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)

A New Look For Our Office—So When Are You Coming To Visit?

May 14, 2013 by matt · 2 Comments 

We just finished cleaning up and redecorating our office here in Iraq.

It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint, some new pictures, and a Bonsai tree can do to improve the look of a place. Sometimes the instability and frustrations of this part of the world leave us wondering whether or not we’ll actually be able to keep living here, and that uncertainty can make it hard to ‘dig in.’

So we see the paint and the pictures as an excuse to dig in and recommit to doing life here.

The next time you’re in town you should come visit—baklava and tea on us!

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.

Six Places We’re Visiting On Our Upcoming American Tour—Will We See You?

February 14, 2013 by matt · Leave a Comment 

I recently sat across a table from a white, middle-class, 20-something American man from Texas and it was just so… wonderful.

No, I wasn’t having tea with a mirror.

When we aren’t helping Fallujan babies get heart operations, we’re constantly encouraging you to engage ‘the other,’ to find someone radically different from yourself—preferably someone you would deem an ‘enemy’—and to connect with them. You get extra points for learning from them, and even more points for loving them when they treat you poorly.

But there is something really sweet about connecting and refreshing with like-minded people, and that’s why our recent trips across the United States have felt like a breath of fresh air. We speak the same language, we agree that Mayo on fries is nasty, and we share a common cultural heritage. Not to mention you guys teach us so much!

The eyes-wide-open passion of the students and faculty at Cedarville University, Bryan College, Taylor University, Calvin College, and Pepperdine University blew us away; it gave us hope.

So, to all the individuals and institutions who have hosted us in recent days: THANK YOU! Your role in the Coalition is invaluable—you’re saving lives in Iraq, and you’re certainly making ours better.

We’re headed back to the States this month for a series of speaking engagements, and we’d love to see you! Check the listing below to see if we’ll be in your area, or leave us a comment/send me an email if you’d like to host one of our staff for a dialogue about enemy-love, peacemaking, or our development work in Iraq.

    Houston Baptist University – February 19 – Houston

    The Justice Conference – February 22+23 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    The Loft Church – February 23-24 – The Woodlands, Texas

    Ecclesia Church – February 24 – Houston, Texas

    Eastgate Community Church – February 25 – Cincinnati, Ohio

    Cedarville University – February 27 – Cedarville, Ohio

Photo Credit: Calvin College

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.

Zombies, Baby Blood, And The Call of Duty To Love Our Neighbor

January 22, 2013 by matt · Leave a Comment 

I fidgeted on my stool, trying to focus in spite of the noise.

Off-duty doctors huddled nearby. They were glued to a Jason Statham movie, awaiting his next kill.

My stomach churned. Between the cigarettes and the high-volumed intensity characteristic of blown out Iraqi speakers, I honestly couldn’t take one more head-shot.

BANG!

The one-liner is delivered and my friends rumble their approval, scooting their chairs closer to the flat-screen. I snapped my computer lid shut and retreated—nauseated—as more thunder echoed be behind me.

Half an hour later, I stood in an O.R. filming doctors as they pulled blood from a beautiful baby boy named Abdul before his heart operation. In a way, Abdul’s blood and shrieking made Statham’s flick seem gore-free, but arriving in the O.R. actually helped settle my stomach.

Somehow this was different, and I began to realize it wasn’t about blood.

It was the violence.

All of this happened on my fourth day in the city of Fallujah—the medical mission progressed, and spirits were high. But I couldn’t stop thinking about my physiological reaction to that movie. It’s hard to pin-point why, exactly, but my body and mind can no longer handle violent media.

Photo Credit: “Six Days In Fallujah“, Atomic Games

In college, violent movies and games like Call of Duty never really affected me—they were just fun past-times. But something about being in Fallujah, with all its bombed-out buildings and birth defects… it got too real, too fast.

During research for a video I was making, I watched a ton of archived footage from the battles that happened in Fallujah. The helmet-mounted cameras made the killings almost indistinguishable from my favorite 1st person shooter games—except these were real.

The snarky comments made by soldiers, the way both sides treated prisoners and dead bodies, and all the blood. So much blood. Nobody was respawning after these fights—no ‘extra lives.’

I want to be clear: this post is not about boycotting anything—I’m not saying we should all go tee up our action movies and XBOX games and golf club them to oblivion.

I’m just asking a simple question: at what point have we lost touch with reality? At what point did I lose touch?

As a person who strives to follow Jesus Christ and his teachings, I look at the “Sermon on the Mount” and wonder how I got where I am. Jesus stood up and taught radical enemy-love, pain-absorption over pain-reciprocation, and the happiness of peacemakers. Am I training myself toward those things?

Am I preparing my heart to love the limbless family members who brought their sick, war-stricken children into the hospital for surgery? What if their child dies in the ICU and they blame or even try to hurt me—how have I prepared myself to respond?

Or what about the suicidal American solders—more of whom have died at home than on the battle field—am I ready to love them, given the chance?

This is what we mean when we say “preemptive love,” and, if it doesn’t cost me anything, I have to wonder whether it’s even real.

During a recent gaming spree, my wife asked me, “Is ‘Nazi Zombie Mode’ just an excuse to kill things without feeling bad?” She was right, I want it both ways.

Writing endless blog posts that call people to love their perceived enemies while using a broken-off bayonet to hack mine to pieces in a video game really doesn’t add up, regardless of whether or not the game is ‘real.’

Photo Credit: Karim Sahib, AFP

When you think of Fallujah, you might remember the murdered mercenaries in 2004. How did you react when you saw the charred bodies?

With that in mind, don’t you find it disturbing how excited my Muslim friends in Fallujah were by the heart-numbing gore on the screen in front of them?

Don’t you find it disturbing how many Christians in America enjoy the same kinds of entertainment?

What can we do to prepare ourselves to love when it’s difficult? I would encourage you to start by considering the paraphrased teaching from Jesus below—how far should we take these words? Then email me your thoughts, or connect with me via PLC’s Twitter and Facebook accounts. If you disagree, please share why—I promise not to attack you with a broken-off bayonet.

###

“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves.”

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.

The Hard Work of Making Children Smile

November 27, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

Not surprisingly, Iraqi children seem to dislike going to the hospital as much as all the other children on this planet.

Something about needles and scalpels and face-masks brings out the sourest faces. Even after all the anesthesia, after I’ve dished out candy and toys, and after I’ve made humiliating faces for them, smiles are often hard to come by. For some kids, the fear even gets so bad that they just cry any time they see someone in scrubs coming toward them.

But this emotional honesty is one of my favorite things about children. They are genuine, and they haven’t learned how to mask it.

What I mean is, if they don’t feel like doing something, they just don’t do it. When I tell a child to smile for a photo, they almost always just stare back at me. “What’s there to smile about with you sticking that lens in my face?”

But we adults have (most of us) learned how to fake it. We can pull a camera-smile for any occasion, regardless of how we feel. Shooting pictures of smiling children takes a lot more work. And you’ve got to always have your finger on the shutter button, because that moment passes in a heartbeat.

Remedy Mission XIII is the fourth mission I’ve shot, and it has probably been the least-smiley mission so far. We’ve seen a lot of very sick, oxygen-deprived children who—in some cases—weren’t physically able to smile. Thankfully, they’re waking up in the ICU and on their way toward feeling better than ever as their hearts are finally working correctly. Hopefully we’ll have more happy faces to show you 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.

Hikes Around Babylon, Hoops In Saddam’s Living Room

October 10, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

We’re halfway through Remedy Mission XII, and that means something sweet: a day off.

On previous Remedy Missions, I used this day to catch up on big projects or even to grab a few extra hours of sleep. As you can probably imagine, these missions that you help us put on are intense.

We arrive at the hospital at 8am and usually stay there until 8 or 9 at night; if an operation goes longer, the team sometimes stays past midnight. After a week of this, a day off is essential for the team to refuel.

Many of these doctors and nurses use their vacation time to come on trips like this—that means they’re using their vacation to work harder than they would at home!

But the mid-mission trip is a good opportunity for the team to enjoy a little time away from the hospital, and for this mission we went to the ancient city of Babylon and Saddam’s vacated former palace.

Iraq, as I’m sure you know, is a place with a lot of history; The Cradle of Civilization, as it’s often called. And a lot of cool stuff that you’ve probably heard of was invented here: farming, cities, writing, and the wheel, just to name a few.

For me personally, it’s an interesting place because of the Biblical references. I grew up reading and hearing about Babylon, I had read the history—the words—and I knew the city existed, but visiting it and taking pictures of it with my own eyes made it so much more real—it offered me a reference point.

And that’s really my hope for you as you see photos and watch videos of these children you’re helping us save. I wish each of you could come to a Remedy Mission and to walk the halls of a hospital in-the-flesh, but I hope the hundreds of sweet, needy faces that we put in front of you will make this fact more and more real to you: The Backlog exists, and it isn’t ancient history.

At least not yet!

After an hour of trying to keep up with our tour guides, we piled into a van and drove up the hill to one of Saddam’s old palaces (pictured in the photo above behind the Lion). The photos below show a little of what we saw, including the basketball hoop in Saddam’s living room (presumably left by Coalition forces?).

Barbed wire blocking the stairway to the second floor of the palace.

A makeshift basketball hoop hung in the former sitting room of the palace.

The rebuilt ruins of Babylon as seen from Saddam’s palace window.

Ali, one of our security guards, with the ceiling of the living room behind him.

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.

Update From The O.R.—Valve Shmalve, What’s Really Wrong With Zahraa’s Heart?

October 7, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

You’ve read about Zahraa, and we hope you’re following her story.

But wouldn’t you like to know what’s really going on inside her chest? What is it that poses such a lethal threat to her well-being, and what does it take to fix it?

Cardiologists can answer these questions because they spend years studying the heart in medical school, and then they’re constantly learning for the rest of their career. So, since we can’t all be savvy heart doctors, we decided to pull one into the O.R. for a quick interview!

Watch the above video (or click HERE) to get a better understanding of what’s going on inside little Zahraa’s heart!

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.

My First Remedy—A First-Timer’s Look Into The Echo Lab

October 5, 2012 by Cayla · Leave a Comment 

I’ve spent the last three days of this mission in the echo lab, helping the cardiologist as she examines the hearts of children who make up what we like to call The Backlog.

It has been an interesting three days.

Each time we walk through the halls back to the echo room, we pass by dozens of anxious mothers, sitting, waiting, gripping their babies and hoping we’ll be the ones to bring them good news.

Family after family comes into the little room, puts their bundle onto the table and watches as the doctor probes their child’s chest. The older ones lay there patiently, but some of the younger ones aren’t so cooperative. Their parents try desperately to calm them down until the doctor finally has to give up and send them out for sedation.

It’s difficult to tell how effective the sedative will be. Sometimes the kids come back looking like a sack of potatoes while others come back just tired and angry. It doesn’t seem like the people administering the drugs have quite perfected the dosages.

One little boy laid in his dad’s arms while the doctor tried to reach his chest, crying and crying, until he puked. That was gross. Another family drove hours to be there for the screening and then the child was so out of control he was sent away three times before the doctor finally managed to get a good look at his heart.

All-in-all, it’s been hectic. But it’s also been good for me to see first-hand how massive the need here is, and how much these parents love their children. The last little boy we saw today had been born with serious defects effecting his entire body, including his heart. The doctor explained to the translator why a surgery would be near impossible and the mother must have read it on her face because she started crying even before she understood what was being said.

So far, we’ve screened 45 children, and, considering we’re not even halfway through the mission yet, I’m sure we’ll see well beyond 100. Thanks for helping us screen and save these children, and come back tomorrow for an update on one you recently helped, little Zahraa!

Our Partners:

Cayla Willingham is Remedy Mission Coordinator and Family Advocate. When she isn't spending time with families, she enjoys cooking, hosting friends, haggling in local bazaars and souks, and learning local languages.

VIDEO: Update From The Operating Room— “Thank You!”

September 26, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

This is our final O.R. update for Remedy Mission XI in Najaf, and we can’t think of a better time to thank you for the lives you’ve helped save than right now! You made this a happy ending.

You gave money that bought plane tickets that led to training that saved lives and led to Iraqi doctors saying things like “I never imagined I would be learning to operate like this!”

So thank you!

Also, please allow us to use this space to thank our partners at Living Light International for their role in setting up this mission with the Ministry of Health and the provincial government of Najaf. We could not do this without their expertise and their devotion to the cause and their belief in the vision toward which we are moving. Also, we are grateful to the International Children’s Heart Foundation and their cadre of staff and volunteers from Memphis to Melbourne. None of the staff at PLC have any of the medical skills necessary to save these sweet children. Our hopes and our vision for the future of Iraq would be dead in the water without Dr. Novick and ICHF.

In the video, we also share a bit about Hussain and his progress as well as info on our fast-approaching Remedy Mission XII, where we’ll introduce you to even more amazing children in need of lifesaving heart surgery. You can donate below to partner with us further, and keep reading here on the blog—the best is yet to come.

Help us go back to Najaf to save more lives by donating below!

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.

VIDEO: Our Third Update From The Operating Room In Najaf

September 16, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

We’re back in Najaf for Remedy Mission XI, and the surgeries are well underway! Push play to hear our surgery count so far and how the local doctors are reacting to these fantastic training opportunities.

Keep watching to see updates of Hussain—we hear he’s in the hospital! This is the third of several operating room updates that we’ll be sending you, so keep watching and visit our Facebook page to see more photos from the hospital.

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.

VIDEO: Another Update From The O.R.—Meet Two Amazing Cardiologists!

September 12, 2012 by matt · Leave a Comment 

We’re back in Najaf for Remedy Mission XI, and the surgeries are underway!

Click the play button to meet our kind cardiologists (volunteers w/ the International Children’s Heart Foundation), and to hear more about their work so far.

Several children have now received operations and are doing well—we’ll introduce you to some of then soon.

This is the second of several operating room updates that we’ll be sending you, so keep watching and keep an eye on our Facebook page to see more!

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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