Curing kids with heart disease in southwest China

Dear donor,

Thank you for your continued support of the mission of the China California Heart Watch to help children suffering from congenital heart disease in rural Yunnan Province, China. Below are some updates from our organization and a summary of our recent activities. As we approach the holiday season and consider giving gifts to others, we hope you will consider another donation to the China California Heart Watch. In addition, please share this mailing--as well as our project homepage on GlobalGiving--with your colleagues, friends and family.

Planning for the future, charting a course. The China California Heart Watch will hold its next Board of Directors meeting in Irvine, California on January 23, 2015. Directors will travel from China, Cincinnati, Boston, and Philadelphia to attend the meeting. The purpose of the meeting will be to plan the future of the China California Heart Watch after the scheduled August 2016 resignation of its Founder, Executive Director and Board Member, Robert Detrano MD PhD. In addition to these roles, Dr. Detrano is also Director of the Yunnan Pediatric Cardiac Training Program, which is sponsored by the China California Heart Watch and the Kunming Medical University (KMU). Dr. Detrano has served generously since founding the China California Heart Watch in 2005 and will retire from these positions in August 2016. The board will meet to discuss plans to engineer the China California Heart Watch as a long-lasting and sustainable international charity organization after Dr. Detrano steps down.

The China California Heart Watch received an equipment grant worth $200,000 from Masimo Corporation of Irvine, California. The Masimo Corporation of Irvine, California—manufacturers of signal extraction technology pulse oximeters—generously donated 125 Rad 5 oximeters to the China California Heart Watch to be distributed in all 125 county hospitals throughout Yunnan Province. With the agreement of the Masimo Corporation, the China California Heart Watch transferred ownership of the oximeters to the Yunnan Department of Health and KMU under the agreement that the devices would be used in conjunction with the Yunnan Pediatric Cardiac Training Program. The oximeters recently cleared customs in Kunming as a tax-exempt gift. The oximeters will be used for examining newborns for critical congenital heart disease. The ongoing training program plans to train all county doctors responsible for the care of newborns how to do proper cardiac examinations, which includes stethoscopic and pulse oximetric exams. The program will last two years, until August 2016.

Welcoming Min Ye, full-time Coordinator and Administrator. The China California Heart Watch has hired Ms. Min Ye as full-time Coordinator and Administrator of its Yunnan Pediatric Cardiac Training Program. Ms. Ye graduated from Yunnan University in 1997 with a degree in accounting and has worked for the China California Heart Watch for four years in a part-time role as its China-based accountant. Ms. Ye has also assisted China California Heart Watch Administrative Director, Ms. Shan Shan Chen with administrative duties as a volunteer. We warmly welcome Ms. Ye to this new position.

The China California Heart Watch granted scholarship to Kunming surgeon. Two years ago, the China California Heart Watch began efforts to improve the acumen of Yunnan cardiac surgeons in performing cardiac surgery on children. The first step was to facilitate a training relationship between the Children’s HeartLink (CHL) of Minneapolis, Minnesota and the KMU First Affiliate Hospital Cardiac Surgery Program. This effort resulted in a training contract between CHL and KMU in the beginning of 2013. So far, surgeons from KMU and cardiologists and surgeons from the University of Minnesota have met three times for practical training sessions. This year, in order to accelerate the training process, the China California Heart Watch, in collaboration with Dr. Timmie Au of the Hong Kong Queen Mary Hospital, has granted a scholarship to Dr. Bin Li, a KMU cardiac surgeon. Under this scholarship, Dr. Li will spend three months studying neonatal cardiac surgical techniques under Dr. Au’s mentorship at the Hong Kong Queen Mary Hospital Department of Cardiac Surgery. This special training will accelerate the improvement of techniques necessary to safely perform neonatal surgery at the KMU First Affiliate Hospital. These techniques will be used to treat children with critical congenital heart disease discovered by the Yunnan Pediatric Cardiac Training Program.

The China California Heart Watch Was Represented at the Kunming Cardiovascular Disease Forum. China California Heart Watch Executive Director Robert Detrano spoke to an audience of over 300 cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and allied health professionals regarding the Yunnan Pediatric Cardiac Training Program at the annual Kunming Cardiovascular Disease Forum in Kunming, Yunnan on November 8, 2014. Professor Tao Guo, director of Kunming Medical University Cardiology Department, also gave several lectures, which covered the work of the training program at the annual forum. In the evening, Professors Guo and Detrano conducted a press conference announcing the program to the Yunnan public. The generous gift of pulse oximeters for all county hospitals in Yunnan Province was also explained to TV and newspaper audiences. 

The China California Heart Watch Was Represented at Children’s HeartLink Partner Forum in Chengdu, China. On November 21, 2014, Executive Director Robert Detrano spoke, representing The China California Heart Watch and the Kunming Medical University, at the Children’s HeartLink Partners Forum in Chengdu, China about the Yunnan Pediatric Cardiac Training Program. The forum included representatives from Beijing Tsing Hua University, Beijing Fu Wai Cardiovascular Research Center, Tainjin TEDA Medical Center, Lanzhou Regional Hospital, West China Hospital, the KMU First Affiliate Hospital, the Gansu Province Little Red Scarves organization, and the Children’s HeartLink. Professor Tao Guo, Director of Cardiology at Kunming Medical University First Affiliate Hospital also spoke about the Yunnan Pediatric Cardiac Training Program.

Thank you for your continued support. We hope that you will continue to be an advocate for the children that we serve by following our progress and spreading the word to your co-workers, friends, and family.