Akron Children’s Hospital is raising money and awareness to help young patients in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation.
The hospital is hosting a Global Health Conference throughout the day Oct. 12, followed by an evening fundraiser to benefit St. Damien Hospital, the only pediatric hospital in Haiti.
The featured speaker at both events will be the Rev. Rick Frechette, a physician, priest, author and advocate for the children of Haiti.
Frechette is the Haiti director for the nonprofit Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, which oversees St. Damien.
Through an affiliation agreement, volunteer doctors, nurses and other support staff from Children’s regularly visit the Haitian hospital to provide services and develop programs.
Most recently, two boys from Haiti — 4-year-old Elie Pierre and 1-year-old Kurtis Petion — became the first patients to come to Children’s from Haiti for heart surgery through Gift of Life North East Ohio Inc. The program is affiliated with Rotary International.
Without surgeries to fix their heart defects, the boys faced certain death before adulthood.
Drs. Ellen and Jeff Kempf, physicians at Children’s, opened their homes to the boys and served as Kurtis’ and Elie’s surrogate parents throughout the visit.
Jeff Kempf checked up on the boys during a recent trip to volunteer at the Haitian hospital with three residents from Children’s and another from the Cleveland Clinic.
Both boys are off all their medications, gaining weight and thriving, he said.
“These kids have done incredibly well,” he said.
The hospital plans to send cardiologists to the Haitian hospital in November to screen more potential patients to come to Children’s for heart surgery, Kempf said. As many as four Haitian children could make the trip to Akron in the spring for care.
The Port-au-Prince region continues to struggle with a cholera outbreak, which puts a strain on the hospital’s resources, Kempf said.
“That’s really become an issue for them,” he said. “ ... Cholera has really gotten ugly there. That was a bit depressing, to be quite honest about it.”
During the upcoming conference and fundraiser event at Children’s, participants will learn more about this and other health needs in Haiti and throughout the world.
The conference — geared toward health professionals and others interested in volunteering — will cover public policy, case presentations and personal stories from doctors and nurses who have visited Haiti. Continuing medical education credit is available for doctors, nurses, residents, fellows and allied health professionals.
The conference will be held from 7:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Considine Professional Building, 215 W. Bowery St., Akron.
For more information or to register for the conference, contact Katrina Wolford at 330-543-8407 or by email at kwolford@chmca.org.
The fundraiser dinner and silent auction will start at 6 p.m. at St. Nicholas Banquet Center, 755 S. Cleveland Ave., Mogadore. Tickets are $75 per person or a corporate table of eight for $1,000.
For more information about the fundraiser, call 330-543-3550. Register to attend at http://ach.kintera.org/st damien.
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell.