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)

No Holding Back—Dr. Mohammed Finally Gets His Chance!

April 12, 2013 by matt · Leave a Comment 

Dr. Mohammed, the cardiologist-in-training here in Tikrit, just assisted in the region’s first-ever pediatric catheterization.

He was shaking with excitement after finishing!

The lead interventionalist, Dr. Mary, handled the lion’s share of the teaching, and she can now add “Tikrit” to her list of groundbreaking procedures. She has performed similar ‘first-evers’ in Fallujah, Mongolia, and Kosovo, in addition to the work she does in the United States.

We talk a lot about children who don’t have options for surgery, but the same is true of many Iraqi doctors. Dr. Mohammed shared told us, “There is no way for me to do this without teams coming to Tikrit. I am very happy to have the team here.”

So thank you for sending tremendous teachers like Dr. Mary to train Dr. Mohammed—they’re making history!

Our Partners:

As Communication Director, Matt Willingham spends most of his time trying to get the word out on PLC's work in Iraq. On the side, he likes reading stories, devouring the great food his wife cooks up, and DSLR camera work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

Highlights From Our Remedy Mission XVI

April 2, 2013 by Cody · Leave a Comment 

Today is the last day of our Remedy Mission here in Najaf!

We still have a full day’s work before we head home tomorrow, but here are some highlights as we wrap up Remedy Mission XVI.

—Getting to meet Hama, Kadeeja, Musa, Ali, Diya, Shakir, Mohammed, Noor, Zainab, Zahara, Mahdi, and Yousef. All twelve of those children received lifesaving operations this trip!

—Watching one of our local heart surgeons completely correct a heart defect – without any help!

—Witnessing our cardiologists screen close to 200 more children.

—Sitting down with the local medical team to talk about longterm development and the training they want to receive this next year.

—Being overwhelmed by the gratitude and joy expressed by all the families of those we served this mission.

Thank you so much for making this mission possible.

I’ve said this before, but we haven’t provided a single heart surgery in Iraq apart from the support and generosity of others.

You give; a child is saved; peace is waged. It’s a cycle we can’t continue without you, so thank you!

As soon as I leave here, we’ll start preparing for two more Remedy Missions this month in the cities of Fallujah and Tikrit.

You can be a part of the community that makes those operations possible by donating a few dollars below.

Peace from Najaf.

Give now to bring hope to families in Tikrit!

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.

At Home With Hussain—A Followthrough Checkup

January 31, 2013 by matt · Leave a Comment 

People sometimes ask us, “So, what happens to these kids after surgery?”

It’s a great question, but it isn’t easily answered. Thanks to you and our partners, we’re now providing exponentially more surgeries than we did during our early years. What once was 20 children per year is now 20 children per mission—over 300 children this year alone!

With that kind of volume, it’s difficult to keep up with all the families we help. But we still work to follow up with as many as we can; to make sure they don’t slip through the cracks. But the nature of that Followthrough has changed. Now we spend time encouraging local doctors to follow up with families, reminding them to call families for post-operative check-ups.

And, due to safety concerns, it’s often easier for families to come see us at the hospital (the last thing we want is to disrespect our hosts!).

Going cowboy and riding a taxi into downtown Fallujah to visit a family is not a good way to maintain relationships with partners and friends of the program.

One misstep could lead to someone getting hurt, the program getting canceled, and children not getting their hearts fixed—not something we’re willing to risk.

So we’re tip-toeing into these home visits with care, and Hussain was our first. Stay tuned for (hopefully) many more to come!

As Communication Director, Matt Willingham spends most of his time trying to get the word out on PLC's work in Iraq. On the side, he likes reading stories, devouring the great food his wife cooks up, and DSLR camera work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

Chatting With A Local Hero—An Interview With Dr. Firas (Part II)

January 15, 2013 by matt · Leave a Comment 

Cardiac training programs live or die by the initiative of the local doctors.

Ultimately, this is their program—an investment in them. As soon as they lose their passion to learn, coordinate, and hack through the red tape, the program is in trouble.

Perhaps that is why our time in Fallujah has been so encouraging. Dr. Firas (pronounced fee-rahs) is the only pediatric cardiologist in the Anbar region—Iraq’s largest geographic region and home to a growing number of children with heart problems.

So, given his kindness and compassion for these children, we asked him if he would share a little about his life, his concerns, and his hopes for the future of Fallujah.

(Read part one of this interview here.)

PLC: If you don’t mind, would you share about your life and work during the war?

Dr. Firas: Yes, I was in Baghdad working as a general pediatrician—I have two PhDs that allow me to work in these fields, one in general pediatrics and one in pediatric cardiology. But my family was here in Fallujah at first. So I moved them to Syria and I lived here in Iraq alone to complete my studies and care for children.

PLC: Some might assume you wouldn’t want to work with Americans after the things you experienced—has that been difficult?

Dr. Firas: I believe there are political issues, and there are the American people. I know many of the Americans don’t support what happened here in Fallujah. I know politicians aren’t the same as all the people—there is a difference. Of course, I am not happy about everything that happened during the war. But I’ve seen your team twice now in Fallujah, and you are trying to help our people.

You all give a different view of Americans. Of course, many people have anger in their hearts, but I know that these great amounts of congenital defects are because of the war and the chemical weapons [sic]. About 50% of the congenital heart defects [in Iraq] are in Anbar, our region, and most of those are in Fallujah. It is widely thought by our people that these are because of the war.

PLC: That “different view of Americans” is something we care deeply about. It’s great that you see these missions as opportunities for peacemaking as well. Today was the final case of the mission. Would you tell us a little about that? I know you were excited.

Dr. Firas: Today, we helped a small child by closing a hole in her heart. It took us nearly an hour just to get inside—it was so difficult. But it was amazing how immediately her system pressures rose and everything improved. It was a very satisfying operation because the child was close to death and our fix helped her immediately.

PLC: Do you feel like you could do corrections like this by yourself yet?

Dr. Firas: For now, no. I don’t have surgical back-up to assist me if something goes wrong. But… I must do something. So I choose the most simple cases and prepare them for our surgical missions. Then we can do them during the missions.

As I said, I also don’t have any help—I’m alone—and I must have other doctors to help guide me as I make the correction. I am hoping to recruit more Iraqis to come train with me. In all of Iraq, though, we only have thirteen child heart doctors. They are very rare here. This year, we had 12 new people applied for adult cardiology, but only two applied for pediatric. Working with children is much more difficult and stressful.

PLC: God-willing, more doctors will come alongside you, and the backlog of children who need surgery will be a distant memory. Thank you for sharing with us.

Dr. Firas: Insha’allah, I really hope so. Thank you.

###

Dr. Firas’ dream of establishing a heart center in Fallujah is possible, and we intend to do whatever we can to help him fulfill it! If you would like to contribute to the training and life-saving that is happening here, please donate below:

$5 or $50—Give what you can to help Dr. Firas save lives!

Our Partners:

As Communication Director, Matt Willingham spends most of his time trying to get the word out on PLC's work in Iraq. On the side, he likes reading stories, devouring the great food his wife cooks up, and DSLR camera work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

Chatting With A Local Hero—An Interview With Dr. Firas (Part I)

January 11, 2013 by matt · Leave a Comment 

Cardiac training programs live or die by the initiative of the local doctors.

Ultimately, this is their program—an investment in them. As soon as they lose their passion to learn, coordinate, and hack through the red tape, the program is in trouble.

Perhaps that is why our time in Fallujah has been so encouraging. Dr. Firas (pronounced fee-rahs) is the only pediatric cardiologist in the Anbar region—Iraq’s largest geographic region and home to a growing number of children with heart problems.

So, given his kindness and compassion for these children, we asked him if he would share a little about his life, his concerns, and his hopes for the future of Fallujah.

PLC: Thanks for taking a few minutes to share, doctor. So why did you decide to become a cardiologist?

Dr. Firas: You know, we’re in Fallujah. There are many cases here; just so many children, but no specialists to treat them. I saw the high percentage of death; all the undiagnosed children; the great need. My first interest was to help my people here…to save their lives, the kids.

PLC: It seems like a lot of cardiologists here get into the field because of a family member who dealt with heart problems—was that your experience?

Dr. Firas: Yes, my father died from heart disease. It wasn’t congenital, but it did help put me on a path toward becoming a heart doctor.

PLC: Now that you’ve completed two Remedy Missions with us and our partners, what do you think? Reactions?

Dr. Firas: The missions were so good—they mean a lot to us. This [heart] center is new, and a lot of people here don’t even know that we have a cath lab and can treat their children. But these missions have brought us a reputation and the people are hearing about our work. It provides us with a good reputation and our people with hope.

PLC: That’s encouraging. What do you hope for the heart center here? Any next steps?

Dr. Firas:I hope to someday see open heart surgery here. I have to send so many cases to Baghdad or outside of Iraq, but I’d like to see children saved with complex cases here, in Fallujah.

###

We share this dream with Dr. Firas, and we intend to do whatever we can to help him fulfill it.

This is only the second of many missions to come—we’re in this for the long haul! Come back tomorrow to read part two of the interview, and consider helping us save more lives in Fallujah and across Iraq:

$5 or $50—Give what you can to help us save lives!

Our Partners:

As Communication Director, Matt Willingham spends most of his time trying to get the word out on PLC's work in Iraq. On the side, he likes reading stories, devouring the great food his wife cooks up, and DSLR camera work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

Meet The 300th Child You’ve Impacted!

December 13, 2012 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

Allow us to introduce you to a little boy named Maddy, the 300^th child you've impacted in Iraq! (It still seems surreal to type out that sentence!)

It may have been Maddy’s smile that won all of us over; or maybe the fact that he represents the 300^th child we’ve served over the past 5 years; or maybe both!

But despite all the celebrations and smiles here at Basra’s first Remedy Mission, the doctors are eager to work. They have waited 30 years to save children like Maddy, and now it’s time to make up for lost time!

So to celebrate Maddy's life we're doing something we've never done before. We're planning 300 more lifesaving heart surgeries—next year alone!

But we need your help. Your donations are making the biggest impact yet, and we can't let up.

This Christmas, help us save the next 300.

Whether it's a straight-up donation, a Christmas fundraising party, gifting our new lifesaving tee to your friends and family, or starting an online fundraiser—100% of the money donated is going towards saving the next 300.

	$9—Stitch a Heart Our partner surgeons use high-quality stitches (called “sutures”) to fix leaky heart valves, sew up holes, and close up wounds after surgery. For just $9, you can help us save a child’s life—perfect for an office party or stocking stuffer!
	$50—Patch a Heart Our partner surgeons and nurses make heart patches for each child during their operation from a sheet of material called “Gore-Tex.” For just $50, you can fill the gap in a child’s heart and help save their life!
	$500—Package of Patches Your gift will help us buy enough material to create the patches and change the lives of ten children suffering from life-threatening holes in the walls of their hearts.
	$1,000—Heartmender Package Your gift will help us buy all the medicines, sutures, patches and a portion of the airfare for our doctors and nurses required to save one child’s life on our next Remedy Mission. In partnership with the Iraqi government, $1,000 is roughly what it costs PLC to save a life in Iraq.
	Start Your Own Fundraiser Online Today! You may feel like you only have a few dollars, but when you combine your best with those closest to you, you will quickly find that you can patch a heart—or fund an entire heart surgery—as a group. Click here to get started –>

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.

Who’s Who In The ICU—The Intensivist

December 11, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

Greetings from Basra!

This is the second post in a series designed to give you a glimpse into the heart-fixers and child-savers that you’ve helped us bring to Iraq.

We talk a lot about our partner doctors and nurses, but there’s actually a lot more depth to these missions than just those two simple categories; there are scrub nurses, surgeons, perfusionists, respiratory therapists, and on and on, but one of my personal favorites is the intensivist.

Of course they’re all pretty herioc—especially considering many use their vacation time to come on Remedy Missions—but there’s something especially… intense, about the intensivist.

As one respiratory therapist put it: “You can have the best surgeon in the world, but not having good post-op care means you can’t ensure a positive outcome.”

This is why the intensivist’s job is so important: they keep the patient alive after the operation. Because what good is it to correct a child’s heart defect if they don’t survive after the operation?

As the name suggests, this job requires a lot of monitoring and attention to detail. Dosages, heart rates, saturation levels; the slightest oversight could have disastrous results, and it’s the intensivist’s job to keep tabs on all of it.

Here in Iraq, there aren’t any pediatric cardiac intensivists (yet!). Fortunately, our partners at Living Light International and the International Children’s Heart Foundation are working with local doctors to help change this, and several of our programs are now either training or looking to hire an intensivist for their ICU.

In the meantime, we’ll keep providing as many Remedy Missions as it takes to train these local doctors to competency. Will you join us? Give $20 and help us provide more training for up-and-coming intensivists today!

Help provide training that will save lives!

Our Partners:

As Communication Director, Matt Willingham spends most of his time trying to get the word out on PLC's work in Iraq. On the side, he likes reading stories, devouring the great food his wife cooks up, and DSLR camera work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

Smiles All Around—Remedy Mission XIV Continues To Go Well!

December 9, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

Have you ever waited for something for 30 years? The doctors here in Basra have!

These are the kinds of faces we’re seeing around the hospital as children, parents, and doctors show their excitement for this groundbreaking surgical mission.

Given that, culturally speaking, Iraqis aren’t as quick to flash camera smiles for photos, the past few days have been incredibly smiley. In fact, my flash batteries are draining at record speed as I can’t seem to shoot fast enough to catch it all.

I’ll have more for you coming this week, but, for now, know that our 7th operation of this mission is tomorrow morning and I’m really excited to introduce you to one of the upcoming children.

Keep reading—we’ll have more for you soon!

As Communication Director, Matt Willingham spends most of his time trying to get the word out on PLC's work in Iraq. On the side, he likes reading stories, devouring the great food his wife cooks up, and DSLR camera work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

Update From The O.R.—Welcome To Basra!

December 7, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

With newness there often comes a beautiful feeling of hope.

New equipment, new partnerships, new facilities; this is the first, fresh, new mission to Basra, and everyone is excited about what’s ahead. There’s no doubt that challenges are coming. There will be valleys, to be sure. But this week is a peak that we’re going to celebrate.

So take a minute to watch and share this video with your friends. We hope you’ll be drawn in to this 30 year-long dream that is just beginning to come true and that you’ll stick with us for all the videos—both happy and sad—as we work alongside the doctors of Basra.

More to come…

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As Communication Director, Matt Willingham spends most of his time trying to get the word out on PLC's work in Iraq. On the side, he likes reading stories, devouring the great food his wife cooks up, and DSLR camera work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

Basra’s Doctors Are Not Forgotten—Remedy Mission XIV Begins!

December 5, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

“Today our dream is coming true.”

These are the kinds of phrases we’re hearing in the southern port city of Basra right now. The local surgeons told us they’ve been trying to create a children’s heart hospital for nearly 30 years, and today they performed their first operation.

Decades of dreams, now made possible.

Amidst the excitement, hope, and tears, though, you’re not forgotten. You helped make this day possible! In fact, we brag about you guys. Today I told several Iraqi nurses about The Coalition around the world—of which you’re a part—who still care about Iraqis; I assured them they’re not forgotten, either.

And, for me, that’s one of the most beautiful things about this big, messy, collaboration: we haven’t forgotten one another.

Despite all the distance and differences, there are a bunch of doctors in Basra who know that they’re not forgotten, because you’ve remembered and supported them in their lifesaving dream.

The same goes for all the families who are about to receive back a healthy child—I can’t wait to tell them about you! Keep reading. I’ll have fresh faces and stories for you coming soon.

Our Partners:

As Communication Director, Matt Willingham spends most of his time trying to get the word out on PLC's work in Iraq. On the side, he likes reading stories, devouring the great food his wife cooks up, and DSLR camera work. He's also mildly obsessed with Twitter: @mehtin.

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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 children in pursuit of peace between communities at odds. We offer the untold thousands of Iraqi kids 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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