Announcements
Nominations and Elections
Update
By Michael Gough
The
2001 election saw a disappointing lack of candidates for the positions
of Vice President, Secretary and Board Member at Large. The only candidates on the ballot were the incumbent officers
- who were successfully re-elected by the membership during the business
meeting on Saturday afternoon. Congratulations
to the following people and the society certainly appreciates your
continued support of the functioning of the society.
| Michael Harloff |
Vice President |
| Suzanne Schaller |
Secretary |
| Terry Barnes |
Board Member at Large |
There
is a promise from the Nominations and Elections Committee to solicit the
involvement of more potential candidates at an earlier time of the year.
It is the committee’s and the Board of Director’s belief that
continued involvement by all the society’s members is essential for
the WPS to function at its highest level – that also includes a
certain “turn-over” of ideas, goals and people of the governing
board. Take action and
become involved at the highest level possible!
Medical
Mission to India Helps Children with Heart Disease
University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital
volunteers and Children’s HeartLink provide surgery for needy children
Minneapolis,
MN—(February 5, 2001)—A Children’s HeartLink volunteer medical
team, comprised of volunteers from the University of Wisconsin
Children’s Hospital, will travel to India to help needy children with
heart disease, February 16–March 3, 2001. The mission is part of
Children’s HeartLink’s international programs to help children with
heart disease and assist cardiac programs around the world.
The team, led by Dan Cohen, MD, pediatric cardiac surgeon at UW
Children’s Hospital in Madison, is a cardiovascular team made up of
six other volunteers from UW Children’s Hospital and one nurse from
the University of New England Hospital in Portland, Maine. The team will
visit Madras Medical Mission in Chennai (formerly Madras), India to
assist with heart surgeries on needy children and provide education and
training for the Indian medical teams.
This is the first HeartLink team mission to the Madras hospital
and will also involve evaluation of the site for a future HeartLink
partnership. The mission is being funded in part by the Medtronic
Foundation.
Madras Medical Mission is a prominent hospital and training
center in India that provides charity care to many children with heart
disease. Recently, The Malayala Manorama, a major newspaper in India
whose commitment to social cause is legendary, has decided to help
eliminate cardiovascular disease in the State of Kerala in India (a
state near Madras) as its contribution to society during this
millennium. Madras Medical
Mission has partnered with them in this effort.
This collaboration has resulted in the screening of over 7,000
children with heart problems. Nearly
4,000 of the children who require surgery are unable to afford such
treatment. Madras Medical
Mission, with funding from the newspaper and other sources, has
therefore undertaken the enormous endeavor of providing surgery for as
many of these children as possible. The hospital has requested the
assistance of outside medical teams to accomplish this. For two weeks,
the Children’s HeartLink team will supplement the efforts of the
Madras surgical team, and hopes to perform up to 30 surgeries. The
HeartLink team will also provide additional training for the Madras
team, particularly in the area of intensive care nursing and perfusion.
“Our
pediatric heart team is honored to be invited by Children’s HeartLink
and the Madras Medical Mission to provide our services to the children
of India,” says Cohen. “It is hard to imagine the numbers of
children who face a life of misery because of lack of available
specialty heart care. We have a very capable team in Madison that is
thrilled to lend support to this effort.”
Minneapolis,
MN—(March 13, 2001)—Fifteen children received life-saving heart
surgery during a Children’s HeartLink volunteer medical mission to
India, February 16 – March 3, 2001. The team, comprised of volunteers
from the University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital, traveled to
India as part of HeartLink’s international programs helping children
with heart disease and assisting cardiac programs around the world.
The team visited Madras Medical Mission in southern India where
they helped to perform heart surgeries on needy children and provided
training to the Madras cardiac team, particularly in the areas of
intensive care, anesthesia and perfusion.
“Madras Medical
Mission is a very advanced hospital with an excellent cardiac
program,” says team leader, Dan Cohen, M.D., pediatric cardiac surgeon
at UW Children’s Hospital in Madison. “Their biggest problem is
numbers: in a country like India there are simply so many children
waiting for heart surgery and not enough people and resources to handle
all of the cases. We were honored to help some of these children and
also provide training for their staff.”
University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital
volunteers:
Dan
Cohen, MD – pediatric cardiac surgeon
Tom
Brazelton, MD – pediatric intensivist
Greg
Hollman, MD – pediatric intensivist
Mary
McSweeney, MD – anesthesiologist
Sara
Rickerson, RN – operating room nurse
Thomas
Steffens, CCP – perfusionist
Komal
Kamra, MD – senior anesthesia resident (native of India)
Photos,
video footage and interviews will be available following the trip.
Please contact Katie Mortenson at (952) 928-4860 ext. 16 or katie@childrensheartlink.org.
For
More Information Contact:
Katie
Mortenson OR:
Michael Felber
Children’s
HeartLink
University of Wisconsin Children’s Hospital
(612)
928-4860 ext. 16
(608) 265-7427
katie@childrensheartlink.org
mj.felber@hosp.wisc.edu
July
15
is the deadline for the next issue of the Reaction Times.
Contributions may be submitted to Eric Rauch, CCP at e-mail
edrauch@gundluth.org or mailed to W5789 Highpoint Dr. LaCrosse, WI 54601
