The mother of Bodin, a two-year-old boy from Kenya, is a nurse by profession. She knew something was wrong when he struggled to breastfeed. At Kenyatta National Hospital, she met with Dr. Osano, who was trained by Israel's "Save a Child's Heart" foundation to diagnose and treat children suffering from congenital heart disease. He examined Bodin and diagnosed a hole in his aorta. The boy was in urgent need of open-heart surgery to save his life.
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With the help of Save a Child's Heart, Bodin recently underwent life-saving surgery at Wolfson Medical Center.
Bodin never expected to be the first child to inaugurate the state-of-the-art operating room on the new surgery and catheterization floor of the children's hospital, sponsored by the Azrieli Foundation Canada-Israel. As part of the training provided by Save a Child's Heart, the operating room is fitted with cameras that allow Israeli doctors to live-stream their surgeries to cardiologists and surgeons in Africa.
The new seven-floor Save a Child's Heart (SACH) International Pediatric Cardiac Center (IPCC) and Sylvan Adams Children's Hospital houses all of the infrastructure and equipment needed to perform life-saving cardiac treatments, including all pre-and post-operative care.
Dr. Osano, who first diagnosed Bodin, stayed in Kenya but was able to observe the operation from his personal computer thousands of miles away and also wish Bodin good luck prior to entering surgery.
Dr. Lior Sasson, the head of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department at Wolfson Medical Center, said: "I've been operating on children for many years now but this time the excitement was greater than usual. The new operating room, with all the newest and most state-of-the-art equipment, was amazing, but what melted us all was the baby's smile when he saw the doctor who treated him in Kenya on the screen. Dr. Osano's presence gave little Bodin a sense of being at home and confidence. He was also thrilled to watch the surgery and felt Bodin was in good hands."
Danna Azrieli, the chairwoman of the Azrieli Foundation Israel, said, "I'm proud and thrilled to be part of establishing the surgery floor, which will completely change the way in which operations are conducted at Wolfson and in Israel in general, on behalf of children in Israel and other countries. Our goal is to develop and advance medicine in Israel to a global level that will break barriers and contribute to the enhancement of the health system in Israel."
"We have been supporting the healthcare system in Israel for a long time," said Dr. Naomi Azrieli, head of the Azrieli Foundation Canada. "We seek to further bolster the Israeli healthcare system, which is one of the best in the world, to allow it to keep providing Israelis extraordinary care."
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