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]

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)

Featured Partner: Behar Godani

May 9, 2011 by matt · 1 Comment 

Behar Godani is the kind of person non-profits dream of having in their corner. In fact, if you search “ultimate supporter” in Wikipedia… well, you mostly get a bunch of gibberish, but you should see her photo.

She started spearheading support for PLC way back in the day; fund-raisers, spreadin’ the word, Facebook “likes”, bake sales—she’s done it all! And that’s great for an overseas staff like ours because we don’t spend much time Stateside. She’s a lifeline across the Atlantic, and today (which also happens to be her birthday!) she agreed to an interview:

PLC: Let’s start by hearing a little about you. Tell us about yourself.
Behar: My name is Behar, and I’m now a 25 year-old student program analyst for the US Department of State. I recently graduated with my MA in Political Science and my Graduate Certificate in Bio-defense for Critical Analysis and Strategic Responses to Terrorism. I’m interested in anything and everything relating to politics in the Middle East, although, being Kurdish, I’ve always had a bias for the politics surrounding Iraqi Kurdistan.

Over the past year I’ve been a co-partner in two projects that resulted in the production of a documentary and short film on the Kurdish Diaspora in the US, and I did some work with the US Institute of Peace where I was featured in a documentary about issues in diaspora communities.

Non profit work through various organizations has also always been a profound interest of mine. The use of media to promote issues within my own diaspora community and my Kurdish community back home has been a way for me to feel like I’m contributing in some positive way—however small—to a homeland that I’ve always felt connected to but have never quite had complete access to.

My ultimate aspiration, on a more general level, would be to finally see peace in Iraq as a whole, but, more specifically, I yearn for the day when my particular country—Kurdistan—is finally independent and when its children have the educational and healthcare initiatives in place that ensures a long term, brighter future for generations to come.

PLC: So how did you hear about the Preemptive Love Coalition?
Behar: Maureen Mcluckie from “Kurdistan: Save the Children” first referred me to Jeremy and Cody via email after I expressed my desire to become directly involved with an NPO helping Kurds and Arabs in Iraq from the states.

When I first saw the initial BuyShoesSaveLives website, I remember getting goosebumps as I couldn’t believe the amount of dedication and love PLC put into helping Iraqi children and how easy it was for anyone to simply donate. They even had ideas about how we as students could get involved at our universities, and that’s when I think I knew I’d found the right organization.

Seeing teenagers wear klash with jeans was perhaps another indicator. Who knew Kurdish shoes could look so cool with jeans?!

PLC: You’ve obviously got a big heart for your homeland and these children. Where does your motivation for them come from?
Behar: I think my greatest motivation has been a sincere desire to move beyond the politics and crippling bureaucracy that’s done such a huge disservice to all Iraqis and to simply start at the grassroots level by helping people.

As a child of two Kurdish parents who first came to the US as refugees about thirty years ago, I’ve seen the power of grassroots movements first hand in terms of keeping culture and language alive, but also by bringing people together in the name of a greater cause that we can all believe in.

Helping sick children, many of whom continue to suffer from the diseases contracted by their parents after exposure to Saddam Hussein’s chemical agents, is a cause that is—or at least should be—an easy way to unite people of all backgrounds, be they Kurdish, Iraqi, Turcomen, Assyrian, or your average American with an incredibly big heart. It’s something we can all agree on as human beings, and I couldn’t find an organization that communicated that better than PLC.

PLC: Thanks! Is there anything you’d like to tell the rest of the Coalition? Any rally cries, encouragements, or challenges?
Behar: I’d like to encourage continued commitment despite all the opposition, obstacles and incredibly vocal naysayers that you may encounter along your way. Where there are pure hearts, strong wills, a love of God and a refusal to accept ‘no’ for an answer, there will always be a way, God-willing.

—

Our thanks to Behar and the entire Kurdish Student Organization at George Mason University for being such awesome partners for kids in Iraq! We’re wishing you a happy birthday today from Iraqi Kurdistan!

How Preemptive Love Works Toward Local Solutions to Local Problems

August 21, 2009 by Jeremy · 2 Comments 

VISION & VALUES

By the end of Quarter 2 2009 PLC had spent $225,605 to fund heart surgeries for Iraqi kids, impacting forty families in life-changing ways, and decreasing the overall backlog by an additional ten percent.

You’ve heard that the Preemptive Love Coalition exists to eradicate the backlog of Iraqi children waiting for life-saving heart surgeries and to create cooperation between communities in conflict. But it is important to us that you understand how we seek to accomplish this mission and why.

We strive to fulfill our mission by creating…

- Local funding for local problems
- An ethos of volunteerism and community in hopes of subverting the prevailing distrust of one another
- International partnerships and infrastructure that will outlast our own organizational presence in Iraq

When we started in 2007 we began to calculate the need in terms of $10,000 surgeries for 4,000 children… or $40,000,000. The scary thing was the reality that surgery prices would likely go up with the global economic situation and that the 4,000 on “THE LIST” were probably just representatives of a larger number.

As we stared down what seemed to us to be a giant need, we finally realized that we would need to change the system and the rules of engagement if we would ever be a part of achieving the results we wanted. After a year and a half of ambling through different procedures and a lot of trial and error we implemented what proved to be our most impactful strategy to date: to partner with families for their healthcare.

Many in Iraq told us the U.N. had created a culture that prevented Iraqis from engaging in their own advancement

Many in Iraq told us that the United Nations (and others) had created a culture here that prevented Iraqis from a willingness to engage in their own advancement; that the mentality was one of waiting around for others to give handouts. Still, we were hopeful that partnering with families for 25% of the package price would be a revolutionary start.

At the same time, we committed ourselves to seeking an additional 25% in local funding from charities, businesses, and local philanthropists.

All the while, we work diligently to maintain and extend the scope of our logistics and medical partnerships so that we can continue to provide the greatest services at the greatest prices.

Here are a few more details on how all that works…

MARKET vs. PLC PRICING

The life-saving heart surgeries we provide take place at the world-class Anadolu Medical Center (ASM) in Istanbul, Turkey. Before discounts and partnerships, the total market prices on the services offered by PLC begin at $22,000. For heart conditions that are more complicated, prices would easily exceed $50-75,000.

Through partnerships with Atlasjet Airlines, Anadolu Medical Center, and medical supply providers around the world, PLC is able to regularly facilitate life-saving heart surgeries for Iraqi children at 60-70% off market prices.

After all of our partnerships, discounts, subsidies and patient family contributions the remaining cash need per child is approximately $5,000 before we can schedule a surgery.

PLC also keeps cash reserves on hand for the occasional surgery that runs far above the average cost.

After PLC provides 60-70% discount off market prices for airfare, in-city transportation, and hospital services, local Iraqi sources (families, charities, businesses) pay an average of 57% of the remaining cash needs, and PLC pays the remaining 43% through our internationally donated funds.

FAMILY FUNDING

Families of children seeking heart surgery are expected to contribute $2,500 toward the health care of their children. This $2,500 helps PLC offset the remaining cash needs related to international travel, diagnostic testing, hospital stay, surgical expenses, and/or post-discharge room/board needs for their children.

When the patient’s family cannot contribute this $2,500 out of their own personal savings, they are encouraged to appeal to extended family, friends, employers, and religious communities for financial help. Unlike many who work in the relief and development world, we do not believe that Iraqis are helpless or that we are their saviors. They have proven to be people of great dignity, creativity, and worth and our overarching commitment is to come along side them as they pursue hope & a future.

LOCAL IRAQI FUNDING (CHARITABLE)

For each surgery, PLC seeks an additional $2,500 from Iraqi businesses and charities (such as our partner, Kurdistan Save the Children). Charitable donations solicited by PLC are not intended to substitute for or reduce the family’s share of the total costs.

Through the shared responsibility for the funding of these surgeries, we hope to nurture a value of volunteerism and community that will eventually produce a greater love for all in our community and more local funding to solve local problems.

LOCAL IRAQI FUNDING (COMMERCE)

By investing over $25,000 to date in micro-enterprise development across multiple villages and cities through our Buy Shoes. Save Lives. program, we have sold enough hand-made Kurdish Klash shoes to fund 11% of our life-saving heart surgeries to date (other merchandise sales excluded).

This Buy Shoes. Save Lives. money is different kind of local solution to these local heart problems. Though the revenue itself is not “local” (Iraqi), neither the 11% for life-saving heart surgeries nor the $25,000 in micro-enterprise development would be available without PLC’s Buy Shoes. Save Lives. program.

This is yet another example of the people of Iraq working for their future, doing more than taking hand-outs, and playing a significant role in developing their own systems and sense of civic responsibility.

Kurdistan Save the Children Comes through in the Clutch!

February 11, 2009 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

We’ve been getting ready to send a group of Iraqi kids to life-saving heart surgeries in Turkey next week. After crunching the numbers, we thought that we could stretch and send six kids this month. But we had eight who desperately needed urgent surgeries.

Enter our local partner, Kurdistan Save the Children.

Normally, KSC helps contribute to the funding of a couple of kids each month. But they really stepped up to the plate and quadrupled their commitment for February.

Instead of helping two kids this month, they’re helping eight, contributing $2,500 towards each of their surgeries!

That’s $20,000 (or doo defter, as we like to say here in Sulaymaniyah)!

That means that instead of sending just six kids, we can now send eight over the next week, probably saving two extra lives in the process.

It also means that we’re seeing our vision of local solutions to local problems become a reality.

We know that the only hope for sustainable development is when people are empowered and encouraged to tackle the challenges they face together. That’s why we ask for a child’s extended family to contribute something to the cost of their surgery: we don’t want our generosity to rob them of their dignity or their responsibility. Instead, we want to strengthen families as a constructive element of civil society here in Iraq.

And it’s why we’re increasingly looking to form partnerships with Iraqi NGOs and businesses to support their efforts to care for the lives of their own people.

This month, we’re seeing it happen. Local contributions will cover almost half the cost of these eight surgeries. We’ve still got a long way to go, but it’s great to see how far we’ve come.

Valentine’s Day Focus: The Great Eight (Ahmad’s Condition)

February 2, 2009 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

Ahmad’s situation is one of the more dire we’ve seen.

His great arteries are switched around and in the wrong places. He has two holes in the wall of his ventricle, a hole in the wall of his atrium. Effectively, his heart is a big balloon without properly functioning walls and chambers like yours.

This alone results in exhaustion, frequent fainting, and the blue discoloration in his lips, hands, and feet from a lack of oxygen.

You remember oxygen? That stuff that we pretty much need to live. Ahmad needs it too, but his body cannot process it correctly due to the holes in his little heart.

You can follow Ahmad’s progress on Twitter (twitter.com/ahmadbakhtiyar) or via RSS.

Giant Need

See Ahmad’s campaign page on our website to make a contribution to his surgery.

Small Voice

His brown-booted feet hung limply from the chair. Most children wouldn’t be able to resist swinging their suspended legs back and forth in the quiet room surrounded by the seven dwarfs’ familiar faces, the Kurdish curls presumably spelling the names of Dopey and Sneezy and the rest, scattered among painted forest animals on all four walls of Dr. Aso’s combined office, waiting room and examination room. When the doctor was ready, the practiced hands of his mother removed his jacket from his tiny body, his boots from little clubbed blue feet which matched his hands, tormented eyes watching her above his oxygen deprived lips the shade of blueberries.

The doctor’s eyes widened and his brow furrowed as he looked at the Echo, turned to us and said, “This is a very serious case.” When we asked if he was inoperable the doctor shook his head and simply said again, “It is a very serious case…. I don’t know.” Whether she understood English or not Ahmad’s mother read all our expressions easily. She tipped her head to the heavens, possibly to pray, and more practically to give her eyes the opportunity to swallow the tears threatening to escape.

After the picture we snapped of him standing in front of a Kurdish Snow White & the Seven Dwarves, he hid his little face in his mother’s leg and wiped tears from his eyes…

Liz searched her purse for the third time looking desperately for something to give this poor child. She hoped a matchbox car or at least some stickers had magically appeared since she’d last checked, but her hands came up empty again. Her mind slowly absorbed the fact that even if a toy might have brought a temporary smile to his sad eyes, it would do nothing for his frail body. Instead she prayed for the Turkish doctor who will soon undergo the difficult task of setting to rights all that is wrong in Ahmad’s little Iraqi frame.

We’d like to ask you to be a part of Ahmad’s transformation. Of course, these are hard times. But if you can, please consider sacrificing that Ahmad might live.

PLC Gives $5,000 for Two Surgeries

July 10, 2008 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

Your purchases and donations continue to spur on and encourage local Iraqi NGOs to stand beside us as we help their children. In conjunction with Kurdistan Save the Children we’ve just sent another $5,000 Iraqi heart surgeries outside the country!

Kale, 12 years old

Kale has cerebral palsy but constantly has a huge smile.  It is wonderful to see her mom put so much concern into her daughter in a culture where the mentally challenged are often abandoned. Kale had a large hole, 2.5 centimeters, in her upper ventricle. We helped send Kale to surgery on February 20th but she is only now receiving the money she needed for her surgery. With our partnering organization, we went ahead and pushed her surgery through and Kale returned to Iraq on May 6, 2008 with a healthy heart.

Sarah, 8 years old

The cardiologist at the March 2008 screening found that the heart of this frail little girl can be fully restored through surgery. Her internal organs are all on the wrong side (situs inversus) – sometimes surgeons will use a mirror to operate in this case! We hope to have her in surgery in July.

$16k and 21 Children to Heart Screening

March 12, 2008 by Jeremy · 448 Comments 

Buy Shoes. Save Lives., Rayalla Organization, and Kurdistan Save the Children and other local partners recently raised and distributed over $16,000 to 21 children and their families so they could travel to Amman, Jordan for heart screening. 

 

Some of these children will likely go straight to surgery due to the severity of their case. Others will be placed in line until funds are available to fund their surgeries – whether through donations or the revenues from our online store. 

But Sometimes They Die

November 6, 2007 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

This morning I (Cody) went and saw three families with a social worker from Kurdistan Save the Children. My emotions are all worked up… I love these kids more than ever.

I went to four homes but only saw three children because one little girl had just died before we could even tell her story. One child’s dad works as a guard for the local hospital…he guards a hospital that can’t even help his son. That’s not ironic… it’s sick.

One of the boys is 4 years old and he has until he’s 6 before he won’t be able to walk because of his heart condition (unless he has surgery.)

I am now more passionate than ever about telling their story and putting together some sort of photo book….but it’s really up to KSC and whether or not they can consistently send a social worker with me. I need them to take me to these homes and help me tell their story. I’m up for it though… we will just pray that they see the value of telling these stories.

Everyone deserves a voice.

Three-Way Partnership Signed

November 4, 2007 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

Cody Fisher with Dr. Noaman and Dr. Muhammad upon signing a three-way partnership deal between Buy Shoes. Save Lives., Kurdistan Save the Children, and Rayalla.

As of this afternoon KSC has a database of 1,617 children who need some sort of emergency medical attention. Over 700 of those cases are heart problems.

Estimations say more than 1,000 unregistered children have various kinds of urgent congenital heart diseases which will leave the children dead or paralyzed within weeks if not treated. The blood disease Thalassemia is also hitting children hard, with more than 508 cases in Sulaimanyia and 450 cases in Kirkuk. There is no cure in Iraq, and without help from abroad, these children are just waiting for death.

That’s why we’re so grateful for these partnerships and for your help!

Sincerely,

BSSL

Urgent Appeal from Kurdistan Save the Children

October 23, 2007 by Jeremy · Leave a Comment 

We have thousands of desperately sick children who need urgent surgery and treatment outside Iraq, as they cannot be treated in Iraq.Include more than 1000 children with various kinds of urgent congenital heart diseases, which will leave the children dead or paralyzed within weeks if not treated.

So far, 493 children suffering from heart disease have enrolled with the health sector of our organization, and they are waiting for treatment outside Iraq.

The blood disease Thalassemia is also hitting children hard, with more than 508 cases only in Sulaimanyia, and 450 cases in Kirkuk. There is no cure for them within Iraq, and without help from abroad, these children are just waiting for death.

We need help finding hospitals that can treat these children, as well as funding for the surgeries and treatments. The medical journals can be provided immediately upon your request.

These children are in desperate need of your help!

From http://www.ksc-kcf.com/Howtohelp/UrgentAppeal/tabid/91/Default.aspx

Buy Shoes. Save Lives. Signs w/ Kurdistan Save the Children

October 2, 2007 by Jeremy · 136 Comments 

Today, by the grace of God, Buy Shoes. Save Lives. and Kurdistan Save the Children shook hands on a deal to partner together to address the needs of over 1,000 children registered with KSC who have congenital heart problems needing immediate surgery.

Buy Shoes. Save Lives. agrees to…

- commit as much money as we can to heart surgeries from shoe sales
- promote this cause through photography and video
- be the ambassador to Brothers Together and facilitate the sending of children

Kurdistan Save the Children agrees to…

- promote this cause also through documentaries on the children
- collect all the necessary medical documents

(and wait for it…wait for it…)

- give a MINIMUM of $10,000 a month directly to Buy Shoes. Save Lives. to be put towards heart surgeries via Brothers Together.

Additionally, KSC is seeking to expedite the visa process with the Iraqi Embassy in Jordan. They are also making efforts to get airfare at half price from Iraqi Air.

We are so pleased to see Kurdistan Save the Children and (Mrs.) Hêro Xan Talabanî get behind our efforts to get behind their children.

The Peace of God be with you…

Jeremy, Cody, Jessica & Michelle
Buy Shoes. Save Lives.

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