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)

An Entire Village Waits For Fatima

December 9, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off 

So from one village to another, Fatima and her grandmother can’t even put in words how grateful they are for people out there who care.

People who care enough to give. People who care enough to come.

On behalf of all of us at Preemptive Love, thanks for saving Fatima today.

Stay tuned…

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. This Remedy Mission is made possible by the Vice President of Iraq, Living Light International, and the International Children’s Heart Foundation. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

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Why Things Have To Change And Why They Can

December 9, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off 

This morning I printed off a questionnaire used by local doctors here to find out more information about why so many children are born in Iraq with congenital birth defects.

Have you ever filled out a questionnaire like this?

Excerpt from questionnaire:

(Start the interview by telling the parent the following: Since there are so many children with leukemia and birth deformities here locally, we want to look into the possible causes of these problems. We need your help. We need to ask you some questions to help us understand this situation. We also need to be able to contact you later. Please give us your contact information.)

Questions to Ask:

1. How many children do you have?
2. Do you have neighbors who are unrelated to you, and have children with similar health problems as your child?
3. Have you had spontaneous miscarriages?
4. Have you had still births?
5. Where did you live in 2003, during the bombings?
6. Please tell us which cities, town, or localities you have resided in since 2003.
7. Were any of your residences bombed?
8. Were you at your residence during or after the bombings?
9. Do you remember how long the attack continued?
10. Were any of your neighbors’ homes bombed?
11. Do you know if your house was attacked with white phosphorus or any incendiary weapons?
12. Were you ever burned, wounded, or injured in bombings?
13. Were any family members burned, wounded, or injured in the bombings?
14. In the last 7 years, have you searched and recovered survivors, wounded, corpses,cleaned and prepared bodies for burial, searched bodies for identification, or transported any of these people?
15. Did you clean up the rubble, recover your things from the rubble or rebuild your house on the rubble?
16. Have your children played in bomb craters, buildings, construction sites or collected materials salvaged from sites that have been bombed?”

These questions seem surreal to me. What was more surreal was reading their answers.

Each day we’re brought to the hospital in an armored caravan of SUV’s, surrounded by security.

Is anybody else longing for a day when we don’t have to explain what “white phosphorous” is and when we won’t need any more armored vehicles to protect doctors?

We believe in Remedy because we believe things aren’t supposed to be this way. We also believe that we can take a step in the right direction with your help.

Thanks for all you are doing!

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. This Remedy Mission is made possible by the Vice President of Iraq, Living Light International, and the International Children’s Heart Foundation. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

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Ritha’s Heart Only Gets Stronger The Second Day

December 8, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off 

On the second day, little Ritha continues to rest as Haydar came next to him in the ICU after another successful heart operation. The local male nurses in the ICU gave in to Ritha and let him play with a giraffe stuffed animal. At first they told me he should be playing with something more “manly”, like a dog!

Who wants to send us over some manly toys? (They’re for the kids. We promise.)

Thanks to those manly ICU nurses, Ahmed’s on schedule to be out of the ICU in less in than 24 hours!

Check back on Ahmed!

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. This Remedy Mission is made possible by the Vice President of Iraq, Living Light International, and the International Children’s Heart Foundation. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

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Ahmed Goes Into Surgery

December 7, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off 

Ahmed is a five month old boy from Southern Iraq. When Ahmed was born, his family knew from his blue lips that there was something wrong but they had no idea it was his heart. Ahmed’s parents were told, like too many, that there was no hope for Ahmed to be operated on in Iraq. His best and only hope was to be sent abroad for surgery.

Ahmed’s father owns a local shop and his mother is a teacher but she’s been without a job for the past two years. One income in Iraq simply isn’t enough to afford all the costs that go into sending your child abroad for surgery.

It was because of their situation that local doctors called them last week, urging them to bring in Ahmed for surgery.

I asked Ahmed’s mother what her reaction was when she heard that Ahmed could be operated on here in Iraq. She just smiled and said, “How can I possibly describe that feeling?”

Ahmed is going into surgery within the next few hours.

Stay tuned…

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. This Remedy Mission is made possible by the Vice President of Iraq, Living Light International, and the International Children’s Heart Foundation. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

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Remedy Begins in Nasiriyah with Ritha’s Surgery

December 7, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off 

When we arrived at the hospital this morning, it seemed like the staff had been working through the night to receive Dr. Novick and his team. Ritha, the first child on dock for surgery, was already prepped and waiting in the operating room while the nurses and doctors were all in scrubs waiting for orders.

I rushed into the Operating Room to see little Ritha before he was operated on but the room was the size of a large closet and it could barely hold the small army already in the room.

Their goal for 7 year-old Ritha was nothing short of a complete correction.

At four this afternoon I went into the ICU to see Ritha, who had already been walking around after his operation. The surgery went excellently and he was given the complete correction they had hoped for! Ritha was the perfect child to start off the second Remedy. His strength filled the hospital with hope as they brought in Haydar to be operated on next.

Stay tuned…

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. This Remedy Mission is made possible by the Vice President of Iraq, Living Light International, and the International Children’s Heart Foundation. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

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From The Green Zone

December 6, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off 

Once again, I’m in a new place witnessing things that have never been seen before – because of you.

Right now I’m overlooking the Tigris river, blogging from inside the Iraqi Vice President’s home. It used to be one of Saddam Hussein’s fifty palaces, and before that it was a palace for King Faisal. Now it’s the staging ground for the the city of Nasiriyah’s first Remedy Mission!

Last August, the combined efforts of the Kurdish Regional Government, Living Light International, Kurdistan Save the Children and YOU allowed us to welcome a medical team from International Children’s Heart Foundation to the city of Sulaimania, and we’re honored to be hosting another surgical team.

We call these missions “Remedy” because they’re answers for equipping hospitals, training local doctors, mentoring nurses, and saving the lives of children who no longer have to be sent overseas for a chance at life.

This time, we’re witnessing Remedy take place for the first time all over again in the city of Nasiriyah. Like most Iraqi cities, Nasiriyah boasts a rich heritage, perhaps the richest being the ancient birthplace of Abraham. And like all cities in Iraq, it’s growing and progressing in every way. While honoring their past they’re choosing to invest in a better tomorrow.

Saddam drained the swamps surrounding Nasiriyah, but now they’re reversing the damage and restoring the swamps to their former vitality.

Chemical warfare was used against the people of Nasiriyah, and now they’re building the hospitals necessary for treating the fall-out.

Saddam gave them eight mass graves, but now they’re choosing to build parks, hospitals, schools, and mosques in honor of their murdered friends and family.

One of those hospitals is the Nasiriyah Heart Institute, where over 20 children will be given life-saving heart surgery over the next 12 days!

Thanks to Living Light International, the Vice President of Iraq, the International Children’s Heart Foundation, and you…tomorrow will be the first day of another Remedy!

Stay tuned…

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. This Remedy Mission is made possible by the Vice President of Iraq, Living Light International, and the International Children’s Heart Foundation. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

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Ahmed Leaves the Hospital; On His Way Home with a Healthy, Happy Heart Thanks to You!

August 25, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off 

This morning as I walked into the hospital I almost ran right into Ahmed. He was walking around the hospital ward all by himself; something he wasn’t able to do just a few days ago!

The doctors took one last echo of Ahmed’s heart and found nothing but good news so they let him and his uncle head back home to Nasiriyah.

We miss Ahmed and the several others that have already gone home but it’s an exciting feeling to walk through the hospital and see empty beds that once held sick kids.

They are empty, thanks to you!

As with all the surgeries we facilitate, this is only the beginning of our journey with each one of these children. We stay connected with each family and continue to follow through with each child to make sure they’re continuing to progress in every way. We’ll stop by their homes, go visit them at school and continue to invest in them and their local communities.

The surgery is only the beginning of our work.

We couldn’t be doing any of this if it weren’t for YOU.

Thank you for giving and sacrificing so that others can live. We love standing alongside you.

WIth You,

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

Our Partners:

You are Bringing Laughter Back To Nasiriyah, Iraq from Thousands of Miles Away

August 23, 2010 by Cody · 1 Comment 

Photos by Heber Vega

Our first Remedy Mission has literally reached the corners of Iraq as we’ve sought to serve and save children from every part of the country. In our hospital ward there are Arab, Turkmen, and Kurdish families spending their days together talking, crying, and simply listening to one another. If a mother has to leave the room, the other mothers in the room quickly take up the responsibility to look after their child as if it were their own. Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen have a complicated and painful history but this week it’s becoming clear to so many that all three groups have so much in common, the biggest being their love for their children.

It’s a love that’s driven each one of them to such great heights in order to find someone who could save their child.

Noor was exactly 40 days old when she became very sick. Her parents were concerned, like any parent would have been, and they took her to the doctor’s office. They took an echo and discovered she had a heart defect. They had the news confirmed by 4 other doctors in her city of Nasariyah but not one of them told her than Noor needed surgery. Noor’s mother said that the doctor’s never brought it up because they all know that finding someone who could operate on and save Noor’s life would be close to impossible.

Instead, they sent her away knowing that Noor would soon die.

Noor is now 3 months old and resting in her hospital bed after receiving the surgery that saved her life, all which the doctors in Nasiriyah thought would be “impossible.”

Noor’s mother shared with me today, “Since we first found out that Noor had a heart defect, we haven’t laughed. Now that she is better, we can laugh again.”

We love standing alongside you in bringing families together, tearing down racial divides, and restoring laughter to homes all over Iraq.

We love recognizing the fact that we have a great deal in common with families on the other side of the world and we love the fact that right now, there is a family from Nasariyah that has a reason to laugh again.

All our money comes from you! You’ve had a major hand in accomplishing a remedy for the kids of Iraq. And you can do it again today by beginning to spread the word! If you like what we are doing this week through our Remedy Mission, please be sure to spread the word: 1. Tell a friend in person 2. Email a few friends and family with a link to our blog: http://preemptivelove.org/blog 3. Use the “share” and “like” and “comment” links below to push the story out on Facebook and ask your friends to take action 4. Use the tweet box below or your favorite Twitter application to tweet about our work with this link: http://bit.ly/arBoDC

With you,

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

Our Partners:

Partner Org Spotlight: Living Light International

August 20, 2010 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

It was July 13th, 2010 when we first heart about Living Light International – an organization founded by Nadwa Qaragholi as a tribute to her father to serve orphans and widows throughout Iraq. At that time they were putting together a scouting trip to Baghdad and Basra in search of surgery centers to host surgical missions similar to the Remedy Mission we are entrenched in this week. In fact, their time in Nasiriyah (near Basra) had local doctors begging our partners at the International Children’s Heart foundation to stay a few days and operate on children before all was too late for four kids in particular. Unfortunately, Dr. Novick could not perform surgery; he had no team and he had a plane to catch.

Mrs. Nadwa Qaragholi (center) sits with Sheikh Awad al-Galiby and his grandson who has just undergone a lifesaving heart surgery. Photos by Heber Vega

That’s when Nadwa Qaragholi got on the phone and asked the Vice President of Iraq to do something for these children. The effort made in those days and the days that followed ultimately landed Ahmed, Noor, Hussein, and Raza in our first Remedy Mission this week a few hours drive to the north of Baghdad.

It’s safe to say that Living Light International saved these kids’ lives. If they had not organized a scouting trip southern Iraq, if they were not an upstanding family in the community with the ability to call up the Vice President, and if they were not willing to use that influence to the good of a few children in need, there is no way that your donations would have found their way into the hearts of these four dear kids.

 

 

Qaragholi’s father was orphaned but ultimately worked his way through life until he became a prominent business man in Baghdad. Upon his death, Mrs. Qaragholi founded Living Light International in tribute to him and as a way of focusing her grief in a way that would ultimately benefit others. For years she has been working to benefit orphans and widows throughout the country. But this week, by placing these four kids in Remedy Mission and sitting all day long at their bedside, it seems her ideas for helping kids across Iraq are growing exponentially.

We are currently in the stages of drafting an official memo of understanding with Living Light International in hopes of bringing their local influence and expertise and our international donor base into confluence for the well-being of children across Iraq; from east to west and north to south without regard to ethnicity or religious creed.

We have a lot to learn from Living Light International. And more than that, we have a lot of kids to serve together!

With you,

Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

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Ahmed’s 5 Hour Surgery Is In Progress!

August 20, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off 

Photo by Jon Vidar

[ CLICK HERE TO READ IN ARABIC ]

Ahmed spent his last two days waiting patiently for his surgery, playing with film-maker Ricky Norris, racing around the hospital floor on top of the hospital rolley-carts, and watching cartoons on Heber Vega‘s laptop.

You may recall that Ahmed’s parents were in a tragic car accident on their way to our Remedy Mission just a few days ago. His uncle actually ensured that Ahmed made it here and did not miss his chance at life. If you haven’t read Ahmed’s story be sure to read it here!

We received the great news from his uncle that Ahmed’s parents are improving but still in the hospital in Nasariya. They called repeatedly today to speak with their son and remind him of how much they love him. We feel the same way!

Photo by Heber Vega

Ahmed is now in the 3rd hour of his surgery and it’s expected to last 2 more hours. It is also after midnight here in Iraq! Who does surgery after midnight? We are so grateful to Dr. William Novick and his team from the International Children’s Heart Foundation. Ahmed’s case is one of the most complicated the doctors have seen this week so they’ve committed their entire night to making the corrections Ahmed’s heart needs to keep up with this little boy who clearly loves to be active!

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Remedy Missions are international pediatric heart surgery teams that we bring to Iraq to to perform lifesaving heart surgeries and develop the infrastructure for the future. If you’re on Twitter this week be sure to use the #Remedy or #RemedyMission hashtag to describe all the good news coming out of Iraq this week via @preemptivelove and @babyheart_org. If you’re on Facebook, “Share” this story with the button below.

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