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)

“Martina Pavaníć is the best scrub nurse in the whole [wide] world.” – William Novick, M.D.

May 30, 2011 by Jeremy · Comments Off 

That wasn’t the exact quote; the original was much more colorful and forceful! But the point is this: your financial investment in our Remedy Missions has helped us secure an amazing nurse for the operating room who is an incredibly capable administrator, leader, problem solver, and educator. In a pinch, she has the ability to play the role of Teaching First Assistant (to the lead surgeon).

We’re in the middle of Remedy Mission V, and even though most of the medical team turns over every mission with volunteers from all over the world, Martina is also on Remedy V. She has put in more hours of surgery and training across Iraq than any other single foreigner from anywhere in the world.

Martina was a recipient of this type of “humanitarian aid” or training back in her home country of Croatia when Dr. William Novick of the International Children’s Heart Foundation landed for a proto-Remedy Mission in 1993 and began training Croatians like Martina to be the remedy for their own children.

To hear Dr. Novick tell the story, Martina was very skittish and intimidated in the early days as a trainee in Zagreb, Croatia. “She would prepare the table incorrectly in the early days and I would send her home at the end of the day crying.”

After more than 15 years working alongside Dr. Novick in one form or another, it now takes a lot to make Martina cry. And she certainly knows how to prepare an operating room. If anything, Martina now sends others home crying and may well be the most intimidating force in the O.R.! I’ve personally left the O.R. more than once with my tail between my legs after crossing her sterile field or speaking too loudly in a way that distracted the training and surgery underway!

Once in South America an unexpected set of circumstances required Martina – a nurse – to walk a local surgeon through a highly complex surgery step-by-step “just like Dr. Novick does it.”

She knows her stuff!

Get a picture in your mind of Croatia in the early 1990s. Under-developed hospitals, atrophied education systems failing to adequately feed into the workforce, political in-fighting, limited access to medical supplies and resources, ethnic & civil war, and the world’s collective eye watching to see what would happen next.

It sounds like today’s Iraq!

The most inspiring thing to me about Martina is the way in which she epitomizes the ethos of our Remedy Mission approach. To simplify:

• 1) she needed training and resources
• 2) she received training and resources in her home country and helped save thousands of lives
• 3) now she travels the world training others and providing resources so they can serve their own children

The trainee has become the trainer; the aid recipient the reciprocator; the beneficiary the benefactor.

That, in my opinion, is preemptive love. Maybe she would have amounted to nothing in the medical field. Maybe she didn’t have the stomach for it. Maybe she didn’t look the part. Maybe Croatia was a bad bet back in the day. Maybe the problems seemed too intractable.

Preemptive love gave Martina wings. And Dr. Novick’s preemptive love in the 1993 is still creating shockwaves around the world today any time Martina scrubs in.

Will you invest today in tomorrow’s “Martina?”

Martina was able to learn, and now teach, because someone invested in her! Now you can invest in local nurses just like Martina by donating to our medical training program!

Our Partners:

Ajeen And Haymen Are Going To Change The Future Of Healthcare In Iraq

March 1, 2011 by Cody · 1 Comment 

Today I had the chance to sit down and chat with Ajeen and Haymen, two young ICU nurses in Northern Iraq.

Haymen is living his dream. After his father died in 1991 from heart disease, he dedicated his life and career to taking care of others with the same condition. It wasn’t until 2005, when the nursing college began to accept males due to the huge demand for nurses in Iraq, that he actually got to do what we had wanted to do all along…mend hearts.

Ajeen was placed in the nursing college by the government but from day one, she knew she was going to love it.

“I love working in the ICU because I know I’m doing something worthwhile. I know I’m helping”, she said as she kept glancing at her patient, lying on a bed next to her.

Haymen was finishing his eight hour shift. “This is so beautiful, to have these teams here. They work so hard. They never leave a patient’s side unless they know they’re completely taken care of.”

Ajeen pitched in, “They never stop. It’s like they never get tired of taking care of these children. Because of them being here though, now these children can live. Now they have a chance. They don’t have to go overseas to be operated on.”

I asked Haymen what he’s learned today and he immediately answered back, “Yesterday, to give these children more oxygen in their lungs after their operation, I was hitting their back with my hands. I would feel awful because it was hurting the children and it wasn’t even giving them anymore oxygen. Today, they taught me a better way. They taught me to use an oxygen mask to gently pound up and down their back and it didn’t hurt the children! Their lungs got more oxygen than I ever knew how to give them. I’m learning so much from them.”

“They’re teaching us to become great nurses”, Haymen said proudly.

“I have so many questions for them, I’m only waiting for a chance to ask them all.”

Why do we believe in Remedy Missions? Because we believe in Ajeen and Haymen.

To show your support for Ajeen and Haymen and become a part of the Remedy, join our community of lifesavers by clicking HERE!

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



With help from our friends:

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

February 27, 2011 by Cody · 2 Comments 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned! Another one starts NOW!

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



With help from our friends:

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

February 26, 2011 by Cody · Comments Off 

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

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

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

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

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

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

You’re making a PROFOUND impact on Iraq!

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

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

Our Partners

Alawi Receives His Much Needed Heart Surgery!

February 21, 2011 by Cody · Comments Off 

This morning Alawi got the heart surgery we’ve all been waiting for!

Local doctors and nurses – alongside the ICHF team – took a minimalistic approach to his repair, seeking to do as little “trauma” to his heart as possible. Unfortunately, after surgery, it seemed the minimalist approach wasn’t holding as well as they hoped. They decided to perform an even more robust correction that would make Alawi even stronger than he already was.

So Alawi went yet again into the operating room just as bravely as he went into his first operation.

Alawi’s a reminder of what we’re committed to – we will do whatever it takes to make each child and each Iraqi doctor and nurse into the healthiest child and most-skilled doctor or nurse they can be.

Hoping for the best still never makes it easy to watch a child go in for surgery.

We could not do this without you! You are our heroes and you inspire us to keep going so much! Stay tuned to get the latest update on Alawi from the ICU via our Facebook Page!

Our Partners

10 Things You Need To Know You’re A Part Of When You Support Remedy

February 20, 2011 by Cody · Comments Off 

Did you know that each Remedy provides over 7,000 hours of hands on training and education for local Iraqi doctors and nurses during each two week mission?

Did you know that each medical team Remedy brings in is composed of 15 medical professionals from some of the world’s top hospitals?

Did you know that each medical team member Remedy brings in has one goal, and that’s to teach and inspire locals?

Did you know that Remedy literally trains 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from the moment it begins to the moment it ends?

Did you know that most medical team members Remedy brings in are giving up their only 2 weeks of vacation time to come and be involved in investing in the future of Iraq?

Did you know that Remedy is one of the only outside programs that is investing in the health care in Iraq by training locals where they live rather than just extracting children and operating on them overseas?

Did you know that Remedy is proving itself to be one of the most effective tools in inspiring and encouraging local Iraqi medical teams while tearing down walls of prejudices and misunderstanding between the East and the West?

Did you know that each Remedy gives local surgeons the skills and knowledge to perform surgeries they never knew how to perform before?

Did you know that in the midst of thousands of hours of training each Remedy, over twenty children are given life-saving heart surgeries each trip?

Did you know that’s what you get to be a part of each time you support Remedy?

We hope so!

Because Remedy wouldn’t be gaining momentum all across Iraq if it wasn’t for you!

Our Partners

Meet Ali. He Finally Got His Lifesaving Surgery on Our Second Trip to Southern Iraq

February 17, 2011 by Jeremy · Comments Off 

Ali gets his surgery from Dr. Novick and the ICHF during our February 2011 Remedy Mission to southern Iraq.

An interview with Cody Fisher about his first encounter with Ali and the journey to where he is today.

Push play above to meet little Ali….

With you,

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

Our Partners

Headed Home While Remedy Continues To Gain Momentum

December 22, 2010 by Cody · Comments Off 

At the end of the first Remedy Mission in Southern Iraq we served 22 families, corrected 45 heart defects and gave a collective 7,000 hours of training to more than 50 local doctors and nurses!

Kids conquered heart disease together, families built new networks of friendships, doctors gained mentors, nurses gathered inspiration, and a foundation was laid for what might someday become a fully functional, locally-run pediatric cardiac surgery center.

Thanks to YOU, the momentum has continued from our first Remedy Mission in Sulaymaniyah last August to the latest mission in Nasiriyah. As we get ready for 2011, both Sulaymaniyah and Nasariyah are preparing for 8 more Remedy Missions this next year!

The growing coalition of partners that continue to bring Remedy include all of us at PLC, our freinds at the International Children’s Heart Foundation, Living Light International, Kurdistan Save the Children, both the Iraqi and Kurdish governments along with local governments and ministries of health, and you!

Without your support, there would be no remedies like what we’re witnessing.

With your support, this will only be the beginning!

With each story that’s told through these missions, a growing community is being drawn to the people of Iraq. As a community, we’re not only beginning to grow in our understanding and love but we’re tangibly waging peace in both our local communities and in communities throughout the Middle East.

It’s a pleasure to be standing alongside you. Let’s press on!

Our Partners:

Cardiac Caths Save Lives, Time, Space, Money, & Dodge Dishonor for Females Before Marriage

August 29, 2010 by Jeremy · Comments Off 

Photos by Heber Vega

This week we were able to help three children without subjecting them to the trauma of an open-heart surgery. A procedure in which a catheter is inserted through the femoral artery, all the way into the heart, and ultimately used to correct a number of different heart defects.

Recovery times from these types of procedures are considerably shorter and the procedure itself is considerably less risky for the patient. These patients don’t stay “parked” in an already crowded Intensive Care Unit and typically end up going home in a much shorter period of time than even the fastest surgery patients.

The International Children’s Heart Foundation team prefers to use this method whenever possible, but finds it particularly helpful with older females who might otherwise be considered less desirable for marriage with a huge scar down the sternum.

All three kids who received cardiac cath intervention this week are discharged and playing safely at home; even while we have two in ICU and a handful still in the ward.

Thanks for making our training and surgery mission happen this week. This Remedy Mission and the various diagnostic, interventional, surgical, and administrative techniques learned locally this week will continue to save lives long after all these kids go home!

Have you enjoyed this week? We have! Please consider making a donation for our next mission if you believe in what we’re doing by clicking the DONATE link in the header above.

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:

Take a Look Around our Operating Room with this Interactive Panorama

August 25, 2010 by Jeremy · 1 Comment 

USE ARROWS OR MOUSE ABOVE TO CHANGE THE VIEW OF THE PANORAMA
Photos & Panorama Created by Jon Vidar

It has always been a desire of ours to show you the impact of your donations, your purchases, your advocacy, and your sharing on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

We’ve also wanted to find ways to make this work together with you as interactive as possible. That’s why we send out frequent emails asking for your feedback; it’s why we create interactive timelines that allow you to walk through the various channels we use to tell a child’s story; and it’s why we offered live telephone updates from Iraq during Remedy Mission to anyone interested.

Of course, what we would love to do is bring each one of you into the surgery you helped fund… but unfortunately, that’s just not feasible! We try to make up for it with our photography, cinematography, and storytelling, but there is obviously nothing like being there.

So please accept this interactive space as our next best effort to bring you into the room with us. When you use the arrows on your keyboard or your mouse above to click around you will be able to see a full 360-degree view of the new operating theatre here in Iraq that has been used during this Remedy Mission to train local doctors and save little lives.

And if you like the experience above, please tell your friends by using the “SHARE” utility/button below!

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:

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