For the poorest families in Kenya whose children suffer from congenital heart defects and rheumatic heart disease, Take Heart Association Project (THAP) is a lifeline that provides diagnostic medical tests, medications, information on healthier diets and nutrition, and assistance in working with doctors and hospitals so that their children can receive life-saving surgeries. THAP is currently the only grassroots organization of its kind, assisting the poorest families in Kenya negotiate the maze of paperwork and logistical procedures associated with obtaining needed life-saving surgeries for their children, as well as pre- and post-operative care.
A family is first referred to THAP by a cardiologist in Nairobi or a doctor at a hospital in another area of Kenya. Each potential patient must submit a medical diagnosis report from a doctor, chest x-ray, echocardiogram videotape and electrocardiogram. Since many of the patients on the THAP waiting list live in remote areas of Kenya, THAP has a van that is available to help transport the patients and their families to doctor's appointments and for medical diagnostic tests they need. THAP's staff educates the family about the importance of good pre-op nutrition and provides the necessary medications. They also accompany the family to meetings with doctors and hospital staff throughout this process. Often the THAP staff makes arrangements for where family members stay during their time in Nairobi. To address this problem, THAP is in the early planning stages for a Family Support Center which would include sleeping rooms and cooking facilities for our families' long stays. After surgery, depending on the need, THAP can provide transportation home to children and their families. Each patient receives the necessary post-operative medications they need for up to two years and are monitored by a member of the THAP staff as to recommended post-op visits with a doctor.
In its early years, THAP assisted patients undergo successful heart surgery in India, Italy and the United States. This was an expensive program model since it involved foreign travel and accommodations, thus limiting the number of children we could help. Our goal now is to continue to develop and expand Kenya's capacity to provide the necessary care so that more children can be assisted there. This not only reduces direct costs, but also the stress and disruption to families who must travel and live abroad in a foreign land for a month or more in order to secure help for their children. The most complicated surgeries, however, will continue to be done in India, which has high-quality, low cost medical care, and in the home countries of the visiting medical mission teams, if necessary.
Through a network of cardiologists, Kenyan medical personnel, visiting medical teams from the United States and Europe, and hospital partners, THAP is able to fulfill its mission. These partnerships are also helping hospitals in Nairobi, like The Mater Hospital, and its medical personnel increase their knowledge and ability to perform the latest surgical procedures with donations of newer medical equipment and training of the medical staff.
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| Dr. Jowi in the Cath Lab with one of THAP’s patients. |
