Open Hearts

Dr. Jeff Kempf from Akron Children’s Hospital (Ohio, USA), and doctors from the USA, Italy, Haiti, and France, demonstrate a new way of helping as they attempt to complete 12 complicated operations while simultaneously challenging conventional wisdom by building up the staff and facilities at St. Damien’s Hospital (Port-au-Prince, Haiti) to become self sufficient. These unprecedented efforts, spearheaded by Gift of Life and Rotary Club, have enabled St. Damien’s to become the first hospital in Haiti capable of treating children with Heart Disease, have allowed Dr. Alexandra Noisette to become the first Haitian pediatric cardiologist, and represents the only collaboration of charities providing heart surgery in Haiti. “Charity” must change, and this bold re-imagination of how charity can work paints a picture of how countries like Haiti can become self sustaining.