Jordan Heart Screening

(First meeting - me with a patient who will eventually recieve surgery and her mother)

Monday – Wednesday, June 1-3

On Monday we traveled to Amman Jordan where we met 30 Iraqi Muslim children and their parents who had come for their children to receive an echocardiogram. The “echo” determined whether or not each child’s heart defect was repairable with surgery. The first evening we met them was an orientation time during which we explained the process of the heart screening and possible heart surgeries. We also shared several Bible stories with them and then Esther (a volunteer from Jordan) and I led some worship songs in Kurdish and Arabic. At the end of the evening, we all shared a meal and spent some time laughing, talking and playing with the children and their parents. As we got to know the families, the depth of their need was made so evident. It’s hard to get more tangible than holding a blue baby or more real than having a parent tell you that you are their child’s last hope.

(Me, two other volunteers, and a woman who came to have her unborn baby's heart checked - everything went well and the baby is healthy! PRAISE!)

With these needs on the forefront of our hearts and minds, we started the heart screening the next day at 6:30am. It turned out to be an incredible experience that didn’t end until past 1am! My primary job during the heart screening was to get each child’s weight, height, oxygen saturation, and blood pressure before they went in to see the doctor in the next room for their echocardiogram. Although it seemed like an easy enough task, with small children it proved to be rather difficult at times.

(Vareen listening for my blood pressure! Vareen and her mother are now with us in Jerusalem for Vareen's up coming heart surgery. Vareen's info. page: http://www.shevet.org/vareen/)

(Checking Vareen's weight....not much!)

My other job was to sedate the younger and more rambunctious children and babies so that they would sleep during the “echo”. This also proved to be rather difficult at times as most of the children were not too keen on the idea of drinking odd tasting medication out of a syringe. But by the end of the day I had successfully sedated about a dozen babies!

(Cardiologist - Dr. Tamir performs an echocardiogram on a sedated little boy.)

(Dr. Tamir worked tirelessly throughout the break and paused here breifly to eat a banana with a little friend!)

Overall, the day brought an intensity of both joy and heartache as some of the children were told that they didn’t even need and operation while others were told that they were inoperable. The few who were inoperable have heart conditions that are irreversible or too complex for surgery which means that they will go back to Iraq and, medically speaking, die within the next couple of years. But our God is a God of miracles – that is the truth that we have and continue to pray over each of them.

(A young man who does not need heart surgery! - We had prayed for a miracle for him the day before and saw the goodness of God's mercy after his echocardiogram.)

(Playing music while the families wait to hear the results of their childrens' "echos". The little girl pictured is inoperable and flew back to Iraq with her mother. Keep praying!)

For more details of the day, what our team did, and more pictures, check out the Shevet Achim website: http://www.shevet.org/screening/

(Happy to hear that they are operable and will probably recieve surgery within the next 6 months.)

(After echocardiograms - families waiting to hear when their children will recieve heart surgery.)