Hearts That Beat Together Towards the Same Cause

The story began in 1999 when, mindful of the need for infant cardiovascular surgery he had in the Dominican Republic, Jose Norberto, a Dominican resident surgeon in the United States, it was reported here with his friend Pedro Urena to talk about the work of Heart Care International, a nonprofit organization whose members traveled to Guatemala for a day of heart surgeries. 

 

The goal of that contact? That small could benefit Dominicans in the national territory, knowledge and good intentions of doctors in Heart Care International. 

To achieve this he had to fill certain requirements. The country met without doubt the first: a long list of poor children waiting for heart operations, in addition to a medical personnel who could provide support to interventions and receive training. Find a missing group of volunteers to coordinate all the logistics work. 

 

Recruiting was not difficult, according Nelva Pelaez, the current secretary of Heart Care Dominicana, and that is why in January 2000 was the first time medical professionals with Heart Care International, who operated on 42 children Creoles. 

"Here there is what most people wanting to help," he says. "There are few resources, but the Dominican Republic is very supportive." 

 

He cites the case of a young man who, in the absence of anything else to give, offered to bring refreshments for doctors and nurses who participate in one of the many days since that first time. 

 

Thanks to people like him, the medical staff domestic and foreign, and generous souls who sympathize with the cause, Dominican Heart Care has benefited 791 children with congenital or acquired heart disease. To that end, the families of pacientitos should not pay a penny. 

Collaboration 

 

Among the friendly hands that have spread to sustain the work of the institution, Pelaez referred to the Foundation Juan Luis Guerra, the Lottery Leidse Electronics, Tricom, which has opened a hotline, the agency Porter Novelli, which handles the image of the organization, the Ramos Group, which sponsors the pediatric unit of Cedimat, where interventions are made, the first baseman of the Boston Red Sox, David Ortiz, who donated 200 thousand dollars at the end of last year, and the Cigar Store Style, which contributed 10 percent of its sales in March. There are also people who generously decided to sponsor a child. 

 

The foundation estimates that its social contribution in 2005 and 2006, close to the program Cedimat, totaled 30 million and 37.5 million respectively, and that this year will exceed 40 million. 

 

To make this contribution, not only receives donations. Matilde Farach, a member of the fundraising committee, explained that Heart Care Dominican performs various activities to raise resources. He cites, for example, sales of popular objects used, lectures, concerts and exhibitions. Among the future projects are several concerts with Jose Antonio Molina and an exhibition of painters Dominicans in New York. 

"There's a lot to do but something we must start," admits Farach. 

 

Another side of the mission of the foundation was intensified from 2002 and is the training of health personnel assisted by the medical conference, held six times a year. 

Through this project, the team of the foundation began to perform the surgeries without assistance in 2005 and nurses are integrated into a continuous training program. Since last October, with the opening of the pediatric cardiovascular unit in Cedimat, operations are conducted weekly. 

 

"We want a center of excellence," said Pelaez on the aspirations of the institution that enjoys the service of 16 nurses, two cardiovascular surgeons (Freddy Almanzar and Tony Wood), two instrumentalists, one infusion, two anesthesiologists and three pediatric cardiologists. 

 

Heart Care Dominicana, along the lines of the World Heart Association, has an association of foundations, composed of five institutions: International Hospital for Children, Variety Children Lifeline, Gift of Life, Heart Care International and Caribbean Heart Menders. 

This month will the third meeting of this partnership and will outline the patterns of work until June 2008. The foundation is also proposing formally inaugurate the Unit of Pediatric Cardiology Cedimat. 

 

Heart Care Dominican had a key role in the contest in which daily Listín Diario awarded to young Rafael Melo and Rafael de los Santos with a trip to the international event in Cannes Young Creatives advertisers. 

 

The participants had to do a campaign to motivate the public to call 1-809-976-2273, the line Tricom, to automatically donate hundred pesos to the foundation.

Compose the board of Heart Care Dominican Pedro Urena, president; Freddy Wood, vice president; Maritza Carvajal, treasurer; Nelva Pelaez, secretary; Messina Susana de Caro, Matilde Farach, Leo Corporate and Luis Heredia Valenzuela, vocal. 

 

The need for cardiovascular interventions are extended to all people, no matter the age or place of origin. Therefore, Dominican Heart Care was unable to avoid widening its original scope and address not only children but also adults. 

Pelaez said that Dr. Pedro Urena, president of the foundation, conducted six days of annual placement of pacemakers, backed by the company Medtronic, which has donated 48 of these aircraft, whose prices range between four and seven thousand dollars each. The patients referred from reaching hospitals Padre Billini, Salvador B. Gautier and the Institute of Cardiology, among others. 

 

The care program for adults born in 2005. Thanks to him, patients have benefited from catheters, coronary angioplasty, femur and kidney, cardiac surgeries and donation and placement of intracardiac defibrillators, which cost between 25 and 30 thousand dollars. 

 

Those data, however, did not say as much as joy in the face of an innocent person who has regained his health or as the gratitude of his family. That is the greatest reward for each of the men and women committed to the mission of Heart Care Dominicana. None of them works by paying economic receives as the only reward the satisfaction of duty fulfilled.