CHILDREN and YOU http://lyndasbizz.com/blog but first...The 10 Day CHD Challenge Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:17:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 en A Post Taken Directly from Dr. Mani’s Blog http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/16/a-post-by-dr-mani/ http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/16/a-post-by-dr-mani/#comments Sat, 16 Feb 2008 17:52:51 +0000 lynn http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/16/a-post-by-dr-mani/

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Congenital Heart Disease - Facts and Stats

Posted: 14 Feb 2008 11:52 AM CST

India is a land of wide economic divides. Some are very rich.
Many are very poor. And congenital heart disease makes no
distinction between the two groups.

Most forms of heart birth defects require surgery to correct.
Surgery is expensive, and costs more than $3,000.
Unfortunately, many Indian families with monthly incomes of $100
to $150 cannot even think about affording it.

What’s worse is that congenital heart defects hit young
families. Parents are in their 20’s or early 30’s, with no
financial cushion. They are just starting out in life, when
fate deals them a severe blow.

In contrast, adult heart disease (like coronary artery disease)
affects people in their fifties and beyond. Often these
sufferers have a lifetime of savings to fall back upon to afford
expensive bypass surgery. Children with congenital heart
disease do not have that safety net.

The tragedy is that, if treated by surgery at the right time, a
child with congenital heart disease can often be fully restored
to normal health and have a life expectancy of 70 or 80 years as
a productive citizen.

But if left uncorrected in early childhood, even a simple defect
like a hole in the heart can result in complications (like
increased blood pressure in the lungs) which will shorten
lifespan - and make surgery impossible or very risky at a later
stage.

Three issues need addressing.

* Early detection.

* Prompt referral to medical care.

* Treatment by surgery.

Detection by early infant screening requires vast resources and
networks that often fall within the scope of Government run
programs. But making medical services and surgical care
accessible and affordable to children from poorer sections of
society are areas where the Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation is
strongly involved.

How big is the problem?

An estimated 8 of every 1,000 children born have some form of
congenital heart disease. With a population of 1.129 billion
and a birth rate of 22.69 per 1000, an estimated 200,000
children with congenital heart defects are born in India EVERY
YEAR.

In the south Indian state of Tamilnadu, with a population of
62.4 million, close to 10,000 children are born every year with
congenital heart defects.

While exact statistics are hard to come by, the total number of
paediatric heart operations performed per year in Tamilnadu is
approximately 1,500. This includes around 700 surgeries done in
public sector hospitals, which are the only resources accessible
to children from economically weak families.

This leaves an ever increasing pool of children with congenital
heart defects awaiting surgery that their families cannot
afford, and the already strained public healthcare services are
unable to deliver.

In private-sector corporate hospitals, congenital heart surgery
costs around $3,750 to $6,500.

By carefully managing costs (without compromising in any way on
high quality equipment and consumable items), and by recruiting
the services of charity-minded professionals who donate their
time for little or no compensation, the Dr.Mani Children Heart
Foundation is able to perform similar operations at a reduced
cost of $2,250.

The solution?

This complex, sticky problem can be addressed by a two-pronged
approach.

1. Create healthcare delivery systems that can deliver high
quality specialised care to under-privileged children with
congenital heart disease, at reasonable cost

2. Develop funding sources to enable these organisations to care
for 500 to 1000 children with CHD every year

The focus of Dr.Mani Children Heart Foundation is to establish
these 2 pillars.

Our team of highly skilled and experienced professionals is
driven by a mission to help poor children with heart defects,
and a dream of expanding to a scale big enough to make a
difference to the large population of CHD victims in India.

But alone, we cannot fund this ambitious project. We need help.
Your help.

Will you help us save the lives of children with congenital
heart defects?
]]> http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/16/a-post-by-dr-mani/feed/ 10 Reasons for A Blogger to Get Involved with a Non-Profit http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/09/10-reasons-for-a-blogger-to-get-involved-with-a-non-profit/ http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/09/10-reasons-for-a-blogger-to-get-involved-with-a-non-profit/#comments Sun, 10 Feb 2008 04:24:36 +0000 lynn http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/09/10-reasons-for-a-blogger-to-get-involved-with-a-non-profit/ Dr. Mani made a great post on problogger showing us why we need not be afraid to stretch ourselves and become involved with nonprofit organizations. Dr. Mani has been spearheading a worldwide campaign to raise awareness about Congenital Heart Defects and from my standpoint this has made his followers even more loyal. We see him as the humanitarian that he is as well as a fellow marketer that is not afraid to share his experiences with those on his list. Be sure to check out his post and leave a comment at Problogger  ..  And don’t forget to go to one of the links in his post and make your donation.

]]> http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/09/10-reasons-for-a-blogger-to-get-involved-with-a-non-profit/feed/ What Is Next for CHD http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/03/what-is-next-for-chd/ http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/03/what-is-next-for-chd/#comments Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:02:40 +0000 lynn http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/03/what-is-next-for-chd/
Neglected, unchallenged, indeed often undetected, CHD pervades communities, affecting the rich and poor alike, in developed as well as backward countries

It soon becomes obvious when looking at this problem that we need to do something about the following issues.

1. The causes of CHD and ways to detect them.

2. How do we bring this problem into the public focus.

3. How to make medical facilities available to All patients.

4. Ongoing support for all CHD families.

5. We must begin to view treatment as a longterm process.

There is a solution to all of these problems.

First of all we need to find the resources we can use to accomplish these goals. How you might ask? By using the power of the internet to bring an active and health oriented group together to spread the word and educate the masses about CHD and all its ramifications. This is what our challenge is about…to raise the ‘Awareness of CHD’ worldwide. Once we have a team formed that can interact with others in all parts of the world we can push the parameters of the Health Organizations and ask for action on their part to form realistic goals to assess and diagnose CHD in its earliest stages. As a worldwide community we would have the power. Join us this day and become a member of our small but every increasing group. You can be the one to raise awareness in your own community and be proud to do so.

“Setting aside a day of remembrance and celebration of the great medical advances which keep our loved ones alive would honor the unseen battle that children and adults with CHD fight daily. The creation of a day of this kind would help to lift the barrier of ignorance, helping both the families and individuals who currently are affected by Childhood Onset Heart Disease, and those whose lives may be affected in the future.”

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]]> http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/03/what-is-next-for-chd/feed/ Today is the First Day of our Challenge http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/03/today-is-the-first-day-of-our-challenge/ http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/03/today-is-the-first-day-of-our-challenge/#comments Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:36:22 +0000 lynn http://lyndasbizz.com/blog/2008/02/03/today-is-the-first-day-of-our-challenge/ A big welcome to everyone who arrives here on purpose or by chance.

During the next 10 days we are going to learn about Congenital Heart Defects and a very special person who is not only educating the world about this condition but is doing something about it on a daily basis.

Contrary to popular belief and a large amount of research, there is no known cause for Congenital Heart Defects. Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) are a lethal constellation of birth defects of the heart that affect millions of newborn infants and children worldwide; a killer that claims thousands of lives every year. Eight of every 1000 children born alive (0.8%) will have some form of congenital heart defect.

Each day I am going to summarize a post from www.chdinfo.com to help in the fight to raise awareness and raise funds for those suffering from Congenital Heart Defects.

Exactly what is Congenital Heart Disease you might ask. This chilling phrase refers to a plethora of birth defects of the heart that affects millions of infants and children each year. This killer claims thousands of young lives every year.

Only those fortunate enough to live in well developed countries are able to find treatment…not even necessarily a cure but at least their quality of life will be much improved. Those living in the poorer areas and countries of this world are forced to live within the limitations of their disease with no chance of becoming productive people within their communities.

There are 2 main types of heart disease. The one we all have heard of and know the causes of is Acquired Heart Disease due to poor choices in diet and lifestyle that catches up to us as we age and continue to overindulge. It can be prevented by eating and exercising properly for one’s lifetime. More and more people are making wise choices and the incidence of death by this type of heart disease is decreasing.

But in the case of CHD it appears randomly with no known cause all across the world affecting approximately .08% of births. Throughout time it has remained the same and even though other heart diseases are on their way out as people learn how to take better care of their health, CHD is actually becoming a growing problem. In fact at the rate it is going CHD will be the number 1 heart problem in the next 20 years.

Even though surgery for heart defects became a specialty back in the late 1980’s, these operations only account for 5% of all heart surgeries worldwide. Also there are only a few centers that are dedicated to heart defect surgery. The costs of these surgeries are expensive and often ongoing. As a result many go untreated.

With the proper surgery those afflicted with CHD can go on to live a normal lifespan albeit fraught with some complications in lifestyle that we take for granted…the inability to obtain good life insurance, possible employment restrictions, marriage and children not always a possibility due to later life complications.

With so much spent and the focus continuing on adult heart disease, it is difficult to find the funds needed to research CHD and gain control of this life-threatening disease. We all need to become more aware of this and act upon it.

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