By Elizabeth Farina
efarina@midlothianexchange.com

It all began at Rotary. Dr. Julian Metts, founder of The International Hospital for Children in Richmond, remembers the first time he saw such extreme dental and medical needs while on a “fact-finding mission in 1991” in South America for the South Richmond Rotary Club. Metts’ Rotarian experience brought forward a new independent vision – a self-sufficient international hospital without a building that has bettered the lives of thousands since 1999.

Now, the IHC, in its ninth year, is focused on continuing its medical mission that is funded through generous donations, grants and annual events. On Friday, Nov. 13, the international, non-profit organization will hold its fifth annual, invitation-only, fund-raising event to continue its critical care mission for children in six partnering nations in Central America and the Eastern Caribbean.

An auction and fashion show, “Treasures in Paradise” is one of the financial resources for IHC, which focuses on quality over quantity for “consistent pediatric services.”  The silent auction, which offers amazing vacation packages at villas and resorts, is currently taking bids online until 9 a.m. on Friday morning at its Web site www.healachild.org.

Since 2001, the IHC has grown to serve over 5,000 children through its “We Bring” program and through 29 teams in its “We Send” program to the partnering countries with nearly $7 million in donated medical services last year, according to IHC President Susan Rickman. Currently, IHC is also focused on “We Prevent” program, an education-focused wellness program about the dietary addition of folic acid for women of child-bearing years in order to avert neural tube defects in children. Also, the IHC’s “We Capacity Build” program through telemedicine, offers a valuable telecommunications resource for medical training to encourage indigenous health care capacity.

IHC recently brought on the first full-time pediatric surgeon in St. Vincent, Dr. Ty-Asha Plummer, as part of IHC’s Eastern Caribbean initiative, on left. Dr. Plummer meets with IHC volunteer and pediatric surgeon Dr. David Lanning and IHC President Susan Rickman at the Richmond-based IHC office through telemedicine, a unique communications system that offers multiple advantages such as medical training and patient review. - Photo by Elizabeth Farina

Local pediatrician Dr. Frederick Rahal was forever changed during a trip to Guyana, a coastal nation bordering Brazil’s northern front. Last month, he recently returned from a trip to Azua, Dominican Republic. “I saw the worst poverty that I’ve seen second to Guyana,” he said.

Rahal, who clarified the IHC mission, added, “The IHC is narrowly constructed to provide critical surgery and diagnostic tests for potential surgery for children. We are not doing medical care; we are doing critical, life-saving surgery. We’ve been very blessed with this town in that the general [pediatric] surgeons of Richmond have been so kind, not only to operate here, but some of them travel to other countries that we designate,” he said.

Rahal added that under the guidance of IHC President Susan Rickman, the organization is expanding because of her leadership and focus on not only what can be cured but what can be done most efficiently, economically and time wise.

A typical day at the IHC Richmond headquarters has half of its program staff members coordinating with surgical mission teams heading to a specific country, which is more cost-effective and efficient. “That involves conversations with local hospital overseas, conversations with our team members as well as planning for patient referrals and coordinating supplies the surgery teams will need on their mission [trips],” said IHC employee Sarah Sloan.

The “We Bring” program, which can have as many as 10 children at once, includes coordination of patients coming into Richmond. “[It] would involve communication with our partner organizations in the countries where we work,” said IHC employee Ashley Basmajian.

After the international paperwork and travel arrangements are completed, simultaneous efforts in Richmond are underway to coordinate treatment schedules with volunteer surgeons and their staff and hospitals to limit the amount of time a child would be away from home. “We have non-medical volunteers here who work alongside with us. They’re the ones who help us manage their care as far as the social orientation, the cultural orientation, [and] helping transport them to appointments,” Basmajian said.

Treacy Stuck, IHC volunteer manager, added that the supportive needs are just as important as the logistical needs of the patients. “A lot of non-medical volunteers will visit them while they’re here – take them to the park or on an outing – just kind of getting their mind off of everything medical that’s going on. And it’s getting them to meet other people in the community,” Stuck said.

Stuck encourages families to volunteer because not only does the young patient benefit from the visit, but the guardian of the patient can benefit too with the company of another adult during their medical visit in the United States.

Emily Sohn Robertson, a “We Bring” patient-base coordinator, added that with the number of children and 29 surgical missions a year, volunteers and interns are essential. “We try to make it a quality experience personally and emotionally for the patients and families who are here,” Robertson said.

Dr. Rahal suggested that faith-based and local businesses may also benefit in volunteering. “I would like to see, as a church man, that every place of worship in this town would sponsor a child,” Rahal said.

The children who undergo complex surgery or complex plastic surgery for neural tube defects and other medical diagnoses need two or three weeks, and sometimes a month to undergo treatment and recovery. “They sit at the hospitality house with very little social activity. It’s a cultural shock for these people to come to America, and sometimes they speak a different language, but it would be wonderful for the Muslim community, the Christian community, and the Jewish community could unite in this kind of thing in providing critical surgery for children by supporting them socially and sometimes having them in their churches, synagogues, and temples and having some of their parishioners come by and see these kids, take them out to a museum and so forth,” he said. 

To volunteer or learn how to contribute or participate in the IHC’s programs, visit www.healachild.org.