Save a Child's Heart

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Save a Child's Heart, which is based at the Wolfson Medical Center near Tel Aviv, is one of the largest humanitarian organizations of its kind in the world. Since its inception in 1996, SACH has treated over 1,900 children from 31 different developing countries. SACH's mission is to provide urgent life-saving heart surgery for indigent children from developing countries, where adequate medical care is not available. We accomplish this mission by operating on children both in Israel and abroad. SACH's doctors and medical personnel completely volunteer their time and services for this lifesaving project.

Currently, the SACH facilities in Israel are hosting the following children: 11 Iraqis, 6 Palestinians, 5 Ethiopians, 6 Zanzibarians, 1 Senegalese, 1 Ugandan, and 2 Haitians. Uganda and Haiti represent the 30th and 31st countries that we have partnered with.

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[edit] History

Save a Child's Heart is the brain-child of Dr. Ami Cohen, "an excellent surgeon, an inspiring leader, and a warm and caring person",[1] Cohen acted as the driving force which created the charity and developed it into an important contributor to children's health worldwide. In August 2001 Ami suddenly died. His colleagues continued with the charity.

Cohen made aliyah, immigrating to Israel from the United States in 1992. When he arrived, he joined the staff of the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, near Tel Aviv, serving as the Deputy Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery, and Head of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery.

The idea of Save a Child's Heart was developed by Cohen whilst he was serving as a doctor for the U.S. Armed Forces in Korea. He was approached by the head of the international organization, Save the Hearts. The organization was sending orphaned and indigent Korean children to western countries for medical care not available locally. Cohen was so impressed with the concept that he requested and received permission from his superiors to participate in the program. During the remainder of his time in Korea, Cohen performed 35 pediatric cardiac operations.

The charity was created in 1995 when Cohen was contacted by an Ethiopian doctor referred to him by a mutual friend at the University of Massachusetts. He asked for Cohen's help with two children in need of heart surgery. The charity grew to 70 members, who have now operated on hundreds of children.

Save a Child's Heart has a success rate of 96%.[citation needed] The charity feels that their greatest achievement is "that all the children, regardless of race, creed, color, sex, or religion are treated free of charge with the finest medical care at the cutting edge of technology".[citation needed]

[edit] Save a Child's Heart Today

In addition to performing operations, Save a Child's Heart has a full outreach program to train medical personnel in its partner countries with the ultimate goal of creating centers of competence in these countries, enabling local medical personnel to provide needed treatment in their own environment. The program brings doctors and nurses to the Save a Child's Heart center for in-depth Post Graduate training in all facets of pediatric cardiology. In addition, the organization's staff travels overseas to educate and to perform surgery in cooperation with local personnel. However, until its goal is achieved, children with congenital heart problems are brought to Israel for surgery and other cardiac care.

Save a Child's Heart provides all its services in cooperation with the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, a southern suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel's largest city.

In March 2006, KLM Air Cares selected the charity as their featured charity and included a video of their work onboard their flights. Video

In April, 2007, Israeli musician Idan Raichel travelled with Save a Child's Heart to Rwanda and Ethiopia.

[edit] Facts

As of April, 2007, Save a Child's Heart has a 96% success rate and have operated on a total of over 1500 patients. They are now saving one child's heart every 28 hours.

Save a Child's Heart has operated on children from the following countries:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Save a child's heart - History
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[edit] External links