Diary entry #3

By Jerry Daly
Director
Office of International Affairs


Our involvement with Alexandria University began three years ago when the mother of one of the Anesthesiologists at LLU visited our University. She worked in the School of Medicine at Alexandria University for Ibrahim Khadragi, MD the head of the cardio thoracic program there. She saw daily the needs of the children in Alexandria who require surgery to repair congenital defects. She came to Richard Hart, MD along with her son Ihab Dorotta—a medical graduate from Alexandria University and Abd-allah Shamel also from LLU to inquire about a heart team visiting Egypt to help. It took nearly a year to for the logistics to be in place and the first step was for the Egyptian team to visit LLU which they did in summer of 2006.


Eight members—surgeons, anesthesiologists, perfusionists, nurses and others observed at LLU to learn how we manage complex congenital heart defects in young children and babies. There was an immediate bonding between the two groups who worked together for nearly two months. The friendships that started that summer continue today.


It took almost another year for enough funds to be raised (largely from the Egyptian community in the United States) for LLU’s team to visit Alexandria University. On November 6th the team left LLU to initiate a 2 week visit to Alexandria where hopefully 20 to 25 young children and babies will have surgery and many more will screened and diagnosed. This trip is under the leadership of Leonard Bailey, MD and like most of these experiences others contribute along the way to its success. There are the administrators in each University who support these efforts in spite of financial pressures at home. These include Ruthita Fike, the CEO of LLUMC and Zareh Sarafin the Senior VP of the LLUMC Children’s Hospital; the President of LLU, Richard Hart, MD; the nurse managers at LLUMC who struggle with providing coverage while their employees are away; the other departments who have sent employees to help—particularly Surgery, Anesthesiology, Pediatrics, Pediatric Cardiology, Respiratory and Perfusion. This experience is not easy for our colleagues in Egypt either. Dr. Khadragi and his team have worked tirelessly to see that every detail is attended to. It is not easy to manage the individual needs of some 15 guests for so long a period of time. But our friends have done so with grace and smiles…


I’ve often thought what motivates people to participate in these experiences. It is often done with some personal sacrifice and inconvenience. What I have noticed is there is a common thread that transcends culture, language, and even religion—that is the willingness and need to help others.

I saw it Sunday when the Cardiologists were screening children for possible surgery.
You only had to get a glance at the anguish on the face of the grandmother holding her 2 month old grandson struggling to breathe. Something obviously was terribly wrong. He looked ashen blue and every breath seemed his last. He was in failure and there was fear he would not survive for long.





Whether this baby receives surgery or not is not the point—there are so many in need it is overwhelming. The point is that everyone—Egyptian and American—have come together to try to build something that did not completely exist previously. Their motivation is simple. They are all trying to relieve human suffering and for taking the time and spending a little effort each one will be blessed beyond measure and for that they are to be commended.