China
Changchun
In 2008, Children's HeartLink initiated a new partner site in Changchun, China, at the Jilin Heart Hospital. A team of medical volunteers from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, led by Jonathan Chen, M.D., traveled to Jilin Heart Hospital in May 2008 to assess program needs, provide training, participate in treatment and plan for future support.
The mission provided training sessions for local medical staff and will benefit an estimated 12,000 children in the next three years. Valued at more than $1,000,000, this three-year program was funded by the Bracco Group through the Clinton Global Initiative.
A story from our recent mission to Changchun in May 2009:
Chinese girl told heart condition was untreatable...
Xaio Xhue’s story is one of true destiny. She is 11 years old and lives in a small village near Yushu, China. Her father and mother are farmers, with an annual income of 8,000 RMB per year ($1,500). Soon after Xaio Xhue was born, her lips turned blue and she was often sick. The family took her to a doctor to learn she had a heart condition. They sought help at several hospitals, but were told her condition was not treatable and that she had roughly four years until they would see a decline in her health.
The prognosis was correct and Xaio Xhue’s health declined, so much that she could no longer walk to school. Her father would carry her, each day, 3 ½ miles on foot to the village school. Then he would return to pick her up. Even though she wanted to play with other children, her health made it difficult. Her parents remembered the Children’s HeartLink volunteer team from New York-Presbyterian Hospital being at Jilin Heart Hospital in 2008. When they heard on a news broadcast the team was coming back in April 2009, they began their journey to Changchun. They walked for 1 ½ hours to the bus station in the nearest city, Yushu. From there, it was a four-hour bus ride to Changchun. They arrived five days before the team. They waited, hoping Children’s HeartLink would be able to help their precious daughter. The team from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital volunteered at Jilin Heart Hospital April 23 – May 2, 2009. On April 26, the team was doing echocardiographs and reviewing cases to determine the patient list for the week. Xaio Xhue was not even on the list, but her echo was hanging on the wall.
Pat Flynn, M.D., cardiologist, from NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital noticed the echo because it was a highly unusual case. He was intrigued and asked to see the patient. It became clear to the team that Xaio Xhue was the best case to do. This would be her only hope. The successful operation, the first of its kind ever done in the entire Jilin Province, was performed April 29. Days after Xaio Xhue’s operation, she was sitting up in her bed, having her hair braided and eating strawberries. Her lips were rosy pink and her smile, though timid, was a testament of her will. As Jonathan Chen, M.D., New York-Presbyterian surgeon, said, “Each year there’s one case that the patient has hit the lottery...this year, it was Xaio Xhue.”
Because Children’s HeartLink helps to improve the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart disease through teaching and educating medical professionals around the world, Xaio Xhue is one of the many children who now has hope for a better future.
Shanghai
The partnership with Shanghai Children's Medical Center (SCMC), a center of excellence for pediatric cardiac service care in China, is a collaboration to assist other Children's HeartLink partner sites in China. In December 2007, staff from the First Hospital of Lanzhou University completed a one year long cardiac fellowship at SCMC, including training in surgery, cardiology, perfusion and ICU care. In addition Children's HeartLink has sent pediatric cardiac teams from North American centers of excellence to SCMC to help advance their program with cutting edge techniques and training for key medical staff from SCMC to visit centers of excellence in North America.
Lanzhou
Children's HeartLink celebrates 10 years of partnership with the First Hospital of Lanzhou University in Lanzhou, China. In Lanzhou, the primary goals of Children's HeartLink is to advance the knowledge and skill level of the hospital's cardiac team and assist the hospital in becoming a regional center of excellence. The city of Lanzhou in Gansu Province has been designated as one of the gateways to Northwest China and the cardiac program at the First Hospital of Lanzhou University with its new facility is striving to meet expectations to become a regional cardiac center.
In September 2008, a team of 11 medical volunteers from Massachusetts General Hospital, the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the University of Minnesota traveled to Lanzhou. The team, led by Dr. Jeff Myers, M.D., provided diagnostic screening for 19 children, resulting in surgeries for 11 children. The team also provided advanced training through lectures, patient treatment and clinical collaboration with Lanzhou medical staff.
In the past fiscal year, Children’s HeartLink has contributed $30,000 to the Children’s HeartLink – Lanzhou Foundation, funding treatment for 35 patients.
Chengdu
Children’s HeartLink has partnered with the West China Hospitals 1 & 2 of Sichuan University (WCH) in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, for more than three years. In September 2007, a team of 10 medical volunteers from the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada, led by Dr.Glen Van Arsdell, M.D., participated in a medical mission to work with the pediatric cardiac team at the WCH 1 of Sichuan University and advance the level of cardiac services. The team completed on-site screenings resulting in treatment for 17 patients, and offered seminars and one-on-one instruction in pediatric cardiac care to more than 350 local medical staff.
In May 2008, Children’s HeartLink also funded five cardiac team members from West China Hospital 1 & 2 to spend one month at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. The team included a surgeon, cardiologist, intensivist, anesthesiologist, and an ICU nurse.
The next mission to West China Hospitals 1 & 2 of Sichuan University is scheduled for February 2009.
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