During a recent mission by Save a Child’s Heart in Ethiopia, over 30 children with congenital heart disease had the chance to receive critical screenings and live-saving procedures. Many of these children and their families had to wait a long time for access to the care they needed. Abbott, through its Little Heroes campaign, provided SACH with both funding and medical devices for this mission.
The international medical team was comprised of talented professionals from Ethiopia, Israel, and beyond and worked day and night to help as many children as possible in the span of 8 days. 22 catheterizations,9 open-heart surgeries and 107 screenings and diagnoses were performed during this mission.
"They can't run, they can't play and that breaks my heart.” said Dr. Yayu Mekonnen, Ethiopia’s first fully-trained pediatric heart surgeon who worked alongside doctors from Israel to treat children with heart defects.
Save a Child’s Heart is providing life-saving procedures regardless of race, religion, gender or nationality for children all over the world without access to care.
"We try so hard to make it happen for these kids because once they are treated, these kids can live a normal life." – Dr. Yayu Mekonnen
Many children were waiting for a screening or procedure, but always remained hopeful.
The doctors and support team worked day and night to help as many children as possible.
A big smile during the diagnostic testing.
