Save a Child's Heart

(Save a Child's Heart) is an Israeli humanitarian organization, working internationally, to save the lives of children suffering from heart disease, from countries where access to pediatric care is limited or nonexistent, regardless of race, religion, gender, nationality or financial status. Save a Child's Heart was founded in 1995 by the late doctor, Dr. Amram 'Ami' Cohen at the Edith Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel.

On average, Save a Child's Heart saves the life of a child suffering from heart disease every 24 hours.

Mission[]

As long as children with rheumatic and congenital heart disease around the world continue to suffer without access to care, Save a Child's Heart will treat children, train medical professionals and raise the level of pediatric heart care worldwide, from its heart in Israel, through:

• Providing quality, advanced state of the art medical treatment for congenital and acquired heart disease.
• Assisting in promoting professional knowledge and training of teams from target countries (to be defined from time to time).
• Strengthening the center for excellence in training, treatment and research at the Sylvan Adam’s Children’s Hospital.

Activities[]

Treating Children

Save a Child's Heart and the medical team at the Sylvan Adams Children's Hospital bring children from all over the world who suffer from life-threatening heart defects to receive free, life-saving care in Israel at the Sylvan Adams Children's Hospital. All aspects of a child's care, including flight, stay, food and medical costs, are covered by the organization.

As of August 2021, Save a Child's Heart has brought more than 5,900^[1] children to Israel from 62 countries including Ethiopia, Gambia, Vietnam, Jordan, Moldova, Tanzania, Russia,^[2][3] the Philippines,^[4] Nigeria,^[5][6][7][8] Ghana,^[5][9] Kenya,^[2][10] Angola^[11] Iraq,^[12][13] Haiti, St. Vincent, Trinidad, Ecuador, Mauritania, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Congo, Zimbabwe, Zanzibar, Rwanda, Somalia, Eritrea, Sri Lanka, China, Kazakhstan, Romania, Ukraine,^[2] and Syria,^[14] as well as from Gaza^{[15][16][17][18]} and the West Bank (the Palestinian Territories).^[2]

Approximately 50% of the children are from the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, Iraq and Morocco, more than 40% are from Africa, and the remainder are from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Americas. In December 2010 the first child from Indonesia was brought to Israel by Save a Child's Heart and underwent successful surgery in January 2011.^[2] The first child from Uzbekistan, representing the organization's 62nd country, was brought to Israel in 2019.^[19]

Training Medical Professionals

Save a Child's Heart trains medical personnel from partner sites around the world in all facets of pediatric cardiac care. To date, Save a Child's Heart has trained over 140 medical professionals from a host of countries including, China, Nigeria, Moldova, the Palestinian Authority, Gaza, Romania and Russia, as well as the first-ever Tanzanian and Ethiopian pediatric cardiac surgical teams. Medical team members who complete training return to their home countries better equipped to treat their own children and ready to take on roles as our international partners, referring children for care, providing follow-up and establishing or continuing to work on the development of their own pediatric cardiac facilities.

Medical, screening and training missions

Save a Child's Heart embarks on several surgical, catheterization and screening missions each year to help screen, follow up with and save more children throughout the world. These missions also provide ongoing educational support to medical professionals previously trained in Israel who have returned to work in their home countries. To date, Save a Child's Heart has embarked on over 100 medical missions around the world.

Partnering with Palestinians

Almost half of Save a Child's Heart patients come from neighboring Arab countries, mainly the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian children are referred to the Save a Child's Heart program by more than a dozen cardiologists from throughout Gaza and the West Bank, many of whom have previously trained with Save a Child's Heart.

Children and their families arrive at the free cardiology clinic that Save a Child's Heart has been holding at Wolfson every Tuesday since 1996. Each week, approximately 20-25 Palestinian children are screened. After evaluation, those who need surgery are prepared for it, receive it, and are followed up post-surgery.

Sylvan Adams Children's Hospital and the Save a Child's Heart International Pediatric Cardiac Center[]

Save a Child's Heart is currently in the final stages of completing the Sylvan Adams Children's Hospital and the Save a Child's Heart International Pediatric Cardiac Center at Wolfson Medical Center. This new, 11,000-square-meter medical facility will house all of the infrastructure and equipment needed to perform pediatric heart surgeries and catheterizations, including all pre- and post-operative care, ensuring that Save a Child's Heart will be able to continue with its medical mission and treat even more children. The construction process commenced in January 2017, and the building, now 7 floors, is expected to be fully operational in 2021. The Children's Hospital was initiated by Save a Child's Heart in cooperation with the Edith Wolfson Medical Center and Israel's Ministry of Health and supported by donors in Israel and throughout the world.

International Awards and Acknowledgments[]

In 2018, Save a Child's Heart became the first Israeli organization to receive the United Nation’s “Population Award” for outstanding achievements in population and health. Also in 2018, Save a Child's Heart's lead pediatric cardiac surgeon, Dr. Lior Sasson, was awarded the Israel Hero award from the UK's Jewish News.^[20]

Other significant milestones include receiving China's National Friendship Medal for our contribution to the development of the country's access to pediatric cardiac care in 2010, and gaining admission to the United Nations family as an accredited NGO in 2011. In the following year, the organization was awarded the 2012 Presidential Award for Volunteerism from Shimon Peres z"l.

Save a Child's Heart Foundation U.S. has been certified by Independent Charities of America as one of about 2,000 “Best in America” charities, verification that its “fund-raising materials and other information to the public is truthful and non-deceptive” and that it provides “documented provision of substantive services.” Save a Child's Heart Foundation U.S. has received the Independent Charities Seal of Excellence, awarded to the members of Independent Charities of America and Local Independent Charities of America that have, upon rigorous independent review, been able to certify, document, and demonstrate, on an annual basis, that they meet the highest standards of public accountability, program effectiveness, and cost effectiveness. These standards include those required by the U.S. Government for inclusion in the Combined Federal Campaign. Of the 1,000,000 charities operating in the United States today, it is estimated that fewer than 50,000, or 5 percent, meet or exceed these standards, and, of those, fewer than 2,000 have been awarded this Seal.^[21]

History[]

Dr. Amram (Ami) Cohen, was born and raised in Washington, D.C. and received his medical degree from the University of Virginia. In the 1980s, Dr. Cohen trained in the U.S. Army at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. While on a tour of duty in Korea in 1988, Ami was introduced to Harriet Hodges, a woman who was helping Korean children suffering from heart disease receive medical care. She implored Dr. Cohen to use his skills to treat them, and with permission from the army, he began performing surgery. The program they developed sowed the seeds for what would become Ami's life's work. After immigrating to Israel from the United States in 1992, Ami joined the staff of the Wolfson Medical Center.

Save a Child's Heart came into being in 1995 when an Ethiopian doctor contacted Dr. Ami Cohen after being referred to him by a mutual friend. He asked for Dr. Cohen’s help with two children in desperate need of heart surgery. Ami said yes and organized flights approval from the hospital and housed the children in his home during their recovery.

1996[]

• Dr. Ami Cohen, Akiva Tamir and Sion Houri received their very first patients, arriving in Israel from Ethiopia and Save a Child’s Heart was born.
• First Palestinian child on operated on by the Save a Child's Heart team in Israel

1998[]

• First surgical mission to China

1999[]

• Walter Fellman established Save a Child's Heart UK affiliate foundation

2000[]

• First surgical mission to Ethiopia
• The Annals of Thoracic Surgery published a seminal article by Dr. Ami Cohen, Dr. Sion Houri, and Dr. Akiva Tamir entitled “Save a Child's Heart: We Can and We Should” in 2001. It stressed the moral imperative and challenge of pediatric heart care in the developing world and offered the Save a Child's Heart model as a solution.^[22]

2001[]

• Dr. Ami Cohen’s suddenly and tragically dies on Mt. Kilimanjaro. The team at Wolfson Medical Center came together and commits itself to continue its mission in honor of Ami.
• Canadian office of Save a Child's Heart opened by the late Eph Diamond, a Canadian philanthropist

2004[]

• First child from Irq iis operated on by Save a Child's Heart
• Heart of the Matter program launched together with the European Union Partnership for Peace Program. This program was created to promote cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians by providing opportunities for engagement, focusing on the common goal of improving pediatric cardiac care for Palestinian children

2007[]

• Israeli musician Idan Raichel traveled with Save a Child's Heart to Rwanda and Ethiopia

2008[]

• 1000th Palestinian child is treated. Gaida, from Nablus, becomes the 1000th Palestinian child treated by Save a Child's Heart.^[23]

2009[]

• First child treated by Save a Child's Heart from Kosovo

2010[]

• Save a Child's Heart receives the Chinese Government’s Friendship Award, the highest award for foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress.

2011[]

• Save a Child's Heart receives official recognition from the UN ECOSOC special consultative status
• Save a Child's Heart opens the Legacy Heritage Children's Home in Holon at 16 Haviva Reik. It houses Save a Child's Heart’s administrative offices and living quarters for 60 children, mothers, guardians, nurses, volunteers, medical trainees as well as administrative offices.

2012[]

• Save a Child's Heart receives the Presidential award for voluntarism by the late Shimon Peres

2013[]

• Save a Child's Heart treats its first child from Syria

• Dr. Godwin Godfrey completes his training in Israel and returns to Tanzania after 5 years as the first pediatric cardiac surgeon in Tanzania. Godwin goes on to establish the first pediatric cardiac program in the country and continues to serve as a Save a Child's Heart partner and perform operations independently.

2014[]

• Save a Child's Heart completes training of a cardiac team from the Grigore Alexandrescu Hospital (GAH) in Bucharest, Romania, in partnership with Rotary in Romania

2015[]

• Cornerstone is laid for the New Children's Hospital and International Pediatric Cardiac Center, which is set to become the middle east largest pediatric cardiac center

2016[]

• First Joint Israeli-German catheterization mission to Tanzania with Save a Child's Heart and the German Heart Institute Berlin
• Save a Child's Heart treats its 4,000th child

2018[]

• Save a Child's Heart becomes the first Israeli organization in history to receive the UN Population Award

2019[]

• Save a Child's Heart treats its 5000th child, the daughter of a former patient treated more than 20 years ago.
• Uzbekistan becomes the 60th country whose children have been saved by Save a Child's Heart

2021[]

• The 4th and 5th floor of the Sylvan Adams Children's Hospital are populated

References[]

External links[]

• Save a Child's Heart - website
• Idan Raichel's report of a trip with Save a Child's Heart
• Israeli Doctors Treat Iraqi Patients