It is our last day at Hospital del Niño and Clinica Obrajes for this visit. We have one more surgery today and three more cases in the cath lab! The children that are still recovering are doing great!
These visits would not be possible without the generous donations we receive, so a big thank you to all of you who helped make this happen!
A special thank you also goes to our global network of partners—Gift of Life Florida, Gift of Life Rotary District 7505, Gift of Life Metro New York, Gift of Life New Jersey, Gift of Life Long Island, Gift of Life Rotary District 7490, Gift of Life Central New York, Corazones Chiquitos, Hospital del Niño, and Herz Bewegt in Austria—for supplying the crucial equipment for this life-saving facility.
A Morning of Learning & Healing:
This morning we started off the day with a lecture from Dr. Rothman about pulmonary hypertension. Dr. Rothman’s speech was available to staff in the hospital as well as on Zoom!
Dr. Abe Rothman during his lecture today.
After the lecture, we headed up to the ICU to check on the kids!
Santiago has been discharged and was able to leave the hospital! Adhemar is still staying in one of the rooms that Hospital del Niño has set up in their cardiac unit for patients and their families to lodge while they wait for screenings, procedures, or transportation back home.
These little rooms are here because this hospital is not an easy commute for many people that live in Bolivia. When you walk in the doors of the cardiac unit, you will see on the right there is a nursing station. If you keep walking, on the left there is a screening room and a break room, and on the right there are little rooms (the rooms mentioned above) with two beds in each. At the end of the hall is the entrance to the new ICU!
As for Dante and Leydi, our two cases from Wednesday, they are doing great! Dante got up and walked around with one of our team members, Sarah Linton, and his mother this morning. Dante is now in one of the in-between rooms waiting to be fully discharged so he can go home!
Our team of nurses and translators trying to bribe Dante with toys so that he would go on a walk with them!
And it worked! Nurse Sarah Linton walking with Dante and his mother around the unit!
Leydi is also doing very well. She will leave within the next two days!
Leydi and her mother resting today.
Jhon, who came out of surgery yesterday, has also been doing well, resting and feeding a lot!
Jhon and his mother resting today.
Wendy’s Path to Healing & Growth in the New ICU:
Our last little heart to be healed in the OR this week came out of surgery today around 2 PM today! Wendy is ten years old and had an atrial septal defect (ASD).
The day crew listening to Wendy’s report when she came to the ICU from the OR!
Here are the three children who got procedures done in the cath lab today! All of the procedures went well and the children will be heading home within the next day!
Alexia this morning before her procedure.
Angel this morning before his procedure.
Adrian this morning before his procedure.
These visits would not be successful without our wonderful nurses from both the local and visiting teams. One nurse has been here in La Paz for it all. Soledad!
Soledad has worked at Hospital del Niño for seventeen years! She is an absolute sweetheart and a phenomenal nurse. We wanted to get Soledad’s thoughts on the ICU, since she has been working with Gift of Life International since their first trip to La Paz and Hospital del Niño!
“It’s a big growth for us, not only for the nurses but for the whole team!” Soledad explained. “I love the new ICU. It’s a little bit different because six of the nurses previously in the old ICU moved up here and received training for the pumps, monitors, and the beds so it’s pretty different. We also feel like we can work better as a team!”
Picture of Soledad working in the new ICU.
“My big hope is to see this program continue to grow because the congenital heart disease rate is high in Bolivia. So, I hope this becomes more known and we can receive and work for more patients and give more care,” said Soledad.
Soledad is a team player that we are so appreciative of. Gift of Life International’s goal in every country we go to is to heal and raise awareness for as many little hearts with congenital heart disease as we can. We love when we get to work with people who have the same goals as us, and care for the children as much as we do! It is special when you can find a team that wants to put in the hard work that it takes to keep a program like this going.
Another picture of Soledad hard at work in the new ICU.
This program in La Paz is important because the estimated number of children born with a congenital heart disease in Bolivia a year is approximately five thousand kids.
Hospital del Niño is the only public hospital in Bolivia that does open heart surgery for children. It’s also the only hospital that will provide screenings, surgeries, and care that is paid for by the government.
At Hospital del Niño, care is covered by the government until the patient is 14 years and 10 months old. Otherwise, a family would have to find a private hospital and pay 20,000 Bolivianos for one surgery. For reference, the average income for a family in Bolivia with full-time jobs makes 2,500 Bolivianos a month. Most providers for families work part-time, not full-time, or have other means of income that do not guarantee a salary.
Entrance to the new ICU!
We’ve had a wonderful time here in Bolivia this week. Overall we successfully completed nineteen cath lab procedures at Clinica Obrajes and six surgeries at Hospital del Niño.
Needless to say, having a dedicated pediatric cardiovascular ICU in Hospital del Niño will make a tremendous impact on the amount of hearts being healed in not only La Paz, but all of Bolivia. This is just the beginning and we are thrilled to see what greatness this program brings!
Brenda Small is the Operations Consultant at Gift of Life International. She assumed this role in 2012.
Brenda was inspired to help children in need with heart disease after her third child was born with a complex heart defect and underwent successful open-heart surgery in her first year of life. Brenda learned of Gift of Life International in 2006 at which time she established Gift of Life Los Angeles where she holds the position of President. Between 2008 and 2012, Brenda volunteered her time to help with Gift of Life International in addition to running Gift of Life Los Angeles.
From 2012 to 2022, Brenda held the position of Director of Operations for Gift of Life International. Today, she continues this lifesaving work as Operations Consultant. Brenda also implemented the Nutritional Program in El Salvador in 2008 which has now provided nutritional support to more than 250 children and their families. Brenda has traveled with many of the Gift of Life training teams and witnessed these precious lives being saved.
