January 11, 2011 – Tel Aviv – Save a Child’s Heart (SACH), an Israel-based international humanitarian project focused on improving the quality of pediatric care for children from developing nations, treated a child from Indonesia for the first time last week. The child’s care was made possible through a generous donation from the American Jewish Committee (AJC), and his travel to Israel was provided free of charge by Turkish Airlines.

The child, Kevin, now 14 months old, was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease just eight days after his birth.  Congenital Heart Disease is a type of defect in one or more structures of the heart or blood vessels that occurs before birth.  The malformation is responsible for more deaths in the first year of life than any other birth defect. After the surgery, doctors noted that they were very optimistic about Kevin’s future and believe that he will make a full recovery.

“AJC is honored to once again support the Israeli medical workers associated with Save a Child’s Heart as they help to repair the world one heart at a time,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “Bringing a Muslim child from Indonesia to Israel for life-saving surgery exemplifies the compassion of the Israeli people and the highest standards of health care, which they are proud to share. In this spirit, we also advance AJC’s mission of deepening interreligious and international understanding and cooperation.”

“I am very grateful for AJC’s support of our effo-rts, and for Turkish Airlines’ decision to fund Kevin’s travel to Israel,” said Dr. Lior Sasson, head of the SACH affiliated heart team at the Wolfson Medical Center in Tel Aviv. “In many areas of the world, it is impossible for children to receive top quality pediatric cardiac care. Support from groups like the AJC enables us to begin to fill that gap and give each child with a heart problem a real chance towards living a normal healthy life. I am very glad to say that I anticipate that Kevin will be just fine, and back home playing with his friends and family in due course.”

Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) is an Israel-based international humanitarian project whose mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries who suffer from heart disease, and to create centers of competence in these countries. To date SACH has provided care to nearly 2,500 children from Africa, South America, Europe, and Asia including throughout the Middle East, and has trained 56 physicians and nurses at the Wolfson Medical Center in Tel Aviv from a host of countries from around the world.

In addition to treatment and training in Israel, the SACH medical team travels to partner sites throughout the developing world in order to perform surgery, conduct cardiology clinics that evaluate pre and post operative patients together with local cardiologists, and give local medical personnel onsite training in pediatric cardiac care. SACH is completely dedicated to the idea that every child deserves the best medical treatment available, regardless of the child's nationality, religion, race, gender or financial situation. For more information please visit www.saveachildsheart.org.

AJC, www.ajc.org, is the premier global Jewish advocacy organization, with offices across the United States, in Israel and around the world. Founded in 1906, AJC’s pioneering initiatives in international diplomacy and interreligious understanding seek to fashion a more just and compassionate world.

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