Chris-Ann Burey lies comfortably as visiting and local medical staff and sponsors discuss her progress. From left is Professor Howard Spencer, Errol Miller, Dr. Richard Perryman, Brenda Forrest and Ouida Ridguard.
Contributed photoAvia Ustanny, Freelance Writer
TWENTY-EIGHT-year-old Hermine Lewin is by the side of her daughter. She has remained there for the last two years. Her daughter, two-year-old Chris-Ann Burey, is now lying attached to an IV in a bed at the University Hospital of the West Indies. But, she should soon be able to run around like others her age.
Chris-Ann is now recovering from surgery.
Her mother said it was at 11 weeks old that the child's problem became apparent.
"Her weight was down and doctors at Nuttall Hospital said she had a heart murmur. At two she was only able to crawl around. I feel better now that the surgery is done, but I am watching to see how she recovers," Hermine said.
Paying the medical bill for heart surgery was beyond her means, as far as it is beyond the affordability of most Jamaicans affected by this disease. The cost of operating on each child is in the region of $200,000.
Her knights -- not in shining armour -- but in surgical gloves -- have been the Jamaica Foundation for Cardiac Disease, which pulls together funding from sponsors such as Courts Jamaica Limited and surgical teams from the United States and the United Kingdom.
The team who operated on Chris-Ann was led by Brenda Forrest of the Caribbean Heart Menders Association which, for the last five years, has been working to get rid of a backlog of children in need of heart surgery.
The children benefiting in this last visit ranged from three months to eight years old, notes Professor Howard Spencer, founder of the Caribbean Heart Menders Association. The cardiothoracic surgeon stated that the children were some of the more serious cases.
The 13-member visiting team include three doctors, including a paediatric cardiothoracic surgeon, an intensivist and an anaesthetis. The team also included a percussionist, two operating theatre nurses and five intensive care unit nurses.
Dr. Howard Spencer notes: "Our resource limitation of personnel and material make it necessary for us to use groups like these to address the large backlog of patients. Right now there are 40 paediatrics (most urgent) being processed and awaiting surgery. And, there are many many more awaiting diagnosis."
The Foundation is now in the second phase of a survey to identify the population of those in need. Recently, to assist with this project an, an echocardiogram was bought with monies supplied by the Gasolene Retailers of Jamaica.
Jamaican nurse, Brenda Forrest said the Caribbean Heart Menders was founded in 1994 to reach children in the Caribbean, who were born with congenital heart disease and who have no means of obtaining surgery. Work has been limited to Jamaica and Trinidad so far, but "in 2002 we will be going to other areas of the Caribbean", said Ms Forrest.
"I was born here, trained here and I have a daughter with congenital heart disease," she continued.
The daughter, Mikaela, after a corrective heart surgery, is now a normal 21-year-old.
Richard Perryman, professor of clinical surgery and director of paediatric heart surgery at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, who is in charge of the visiting team said: "It's kind of a beginning. There is a huge waiting list and we try to whittle away each. It is really good to see them (the children) do so well. Children who were not doing much before, are now running around."
