1: What are you trying to accomplish?
2: What's your evidence that you can accomplish it?
3: How is it possible that you can provide an open heart surgery in Iraq for less than $1,000? Is that the full cost?
4: So is that the same thing as saying that my donation doesn't really make a difference? That the "up to 85%" funded locally by those inside Iraq is all that is really necessary to make this work?
5: Any other costs?
6: What is the bottleneck to more surgeries: money or skilled labor?
7: I'm skeptical of non-profits and charities because they always seem to be asking for more money. How can I be sure that Preemptive Love Coalition has "room for more funding" and that I'm not paying into a huge savings account, "Rainy Day Fund", or something similar?
8: Do you have enough volunteer surgeons available for unfunded Remedy Missions? (i.e., are there trips that you could fund if you had more money, or is there a labor bottleneck?)
9: Many heart surgeries require follow-up treatment (including additional surgeries). Do you have a way of providing these to patients?
10: How do you assess whether surgeries are completed competently and appropriately?
11: What is the rate of complications during and following surgery?
12: How do you assess whether surgeons are performing additional surgeries that they would have not had the funding or motivation to perform otherwise?
13: How do you assess whether surgeons are charging their patients for the surgeries you fund?
14: Do you follow up with the surgeons you've trained to assess whether they are correctly applying their training?
15: What information is available on the activities - and competence - of the surgeons you've trained?
16: Where do surgeons work after completing training? Do they serve poor patients?
17: How much do you spend each year on "program" expenses and how much on "overhead?"


----------

 Q: What are you trying to accomplish?

A: Train Iraqi heart surgeons and nurses so they can eradicate the backlog of tens of thousands of Iraqi children waiting in line for lifesaving heart surgery. [Back to Top]

 Q: What's your evidence that you can accomplish it?

A: Each year we continue to increase Iraq's total number of pediatric cardiac surgeries with new surgeries in Iraqi centers that would not - indeed could not - have been accomplished otherwise. Ministry of Health (MOH) officials speculate 500 surgeries were accomplished in 2009 (of which we provided 23 - 4.6% - outside the country). The addition of our 82 surgeries in FY 2010 - to the 500 baseline - for a total of 582 approximated surgeries, represents an increase created by PLC of 14% over 2009. In FY 2011 we anticipate increasing Iraq's total number of pediatric cardiac surgeries to at least 719 (or another 19% over FY 2010 directly attributable to our surgeons and our training).

Each year the local teams with which we work will become more proficient, and each year they will independently take on a larger case load than they could have the year before. None of these figures yet account for that additional output.

In March 2010 the Iraqi Ministry of Health asked us to expand our work to three additional sites. In May 2010 we began additional discussions about establishing a fellowship program in which international surgeons and nurses would take up residence in the Iraqi system to train locally for 40 weeks out of the year.

Our model does not rely strictly on volunteers because the level of need in Iraq outstrips what we could reasonably supply through volunteer labor alone. Accordingly, we set our budgets so as to actually contract the international surgical and nursing staff we need to accomplish our mission.

Sure, this increases the cost-per-mission (and thereby, cost-per-child) over early "mission" models in which volunteerism was idealized and training was not necessarily prioritized. But our contract labor + volunteerism model is inarguably the only way to create a nationwide quarterly training program and fellowships inside Iraq with international experts across approximately 6-8 surgical sites. Moreover, our model does not face the same sluggishness of learning that other surgery organizations suffer because we do not have the same rates of turnover; we have incredible consistency across our programs and missions. [Back to Top]

 Q: How is it possible that you can provide an open heart surgery in Iraq for less than $1,000? Is that the full cost?

A: The "less than $1k" numbers we routinely publish represent the amount in "program costs" we spend from our international donor money. The figure does not necessarily account for every single management, overhead, or fundraising expense.

Our total expenditures for FY 2010 were $188,919. We performed 82 surgeries during the same period for a per child total of $2,304 (though this data is a bit moot moving into 2010-11 as we abandon our very expensive "surgery exports" program(s) in Turkey, etc. and focus henceforth on more cost-effective in-country surgeries alone).

When all of our Remedy Mission partners are taken into consideration - including the Iraqi Government, medical companies that donate medicines and supplies, and local organizations - the real Remedy Mission cost to all donors is in the range of $5,400 - $7,000. Put another way, up to 85% of the total cost of a single surgical/training mission is now subsidized by local, Iraqi constituent institutions. [Back to Top]

 Q: So is that the same thing as saying that my donation doesn't really make a difference? That the "up to 85%" funded locally by those inside Iraq is all that is really necessary to make this work?

A: There is not a single site across Iraq for which our Remedy Missions are fully funded. If we fail to provide our 15-19% of the overall budget, Remedy Missions fail, surgeons and nurses do not get trained regularly, on-site audits from our international team do not happen, up to 20 children are delayed from receiving surgery, and a few may even die or become inoperable. Your role in funding the remaining 15-19% is as critical in the short term as any other entity. A single Remedy Mission is binary - it either happens or it doesn't. Your money makes it happen. But our goal is to continue to graduate all our programs so they are 100% funded locally in the next 5-10 years. [Back to Top]

 Q: Any other costs?

A: Our numbers per Remedy Mission do not account for "indirect costs," such as the cost (or value) of our volunteer medical staff from around the world, costs to local healthcare systems, the cost of a family to travel to the surgery site, the opportunity costs of lost income for families as they wait for surgery, etc. The reason we think it's important to note this here is because lifesaving is actually quite difficult. Building a pediatric cardiac surgery system for the entire country of Iraq is laborious and full of complexities. [Back to Top]

 Q: What is the bottleneck to more surgeries: money or skilled labor?

A: People often assume that the biggest need is more Iraqi heart surgeons. We could use a few more, but the real bottleneck is skilled nurses, technicians, and non-surgical physicians. A surgeon is only as good as his support staff. One of our biggest challenges is training pediatric cardiac intensive care nurses. To date, we haven't found a better model than our Remedy Missions through which we bring quarterly hands-on training to local nurses (and surgeons) in Iraq. Rather than exporting the nurses to Europe or the USA for training (whose medical systems barely resemble the Iraqi system), we train them with what they have on hand in their local environment. [Back to Top]

 Q: I'm skeptical of non-profits and charities because they always seem to be asking for more money. How can I be sure that Preemptive Love Coalition has "room for more funding" and that I'm not paying into a huge savings account, "Rainy Day Fund", or something similar?

A: For the record, we are skeptical of non-profits as well! In 2012 PLC needs $350,000 on hand at any given time to cover our cash flow needs for up to three Remedy Missions per quarter. We are still 30% under-funded against that goal. In addition to cash flow needs, we still require 15-19% funding on most of our missions after local sources contribute their portion; we have un-funded pilot programs in new cities where local doctors have been requesting our help (but where weve yet to woo local philanthropists or health directors); and we have research and social service initiatives through our Followthrough program that require funding at present because we have not yet sought local funding for those initiatives (seeing as how they relate mostly to our Monitoring & Impact Evaluation objectives). Please see our "Funding Gap" page to look deeper into our anticipated program costs, the sources of funding we are counting on, and the funding gap between the two for the next few years. [Back to Top]

 Q: Do you have enough volunteer surgeons available for unfunded Remedy Missions? (i.e., are there trips that you could fund if you had more money, or is there a labor bottleneck?)

A: Great question! We use a hybrid volunteer/staff model. Roughly 25-30% of any one of our Remedy Mission teams is employed by the International Children's Heart Foundation (typically the surgeon, scrub nurse, anesthesiologist, ICU doctor, and often a part-time ICU nurse). The remainder of the team typically comprises volunteer physicians, technicians, and nurses from across the world. Because the hardest-to-come-by positions are contract labor for us and NOT volunteers, we have never failed to run a mission for lack of personnel. We have only cancelled or turned down a request for a future mission due to lack of funding. [Back to Top]

 Q: Many heart surgeries require follow-up treatment (including additional surgeries). Do you have a way of providing these to patients?

A: Yes, we do. Our model dictates quarterly visits to each program site (a hospital inside a regional hub). Our reliance on local cardiologists ensures that the local team prioritizes and almost entirely sets the agenda for patient selection (within a development curricula) - after all, Iraqi doctors are the ones who are most intimately connected to the patients and their daily progress! When a local cardiologist sees a child who has either (1) deteriorated and requires another intervention or (2) advanced as expected to the next step of a complex, staged intervention, the child is prioritized for follow-up treatment. [Back to Top]

 Q: How do you assess whether surgeries are completed competently and appropriately?

A: Because we are a broker and play a combination administrative and financier role in the coalition of partners working in Iraq to develop pediatric cardiac care, we are able to stand in-between the local surgical team and the international surgical team (whom we contract as a third-party to train and perform surgeries in Iraq). If the local team or health directorate suspects a lack of competence in the international team, a cavalier attitude, or a single poor judgement call, our role is to be the go-between - to be the advocate for the local healthcare providers vis-a-vis the international surgical team.

Similarly, if the international surgical team feels pushed by the local surgical team to perform procedures with which they are uncomfortable or for which they think the local system is ill-prepared, they are able to refuse children for surgery and/or use us (PLC) as a go-between.

The checks-and-balance between the two teams helps us ensure surgeries are performed in a competent, appropriate manner. [Back to Top]

 Q: What is the rate of complications during and following surgery?

A: We report our in-hospital and 60-day mortality after each Remedy Mission. You can finds those numbers here. We also produce reports after each Remedy Mission detailing the trip, including data on intraoperative complications, post-operative complications, and mortality. You can find those reports here. We are also deliberately raising the funds necessary to help us bring our various heart hospitals into compliance with the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for Congenital Heart Surgery in Developing Countries. If this kind of quality improvement and reporting initiative interests you, we are currently looking for financial partners for our Followthrough program. [Back to Top]

 Q: How do you assess whether surgeons are performing additional surgeries that they would have not had the funding or motivation to perform otherwise?

A: Pediatric heart surgery in Iraq is almost nonexistent without our work. There are two active programs for relatively simple surgeries (one in Erbil and one in Baghdad). Local surgeons claim that combined they perform no more than a few hundred pediatric surgeries a year. In every location where we work, pediatric heart surgery is effectively nonexistent. Therefore, every surgery performed at our program sites (both when we are present and when we are not) are "additional surgeries" that they would not have had the SKILL to perform without the FUNDING we employed to train them in their local environment. [Back to Top]

 Q: How do you assess whether surgeons are charging their patients for the surgeries you fund?

A: Because we work in public (government) hospitals - and because healthcare in Iraq is provided almost entirely free of charge - it is widely known that any cardiologist, surgeon, or administrator seeking compensation for services is acting outside of Iraqi law. [Back to Top]

 Q: Do you follow up with the surgeons you've trained to assess whether they are correctly applying their training?

A: We see them quarterly in their local environment and perform real-time audits of their skills, recollection of past training, application of new techniques, etc. Additionally, our international surgeon remains on call at any time via phone, Skype, or email for consultation. [Back to Top]

 Q: What information is available on the activities - and competence - of the surgeons you've trained?

A: Because our Remedy Mission training program only began in late 2010 - and pediatric heart surgery at our sites across Iraq is the same age - there is still relatively little independent practice to report, and therefore little data on the activities and competence of our surgeons and their teams. But as they begin performing more surgeries independently, we are trying to align each site/surgical team with the International Quality Improvement Collaborative for Congenital Heart Surgery in Developing Countries (a data collection and tracking initiative of Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard University). [Back to Top]

 Q: Where do surgeons work after completing training? Do they serve poor patients?

A: As of Q2 2011 there was only one private hospital in Iraq (to our knowledge) providing pediatric heart surgery (and those surgeries were on the lower end of the complexity scale). Our work does not necessarily mean to exclude private hospitals as they continue to come online and become viable options, but at present the government system has a better equipped foundation for training local surgical teams. As we look to fully graduate our local surgical teams in the next 5-10 years, we imagine that most of them will stay in the public sector for all of the stability, pensions, and benefits of loyalty provided to those who stick with it. But, undoubtedly, some will seek positions at private hospitals (assuming private hospitals are willing to invest in the requisite capital purchases necessary to establish a credible program). In the public sector, rich and poor are served alike. In the private sector, poorer patients would be at an obvious disadvantage. [Back to Top]

 Q: How much do you spend each year on "program" expenses and how much on "overhead?"

A: As a rule, we do not adhere to the model that claims that "overhead" is somehow bad and "program" is somehow good. There are very bad program expenses. There are overhead expenses that are excellent investments. We agree with Paul Brest, President of the Hewlett Foundation, when he said, "Achieving a low overhead ratio drives many charities to behaviors that make them less effective and means more, not less, wasted dollars." Therefore, we spend as much on overhead as we need to accomplish our mission. The mission itself is our North Star - not arbitrary (even harmful) standards about overhead-vs-program expenditures. For the record, however, you can find a current pie chart of our expenditures here (and if you're into that sort of thing, you'll probably be impressed!). [Back to Top]

Jeremy Courtney Founder, Executive Director Twitter: @Jeremy_Courtney

“I'd love to hear any critique or questions you might have!”

DROP A NOTE OR DONATION BY MAIL: Preemptive Love Coalition 1300 Darbyton Dr. Hewitt, TX 76643 GIVE BY PHONE: To make a gift over the phone, using your credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover), please call +1 (806) 853-9131 during normal business hours. IRAQ OFFICE: +964 770-355-6298 (local)

Zana Continues to Grow and Amaze After Newsmaking Heart Surgery in February

September 30, 2009 by Joshua · Leave a Comment 

Today Ruth and I visited the home of Zana Tofiq, whom you helped send to surgery in February with the group we called the Great Eight. Zana’s case was particularly difficult and the doctors in Turkey still talk about it to this day… and for good reason!

Today Zana is in great health and very active – as we observed in the energetic game of football (soccer!) played in the street with his neighborhood friends.

The impact you make on these dear kids in Iraq is breathtaking! And for those of you who are new to our work from Twitter or Facebook, we urge you to give us a try and see what your donation can do today!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE AND SAVE A LIFE TODAY!

Joshua Gigliotti is a PLC Summer Intern ('09) turned short-term staff who spends a majority of his time with PLC taking exceptional photos of children in Iraq in an effort to humanize Iraqis and portray them as people full of dreams and hope. When his camera is not in-hand, Josh is often found in local tea houses with friends and also enjoys traversing the great outdoors. Follow Joshua on Twitter: @JoshGigs.

DC Kurdish Festival Rallies For New Hearts

September 24, 2009 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

This Saturday, Kurds from all over the United States are gathering in Washington DC to celebrate their culture and to to help save a life! Musicians, artists, poets, and dancers will all take the stage in what will end up being a twelve hour party to celebrate life!

The Festival’s hosted by our good friends at the Kurdish Youth Organization, KSO, and the Kurdish Youth Club who are dedicated to keeping the Kurdish culture and spirit alive in the next generation. This party will do exactly that by funding heart surgeries and helping save an entire generation of children with heart disease.

Let’s get this party started!

(Side Note: If you’re that guy or girl that everyone else calls to go party with and if you love saving lives – write us at info@preemptivelove.org to find out how you can get out there and do both! You know you want to.)

Photo: Matt Addington

Cody Fisher is the co-founder and Development Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He moved to Iraq in 2007 where he met his wife and since then they've been waging peace and mending hearts across Iraq. His passions are photography, peacemaking, and food that doesn't come out of a can. You can follow him on Twitter: @candmfisher.

Meer Challenges Preemptive Love Staff to Soccer 2 Weeks After Surgery!

September 18, 2009 by Joshua · 1 Comment 

After a great check-up visit with Meer Mustaffa yesterday we found out that Meer’s case was just the 51st of its kind reported in the world. We are so grateful to have the wonderful doctors and surgeons at the Anadolu Medical Center in Istanbul, Tukey, and to our local doctors, like Dr. Aso Faeeq, for their help in getting Meer to surgery in time.

Meer is doing really well back at home and is poised to go on living a healthy life. In fact, he hasn’t slowed down at all in the wake of his surgery a few weeks ago… he’s ready to get back to playing football with his friends. Only this time he can expect to play without getting tired so easily and without any risk of fainting from low oxygenation.

He even went so far as to challenge the PLC staff to a match…. we’re delaying as long as we can so as to avoid being schooled by a kid straight out of surgery. We’re all pretty confident that we’ll lose!

Follow 15-year-old Meer on Twitter: @meermustaffa and through the Twitter campaign associated with meeting his urgent need #SaveMeer. Subscribe to Meer’s updates via RSS here. Follow Meer’s thread of longer stories (with pictures) on the PLC blog here.

Joshua Gigliotti is a PLC Summer Intern ('09) turned short-term staff who spends a majority of his time with PLC taking exceptional photos of children in Iraq in an effort to humanize Iraqis and portray them as people full of dreams and hope. When his camera is not in-hand, Josh is often found in local tea houses with friends and also enjoys traversing the great outdoors. Follow Joshua on Twitter: @JoshGigs.

3 Year Old Mazyar Shows More Energy Than Anyone After His Life-Saving Heart Surgery!

September 16, 2009 by Jessica · 471 Comments 

Today we visited Mazyar and his family in their home here in Iraq. It was so much fun seeing this spunky little boy run, chase, and throw balls all around his house with his older sister and I. I remembered playing ball with him in the hospital, tossing a soccer ball back and forth very gently so he wouldn’t get too tired.

Today there was no caution! It was every man (or woman) for themselves as he sent ball after ball flying in our direction.  Mazyar was very creative, too, throwing, rolling, and kicking the ball to us keeping us guessing how and where the next one would land.  After about 45 minutes of playing ball he brought out some toy cars for a less intense way to enjoy our time together.

It is unbelievable to see this child only 6 weeks out of surgery acting as  ”normal” as any 4 year old. He has finished all medications and it looks like he’s set to go on to living a near fearless life with his mom, dad and older sister!

Thanks for all you’ve done to save Mazyar’s life. Your impact on him and his family in deep and undeniable!

Follow 3-year-old Mazyar on Twitter: @mazyartahir. Subscribe to Mazyar’s updates via RSS here. Follow Mazyar’s thread of longer stories (with pictures) on the PLC blog here.

Jessica Courtney lives and loves in Iraq as a co-founder and Family Services Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. She is also a mother of two children and is married to PLC's Executive Director, Jeremy Courtney. When not absorbed in caring for Iraqi children and sharing life with Iraqi families, she enjoys sewing and scrapbooking.

Little Roman Full of Life & Joy Four Months After Life-Saving Surgery

September 14, 2009 by Joshua · 843 Comments 

Click play above to see a photo essay put together by one of our summer interns turned short-term staff, Joshua Gigliotti.

Special Thanks to Joe Weiss and all the support team at Soundslides for their generous donation of the above software so that we could bring you these stirring stories of hope & future for the children of Iraq.

Joshua Gigliotti is a PLC Summer Intern ('09) turned short-term staff who spends a majority of his time with PLC taking exceptional photos of children in Iraq in an effort to humanize Iraqis and portray them as people full of dreams and hope. When his camera is not in-hand, Josh is often found in local tea houses with friends and also enjoys traversing the great outdoors. Follow Joshua on Twitter: @JoshGigs.

Daryan Salah Has Passed Away (b. March 20, 2009 – d. September 4, 2009)

September 4, 2009 by Jeremy · 6 Comments 

This is the post we hoped we’d never write… but Daryan Salah gave up the fight for his life today at 5:40 a.m. in Istanbul, Turkey after over a month in ICU waiting for his lungs to recover. We spoke with Daryan’s mother and father (and extended family) in our Iraq office this morning and wept bitterly with them over the loss of this dear boy.

There are no words that ever do grief justice. Just presence.

Like them, we ourselves are looking for meaning in today’s chaos. The earth is broken. There’s got to be more than “making the world a better place.” We do not need a patch… we need an overhaul…

But maybe HOPE still wins today, because even in Daryan’s death hundreds of you around the world have been drawn in by the story of a little boy who might have otherwise been labeled an “enemy.” And in the devastation we’re all reminded that organizations like ours are powerless to do anything but patchwork repair. Overhaul – indeed re-creation – will have to come from somewhere else.

Daryan, you expanded our hearts’ collective capacity to hope. Rest in peace, little brother.

Jeremy Courtney lives and loves in Iraq as a co-founder and Executive Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He's also the father of two spectacular children, and married to the lovely Jessica Courtney. When not absorbed in PLC work he can be found writing songs and singing about hope and future. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @JCourt.

Meer is Discharged and Headed Back to Iraq Tonight!

September 3, 2009 by awara · 897 Comments 

There are a few really exciting moments in this journey from selection to surgery: (1) the moment a child is accepted to surgery; (2) the moment they come out from surgery alive and well; (3) and the moment they get on the plane to go home are three of the big ones!

Tonight, Meer completes the hat trick. His family is eagerly waiting for him in Iraq, having called us multiple times to make sure everything is on track to receive their boy at the airport tonight!

As with every other child we’ve helped, we could not do this without you. It only took a week round-trip, but you have impacted a life, a family, a community, and a country forever.

Follow 15-year-old Meer on Twitter: @meermustaffa and through the Twitter campaign associated with meeting his urgent need #SaveMeer. Subscribe to Meer’s updates via RSS here. Follow Meer’s thread of longer stories (with pictures) on the PLC blog here.

Awara Hassan Mama is a Regional Development Officer for the Preemptive Love Coalition in charge of creating local solutions to local problems in Iraq among his compatriots and for the sake of our constituents. Awara often travels abroad with PLC children to surgery and serves as a translator and a key cooperator between communities in conflict.

Devastating Talk with Ramyar’s Family About What to Expect Now as They Grieve Forgone Surgery

September 2, 2009 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

We just had what was easily one of the most difficult, devastating conversations of our time here to date. Naturally, now that the intensity of emotion surrounding the time-sensitive decision to send Ramyar to surgery or not has passed, his parents both feel a sense of regret and that nagging question, “Did we do the right thing? Maybe we should have risked the surgery…”

There was no easy way for this to play out. It was their decision to make – but we are all in full support of the decision they made. It was an impossible gamble.

For Ramyar’s part, he was just disappointed that one of PLC’s summer-interns-turned-short-term staff, Joshua, wasn’t around to play with when they visited.

This might be the last official update we give on Ramyar’s family – as there are thousands of kids like him still waiting – but this is not the last that we ourselves will spend time with them. Our hearts have been attached to theirs and we want to walk with them through this valley of the shadow of death.

Follow 4-year-old Ramyar on Twitter: @ramyarjafar. Subscribe to Ramyar’s updates via RSS here. Follow Ramyar’s thread of longer stories (with pictures) on the PLC blog here.

Jeremy Courtney lives and loves in Iraq as a co-founder and Executive Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He's also the father of two spectacular children, and married to the lovely Jessica Courtney. When not absorbed in PLC work he can be found writing songs and singing about hope and future. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @JCourt.

Daryan Presented No Signs of Change; Doctors Leave Him Intubated Until Sept. 7th

September 2, 2009 by Jeremy · 1,032 Comments 

It seems that medicine isn’t an exact science… and though all signs pointed to an on-schedule extubation on Sept 1, ultimately the doctors decided to hold off. Daryan has been weaned off of some of the medications and the plan was to extubate him within 24-48 hours. That time period has now passed. His next best chance for extubation has been delayed until Sept. 7th at the earliest…

Isn’t it so often true that the most difficult, confusing, stressful periods of life prove to be corrective and life-giving? May it be that way this time with Daryan’s extended stay in ICU.

As you may recall, Daryan was extremely malnurished when we first met him. He had gained little weight since birth and was obviously stunted in his growth. This one month in ICU has been good for his little body. He is bigger now and has maybe twice as much hair than when we admitted him. We are hopeful that his strengthened body will be just what is needed to sustain his breathing once he’s pulled off the ventilator.

We hope to have more information on September 7th. And we hope that we do not have anything new to report before then.

Follow 4-month-old Daryan on Twitter: @daryansalah. Subscribe to Daryan’s updates via RSS here. Follow Daryan’s thread of longer stories (with pictures) on the PLC blog here.

Jeremy Courtney lives and loves in Iraq as a co-founder and Executive Director of the Preemptive Love Coalition. He's also the father of two spectacular children, and married to the lovely Jessica Courtney. When not absorbed in PLC work he can be found writing songs and singing about hope and future. Follow Jeremy on Twitter: @JCourt.

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OUR BLOGGERS

	Matt Willingham is the PLC press secretary and writes primarily on politics, history, general updates and visual peacemaking through photography and film.
	Cody Fisher is a PLC cofounder and writes primarily on program development and peacemaking by giving us a lens into the lives of the real people we love.
	Jeremy Courtney is a PLC cofounder and writes primarily to emphasize our vision and values, including organizational and financial transparency.

Preemptive Love Coalition provides lifesaving heart surgeries for Iraqi kids in pursuit of peace between communities at odds. We offer the 30,000 Iraqi children suffering from life-threatening heart defects a chance at the surgery they need to save their lives. With our world-class international surgical partners we create long-term solutions by training local Iraqi doctors and nurses so they can sustainably save lives without our help.

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