves multiple purposes:

1) ICHF hands out a warm, fuzzy blanket to each child after they have had surgery. The blankets and attached “get well soon cards” are  something special for our patients (their very own blanket)  but it also serves a medical purpose .  We cool the patients to as low as 28 degree Celsius for some cases and it is great way to warm some of the babies. The kids love to cuddle under these blankets as they recover in ICU.

Completed blankets ready to be sent to children who have just had heart surgery

2) Erin has been going to schools in the USA and teaching about basic heart health and community service. Erin explains the Baby Heart Service Learning Project by asking the kids what gives them comfort when they are sick. Inevitably the children will talk about a blanket. The children in the schools buy the materials and each make a blanket (See pictures) . Erin then goes back later to pick up the blankets and does a thank you presentation.  After the surgery trip is complete, ICHF sends a personalized booklet with the patients that they helped usually with pictures of blankets and ICHF also send e-mails to the teachers after each trip.

3) Service Learning is a teaching and learning method that connects meaningful community service experiences with academic learning, personal growth, and civic responsibility.  This powerful teaching methodology successfully unites classroom curriculum with identified community issues and needs.  It is an opportunity for students to learn critical skills through project development, implementation and reflection.  By participating in high quality Service Learning experiences, students learn the invaluable skill of being able to organize information, resources and people in order to improve the community.  It allows the students to take ownership of their learning by engaging them in their own education through experiential learning in course-related contexts, and fostering lifelong connections between students, their communities and the world outside the classroom.

4) This project also helps spread awareness about the world’s Number One birth defect – Congenital Heart Defects. Nearly 1 in 100 children are born with a congenital heart defect worldwide. That equals more than 1,000,000 children born each year with a heart defect. ICHF is the largest organization of its kind — providing surgery to more than 800 children worldwide this year.  ICHF will provide these surgeries in countries including: Honduras, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico, India, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and China. In these countries most children do not have proper access to life-saving heart surgeries. ICHF goes in to these countries and not only provides surgeries but constantly trains the local medical staff so they can create their own sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery program. Eventually, ICHF will not be needed there and can move on to another country.

Erin Brenner with patients who received blankets

Many schools and universities have included a service learning component as a required part of education. Through the Baby Heart Service Learning Project, our goal is to incorporate health, science, geography, and community service into the child’s curriculum.

How can you help? Please Email us if you have an interest in implementing the Baby Heart Service Learning Project in your school, church, service organization, etc. We can EASILY set this up and you can immediately begin making a positive impact around the globe! For more information please contact Charles Miller at charlesmiller@babyheart.org. You can also contact Erin Brenner at brenneree@hotmail.com.

Is TODAY the day you will make a difference?

Young patient recovering from open heart surgery with her own fuzzy blanket

Funny Faces

Is there anything “funny” about congenital heart defects (CHD)?  Absolutely not.

CHDs are the world’s number one birth defect affecting almost 1 in 100 children born each year. Over 1,000,000 children will be born with a CHD this year. There is no cure for these heart defects so we rely on early diagnosis, medicinal treatment, and surgery. Thankfully, over the years, all of these efforts have helped the medical community save more and more children.

When you have a child with a CHD you tend to meet more and more families who are in a similar situation. You meet them in the hospital, at fund raisers, on social networks, etc. So, I have met many families who have been affected by this birth defect. I know kids who are very sick and whose parents worry about them all the time. I know families who have had children die from CHD.

I know what it is like to be a parent who worries about a CHD child on a regular basis.

I also know that at some point many families must step back and cherish the moments they have with their CHD child. Some kids are “fixed” after their surgery or surgeries. Many will never be “fixed” – including my daughter. For those families whose kids are “fixed” it is easy to put on a Funny Face. However,  I would imagine there is still that lingering thought that something could still go wrong in the future. For the families of those kids who will never be fixed they must learn to find situations to put on Funny Faces.

Where can you have Funny Faces? You can celebrate moments in the hospital. Every little victory is a reason for celebration. You can celebrate other milestones like a CHD child’s first smile, first step, first word, first trike, first day of school, first…..whatever. Kids born with CHD don’t know anything else but having a heart that needs fixing. They are still kids and are typically very adaptive. They want to have fun. They want to make Funny Faces. Think about it.

Whether you have a child with CHD or not….will you make an effort to put on a Funny Face on a regular basis? If nothing else do it “for” a child with CHD. Help them smile and help them laugh. Embrace this birth defect and make a difference.

Let’s start a brand new trend around the globe…….starting with NFL Player Charles Tillman

Send us your Funny Face picture to: funnyfaces@babyheart.org

Need inspiration………

Charles Miller is Director of Development for the International Children’s Heart Foundation.  Charles has a deep understanding of dealing with congenital heart defects (CHD) because his daughter was born with a single ventricle, transposition of the great arteries, and pulmonary stenosis. Since birth she has endured 10 cardiac surgeries and countless hospitalizations.