The Reason We Are Here
Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a global problem, and the majority of children suffering from it do not receive adequate care. For example, each year in Brazil, an estimated 28,000 children are born with CHD. However, only about 6,000 Brazilian children receive cardiac surgery per year. The disparity is even starker in India, where an estimated 215,000 children with CHD are born each year, yet only about 6,000 children receive a heart operation annually. For the rest of the affected children, the reality is that many won’t survive.
This gap between patient need and accessible treatment is a story told again and again in the countries where Children’s HeartLink works, and it is not an easy one to hear. But for over 40 years, Children’s HeartLink has been working alongside our partners and medical volunteers to support our partner health care programs in strengthening the knowledge, skills and abilities of their pediatric cardiac teams. By providing training and mentoring programs that each site needs, we help our partners become sustainable centers of excellence so that ultimately, our vision of
children the world over having ready access to quality cardiac care will be realized.
For Children’s HeartLink, doing this work requires a commitment to work together in a spirit of collaboration, shared responsibility, open communication and commitment of resources. As Ron Kalich, a supporter who accompanied us on a training visit to Brazil, said, “What I saw in the operating room was like a symphony — on the Brazilian side, you could see that people were really trying to absorb what they were seeing, what they were learning. It was excellent.”
Producing a symphony requires the talents and the collaboration of numerous musicians, and we are thankful for the remarkable contributions of our medical volunteers, who share their experiences and expertise gained at outstanding medical institutions from around the world, including Birmingham Children’s Hospital in the United Kingdom, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Children’s Hospital Boston, Mayo Clinic, New York Presbyterian Hospital, The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Stanford University’s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, University of Minnesota Amplatz Children’s Hospital, and Gleneagles, National University and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospitals in Singapore. By capitalizing on their kindness, generosity and skill, Children’s HeartLink is able to build capacity and promote sustainable, high-quality cardiac care for children, touching thousands of lives around the world.
Thank you for your continuous support.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Dearani, M.D.
Medical Director, Children’s HeartLink
Chair, Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Mayo Clinic
For Dr. Dearani's and others' thoughts on the requirements for building a successful pediatric cardiac program, see the paper "Improving Pediatric Cardiac Surgical Care in Developing Countries: Matching Resources to Needs."
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