By Leila Hawken | Global Giving Coordinator
Progress continues following the December, 2022, mission led by Dr. Dominique Metras of France. Since the early years of the Surgeons of Hope program, Dr. Metras has led missons to bring life-altering surgery and training to various countries in Central and South America in partnership with Surgeons of Hope.
In Paraguay, nine children received corrective heart operations for congenital heart defects. The surgeries were performed at the Hospital Pediatrico ‘Ninos de Acosta Nu” in San Lorenzo.
The surgical training team included two surgeons, a cardiologist, an anesthesiologist, a perfusionist and three ICU nurses. Two Surgeons of Hope representatives attended to observe and meet with officials.
Little Mia (7) came to the hospital with a congenital heart defect, what we call a murmur, diagnosed in December. She was growing weaker each month. Her mother traveled the 200 kilometers with Mia from home to the hospital for several diagnostic visits, care that was not available in their hometown of Pilar. On July 4, she received her operation at Acosta Nu, and is now at home, recovering well.
Also suffering from a murmur detected at birth, little Lucia (8) has received her surgery in late July at the same hospital Her surgery went well, and she is also recovering, soon to go home to her four brothers.
During the Surgeons of Hope mission, the local team at the hospital in Paraguay participated in collaborative professional training in the complex surgery as well as techniques for administering anesthesia, promoting the goal of faster recovery after surgery.
Coming up soon is a mission to Costa Rica with a smaller team to collaborate with the National University of Costa Rica. We are helping to develop a 3-D modeling program for children preparing for heart surgery. Using the 3-D approach, doctors will be able to see each patient’s interior anatomy and be better able to plan the surgical strategy to reduce risk and result in vastly improved outcomes.
Surgeons of Hope remains committed to advancing global health, bringing the latest technology and training to countries, building connections to create a network of Latin American hospitals supporting this progress.
Our GlobalGiving donors are essential partners in these advances. Your donations have been a consistent part of our program whether they are supporting the purchase of a small quantity of supplies or going toward the purchase of equipment, they all create good outcomes for the children. For your support, we remain grateful.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
