A Helping Hand That Heals Hearts

By late October, Caroline and her mother, Rebecca, had arrived here and were staying with a Fairfax County family while preparations were made for Caroline's surgery. The operation, performed a few weeks ago, went smoothly, and she recovered quickly.

According to Sable, she should face no more operations.

"I think she'll get fewer infections, and she'll have more energy," Sable said as a bright-eyed Caroline skittered around her mother's chair, engaged with a talking plastic toy.

Sable looks forward to returning to Kampala -- a journey that requires two eight-hour flights ("None of us goes business class") -- to continue training doctors there in pediatric cardiology. On a recent visit, the American team guided Ugandan doctors as they performed two operations. Then the African surgeons observed the Americans.

"Children's has been incredibly supportive making physicians' time available, and surgeon's time," Sable said.

The hospital plays a major role not just in this Ugandan effort but in other corners of the world via video and computer technology that allows doctors in the District to interpret medical tests or beam medical lectures across the globe.

One lecture that Sable beamed to Baghdad required its audience of Iraqi doctors to spend the night at their hospital. Because of the eight-hour time difference, the lecture ended after the 5 p.m. curfew, and no one could leave.

"Those physicians still crave collegiality. They want to maintain practice standards, and they want to keep things going as best they can," Sable said.

Meanwhile, Sable will continue his work in Uganda, hoping that one day the Carolines in that country won't have to travel 7,200 miles to have their little hearts repaired.

How to Help

Most patients at Children's don't have to travel thousands of miles to get the help they need. They live right in the Washington area, and, under Children's open-door policy, none is turned away because a family lacks insurance or the means to fully pay the bill. Last year, the hospital absorbed $50 million in uncovered expenses delivering world-class medicine to every child who needed it.

That's what this campaign is all about: raising money to help defray costs like those.