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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?"

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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]

Parzheen Heads Home!

March 11, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment

We have a list of over 3,000 local children that are waiting in line for a life-saving heart surgery but today we watched as 3 more walked right off the list!

…and one of those was Parzheen!

Her name is now on another list that’s growing each day.

It’s not a backlog.

It’s not for kids who need to be sent out of the country.

It’s a list of all the children that have been able to receive the remedy here in Iraq! In the past month, over 30 names have been added to that list!

Parzheen’s heart is responding beautifully to the remedy and today, the doctors cleared her to go home.

Thanks for giving Parzheen the Remedy.

Thanks for your relentless love for the hearts of Iraq.

We love doing this alongside you!

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

With help from our friends:

International Children's Heart Foundation Living Light International Kurdistan Regional Government kurdistan save the children

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.

Filed under: Amazed, Go Blog It!, News, Our Kids, Parzheen Mustafa, Remedy Mission, Sulaymaniyah

Mohammed Returns For A Check Up!

March 10, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment

Mohammed was the first to go home with a healthy heart and now he’s the first to get his post-op check up!

We were a whole lot more excited to see Mohammed than he was to see us though.

When we say goodbye to each child we always love that soon we’ll get to see them at their school or at home, anywhere but the hospital.

Echo machines and doctors didn’t bring back fun memories for Mohammed, but for us, we love them because they showed us just how GREAT his heart is doing!

For the other parents, it was a sweet reunion and reminder that all this time in the hospital will be worth it!

For Mohammed, he made off with a hand full of cookies and candy so everybody had something to smile about!

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

With help from our friends:

International Children's Heart Foundation Living Light International Kurdistan Regional Government kurdistan save the children

Filed under: Amazed, Go Blog It!, News, Our Kids, Remedy Mission, Sulaymaniyah

Parzheen’s Strong Heart Takes Her From The ICU To The Hospital Ward!

March 9, 2011 by Cody · Leave a Comment

Parzheen barely had time to get comfortable in the Intensive Care Unit before they told her she was well enough to go down to the hospital ward!

The nurses asked her if she wanted her father to carry her down to the hospital ward and she said “NO!”

She wanted to walk downstairs on her own.

She just couldn’t wait to put her new heart to the test.

Parzheen is now beginning physical therapy which is only going to help get her to the point where she can run and play for the first time with a healthy heart!

Today she invited us to her house and we said “YES!”

We’re spending as much time with her as we can but it’s always fun knowing that these relationships are only just now beginning!

How do you keep following her story?

Just keep following us on Facebook and Twitter!

Filed under: Go Blog It!, News, Our Kids, Parzheen Mustafa, Remedy Mission, Sulaymaniyah

Yasna Wraps Up Her Time In The Hospital Ward And Says Goodbye!

March 8, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment

It’s all hands on deck for us at the hospital as we not only continue to follow children into surgery but now out the door, as children are beginning to go home each day!

Today we said goodbye to little Yasna (pictured right) as her family was learning from the nurses and cardiologists how to best take care of her once she’s at home.

After that, her bags were packed and they walked through the hospital ward saying goodbye to all the friends that were made over the past few days.

The lucky ones got a smile out of her!

We love that we got to meet Yasna this Remedy Mission.

Even though it was a heart defect that brought us together we love that it didn’t have to end at that.

We love that today she was proudly carried out of the hospital after receiving the remedy!

The hospital ward already seems incomplete without her, but we know that her home is finally complete now that she’s there!

YOU made that happen!

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

With help from our friends:

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.

Filed under: Amazed, Go Blog It!, News, Our Kids, Remedy Mission, Sulaymaniyah

Remember Yahya? His Wait For A New Heart Ends Today!

March 3, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment

Remember this boy?

When we first met Yahya he was five years old and we were trying to send him overseas for his lifesaving operation.

The doctors told us that he needed a valved conduit – so we went in search for the piece that could save his life. We found it. The only problem was that the Turkish government was revising their import laws and the local supplier was out of stock.

Because we couldn’t bring Yahya and the device together to Turkey, we were forced to cancel his surgery.

Now Yahya is nearly six years old and he has still been waiting for his heart surgery.

Everything changed when Dr. William Novick told us that he could fix Yahya’s heart without depending on a valved conduit that was half way across the world.

Today he will create the piece that we hope will save Yahya’s life!

The best part (from a macro perspective) is that this is something he’s going to introduce to the local surgeons so that Yahya and all the other children in Iraq waiting in line for $7,000 devices don’t have to go overseas. Furthermore, whereas current devices certainly need replacement, there is a good chance this technique will allow the piece to grow with Yahya’s body. Best case scenario: Yahya may not need a re-operation like he would have from the expensive name brand.

Eventually, they might be able to insert valved conduits by the hands of their local doctors here in Iraq!

We’ve loved our journey with Yahya and today is a milestone for all of us. And all 38 of you who gave to his surgery!

It’s a milestone for Yahya because he’ll be given the surgery his parents have been waiting six years for.

It’s a milestone for the local surgeons because they will begin to learn a groundbreaking, life-changing technique.

It’s a milestone for you because you’re helping us create local long-term solutions to local problems.

Follow Yahya as he get his new heart TODAY!

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

With help from our friends:

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.

Filed under: Amazed, Delayed, Go Blog It!, Heart Surgery, International Children's Heart Foundation, News, Our Kids, Remedy Mission, Sulaymaniyah, Surgery Updates, Valve, Yahya Omar

How Remedy Missions Are Inspiring Locals To Bring The Remedy To Others

February 28, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment

chain reaction: (n.) a series of events in which each event is the result of the one preceding and the cause of the one following

This is little Yasna.

She was born with a heart defect that keeps her lungs from receiving all the blood and oxygen that she needs to live strong.

At two months old, they had no idea about her heart problem but when she had to go in for an abdominal surgery the doctors noticed something wasn’t right with her heart.

The local doctors told her mother that she would need to save up to take Yasna to India for surgery. Already two months old, the doctors told her that she only had four more months to get her surgery until her condition would worsen and make her inoperable.

6 months passed and she had only a fraction of the amount saved up.

6 more months passed and soon she was 2 years old and the parents had come to live with the fact that their daughter was too old to be saved.

Last August, Yasna’s mother’s cell phone ran and she heard about a team of doctors coming in to bring a remedy for children exactly like hers - children others thought were inoperable.

She brought Yasna in for surgery but because of the amount of “inoperable” children waiting in line for their operations, the doctors ran out of time and Yasna had to go home without a surgery.

Because of YOU, that was only the first Remedy Mission of many and last week they were called to the hospital again…this time they were second in line for surgery!

I asked Yasna’s mother what it was like to finally hand her daughter over to surgeons that knew how to fix her heart. She said, “So beautiful.”

She continued, “One day, God-willing, not only will our doctors know how to take care of all the children here but our country will be the country who sends doctors and nurses to other countries to help their children.”

And so the chain reaction continues!

You’re bringing remedy which is stirring up hearts in Iraq to turn around and bring the remedy to others.

How will you keep the momentum going as Yasna goes into surgery today?

Join us on Facebook and follow her story!

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

With help from our friends:

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.

Filed under: Amazed, Delayed, Development, Go Blog It!, Heart Surgery, International Children's Heart Foundation, News, Our Kids, Peacemaking, Remedy Mission, Sulaymaniyah, Surgery Updates

We’re About To Launch Our Fourth Remedy Mission In Iraq!

February 27, 2011 by Cody · 2 Comments

The ICHF medical team and children who are hoping to receive life-saving heart surgeries over the next two weeks are all making their way to the local hospital to launch our FOURTH Remedy Mission in Iraq!

While Iraq is all over the headlines today for protests and rage directed towards the lack of jobs, utilities, and corruption – there are thousands of families in northern Iraq who are still fighting for their children’s lives and for better healthcare for those who were born with congenital heart disease.

Instead of taking to the streets these next two weeks, our “protest” will take place in the quiet operating room where hearts will be mended and doctors and nurses will be receiving training and education.

Instead of fiery speeches on bullhorns, nurses in the ICU will receive careful instructions on how to properly take care of children after open heart surgery.

Instead of holding signs we will be holding the hands of children in the hospital ward as they patiently wait for surgery.

Instead of only hoping for change, we will see children’s hearts changed overnight!

Remedy Missions continue to gain momentum throughout Iraq, thanks to YOU!

Stay tuned! Another one starts NOW!

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

With help from our friends:

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.

Filed under: Go Blog It!, Heart Surgery, International Children's Heart Foundation, Local Doctors, News, Our Kids, Partnerships, Parzheen Mustafa, Peacemaking, Remedy Mission, Sulaymaniyah, Surgery Updates

It’s Hard To Summarize How Much Of An Impact You’ve Just Made On Southern Iraq!

February 26, 2011 by Cody · Leave a Comment

Remedy has officially finished its second mission in southern Iraq! (Sort of.)

16 children were served over the period of 10 days and thousands of hours of training were given to the entire local medical staff which included scrub nurses, ICU nurses, intensivists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, post-op care nurses, cardiologists, respiratory therapists AND perfusionists. (we literally can’t keep up with the hours of training given – other than knowing it’s WELL into the thousands!)

The reason this Remedy Mission has only “sort of” come to an end is because two members of the ICHF medical team stayed behind to make certain that every last child was taken care of in the ICU and to continue training the local staff.

They will join us in northern Iraq this next week where we will begin our second Remedy Mission in the Kurdish Region of Iraq!

We will continue to follow up with the children served in southern Iraq and will soon publish the medical reports which will include the surgeries performed and their results after the 30 day and 60 day post-op follow-ups.

Thanks to YOU, we’ve completed our second successful mission in the south and the local hospital is one mission closer towards becoming the remedy they need and long to be for the thousands of children in southern Iraq who have been born with congenital heart disease!

You’re making a PROFOUND impact on Iraq!

They can’t stop thanking you and neither can we! You’re the remedy!

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

Our Partners

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.

Filed under: Amazed, Go Blog It!, Heart Surgery, Nasiriyah, News, Our Kids, Peacemaking

Practicing The Art (and Reviewing the Basics) Of Taking Care Of Sick Children

February 25, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment

“Heart surgery is an art.” Dr. William Novick, ICHF Heart Surgeon

If heart surgery is an art, then a Remedy Mission would be the art studio. It’s the place where teaching happens and inspiration is born. It’s a place where masterpieces are created alongside artists.

But it’s an art that everybody in the heart center gets to play a role in. Whereas an artist can create a beautiful piece on his own, a heart surgeon can’t perform a flawless surgery without a team around him. When they work together and finish their part, the piece is carefully passed along where it’s taken over by the nurses in the intensive care unit.

Without a strong nursing staff, the masterpiece would never be completed.

Teaching all of this is an art as well.

In the same day a local surgeon is having his skills refined as he patches a hole in a heart and the nurses in the ICU are being taught the foundations of nursing.

In the West, we have benefited from governments who have been able to spend BILLIONS on health care, education, and creating awareness about best practices, and things like hygiene from the time we were in elementary school.

At Iraq’s lowest point under Saddam, the Ba’ath regime spent less than one dollar per person on health care each year. While other parts of the world were thriving, Iraq’s health care system – along with their doctors and nurses – weren’t given what they needed to keep up.

Our Remedy Mission comes at a pivotal time in Iraq. A time where they now have the opportunity to be invest like never before.

It was sobering when we heard that little Alawi is trying to fight off a bacterial infection in his chest, something that is easily caused in an ICU which doesn’t even have a sink or soap with which to wash your hands. Don’t worry, we’re trying to work with local officials to get that retrofitted!

Through our Remedy Missions we’re helping raise up local health care systems that excel in the complex but also in the fundamentals of taking care of children.

All of it goes into creating a masterpiece.

We couldn’t do this without a coalition that cared as much about this as you do!

You’re a part of the masterpiece.

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

Our Partners

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.

Filed under: Development, Go Blog It!, Heart Surgery, International Children's Heart Foundation, News, Our Kids, Remedy Mission, School, Surgery Updates

We’re Already Plotting Our Way Back To Hamma

February 24, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment

We had to say goodbye to baby Hamma and his mother.

We didn’t want to.

We didn’t want to say goodbye because his big brown eyes and his mother’s smile drew us in from the moment we met them.

Another reason we didn’t want to say goodbye is because Hamma never received the surgery he needed to patch the hole in his heart.

He was scheduled to receive surgery but was delayed three different times.On the fourth time, the Intensive Care Unit had no more beds open for children and by the time a bed opened up, there wasn’t enough time to operate on Hamma.

Remedy was already coming to a close.

So after waiting ten days in the hospital for surgery, Hamma and his mother had to go home without a remedy.

It’s eerie to walk through the hospital ward now and see entire rooms that were packed with families, now empty and vacant because once we leave, the Remedy Mission comes to an end.

That breaks our hearts.

As long as there are children with heart disease, they should be in the hospital getting treated. In southern Iraq, it doesn’t work that way because the doctors and nurses don’t have the skills they need to take care of all the children with heart disease.

One day they will. That’s what Remedy Missions are all about.

We told Hamma’s mother that we would be back in May and that Hamma is one of the first babies that the doctors want to operate on.

So we’re standing up for Hamma!

When you order our new tank, 100% of the profit goes toward bringing Remedy back to Hamma! All we have to do is sell 59 to give Hamma his life-saving surgery and to take one step closer toward not just bringing Remedy back to southern Iraq, but to LEAVING it there!

Some tanks blow holes in stuff. This tank patches the hole in a heart. Stand up for Hamma!

Order NOW by clicking HERE!

If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove.

Our Partners

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.

Filed under: Go Blog It!, International Children's Heart Foundation, News, Our Kids, Peacemaking, Remedy Mission, Sad, Surgery Updates, Urgent

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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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