Healthy heart for 35 children
Only half of children with congenital heart disease in Ukraine receive timely medical care. 4.5 thousands of such children in our country are born with heart defects annually. 600-700 babies are born in Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Thanks to the installation of the occluder - a special device that allows to close the ventricular septum in the heart, the children of Donbas have a chance to return to a full, healthy life.
"Ukrainian children deserve to be treated according to the world standards; they have the right to live a long, happy and healthy life," says Irina Temerko, project manager of Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. “About a year ago, in February 2017, the Foundation launched the “Healthy Heart” project. Its goal is to help children to cure their congenital defects. Babies who have this diagnosis are recommended endovascular surgery with occluders installation. This is the most up-to-date and low-traumatic method. After such an operation, which is carried out without cuts and a scalpel, a child can forever forget about the diagnosis and recover quickly. To tell the truth, the cost of the occluder is about 100 thousand UAH. For many families this is an unbearable amount. The Foundation helped to purchase these expensive devices for 35 children, who further underwent operations.”
One of these 35 kids is Dima Olefyrenko from the village of Nikolske, Donetsk region. He had a congenital heart disease. When the boy was two years old, the doctors recommended installing an occluder, which the family could not even dream of buying. Dima's mother is on parental leave. His grandmother does not work, his grandfather is disabled. Doctors of Amosov National Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery, who examined the child, advised to apply to Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. A month later, in December 2017, Dima has been already operated on. Now the boy is starting a new life – the life without a constant restriction of physical activity. He will run happily and play active games with his peers. This is the life with a healthy heart.
How to get assistance under the “Healthy Heart” project?
The assistance can be obtained by children under the age of 18 living in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions, as well as temporarily uncontrolled territory of Donbas. The project provides for heart surgery for boys and girls diagnosed with: open arterial duct, atrial and interventricular septum defect.
To get assistance, you need:
- Call the hotline 0-800-509-001 and leave an application.
- Answer the call of the Foundation's employee, find out what documents should be submitted.
- Prepare the necessary set of documents.
- Be able to come to Kyiv for an operation.
