By Leila Hawken | Executive Assistant, Surgeons of Hope Foundation
Excitement is growing about this project, both in Managua where construction has started on the new Pediatric Heart Center adjacent to La Mascota Children's Hospital and at our partner children's teaching hospitals in the U.S. and Europe. So many things need to come together in 2012 and they are targeted to do just that.
In advance of the opening of the new Center, Surgeons of Hope is providing training and professional development to the existing La Mascota staff of doctors and nurses. Training of the people who will go on to teach others is an essential element. Making that training available to an even wider, expanding population remains the driving goal toward success in narrowing the gap between medical care that is routinely available in the developed world and such care that cannot even be hoped for in the emerging world. That's where Surgeons of Hope comes in.
So, what will 2012 hold?
Building: The new Pediatric Heart Center will take shape as a new building to hold the most modern medical equipment. Surgeons of Hope will be raising the funds ($2M) to acquire that "sophisticated" equipment and to have it installed in the new Center, offering two operating rooms, a catheterization lab, 20 beds, and more.
Training: During construction, Surgeons of Hope is sending smaller teaching teams from Children's Hospital Colorado (formerly known as Denver Children's Hospital) to provide practicum sessions to La Mascota staff and local medical students in Pediatric Life Support and in hospital hygiene/sterilization. That week-long mission is scheduled to happen in February.
Six selected La Mascota medical staff members are receiving continuing intensive training in university hospitals in Latin America where they are working side-by-side with surgical teams on location. They will return to La Mascota in time for the opening of the new Center. This aspect of their training will be complemented with observational rotations in three major US children's hospitals.
Telemedicine: Surgeons of Hope will develop three satellite clinics (starting with one and expanding to three) in Nicaragua in 2012. Those clinics will provide diagnosis, prevention, and follow-up for children with cardiac disease, a model for future regional sites throughout Central America and the Caribbean. These sites will be able to identify patients in need of surgery and send those patients to the new Center in Nicaragua. Telemedicine will allow for low-cost training using electronic communication. Surgeons of Hope will also develop a solid, workable program for enhanced routine training and conference capability.
Please understand that all of this humanitarian progress is accomplished by volunteer medical staff from U.S. and European children's teaching hospitals. Upwards of 85 cents of every dollar we raise goes toward our program.
Your role as a loyal donor and the role of GlobalGiving in helping us to reach you and share our news is huge for us, as we are a small organization. Your donation has been put to work in the past; now there is more work to do in 2012. Please remain with us on our team. We need you and the children of Latin America need you, too.
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