info@mecenat-cardiaque.org | +33 (0)1 49 24 02 02 | Read the blog |
Our field of action in 4 pillars
Allowing children with heart defects to come to France for surgery: this is the reason for being and the main mission of Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque. For each child, an important organization must be set up so that his or her arrival and treatment take place in the best conditions.
Each year, Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque finances heart surgery in France for seriously ill children from disadvantaged countries. If Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque has chosen to operate on children in France, it is to ensure that the quality of care is irreproachable, controlled and medically monitored throughout their lives.
An excellent care pathway for children
Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque cares for children aged from a few months to 15 years old in 9 pediatric cardiac surgery centers throughout France. These highly specialized units are equipped with advanced equipment and high quality care staff.
Diagnosis, surgery, resuscitation, intervention procedures... are all high quality care that Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque wishes to offer to all the children of the world.
Heart surgery only possible in France
The Association agrees to manage so-called "complex" cardiac malformations. These pathologies are rare but extremely disabling. Thanks to specialized surgery performed in France, these children will be saved or at least functionally improved.
Even if sometimes only so-called "palliative" surgery can be offered to them, it seems to us that quality of life is as important as life span.
Lifetime medical follow-up for children who have undergone surgery
Once the child has returned to his or her country, the Association makes every effort to keep a link and follow his or her development; both socially and medically.
The information channels are based on a solid network of referral doctors trained by the Association over the years. These doctors, paediatricians or cardiologists are indispensable relays for the continuity of our action. They are supported by local volunteer referents of Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque. All of this allows us to benefit from a follow-up rate of 89% for the children operated on!
Besides the medical objective, the monitoring of children is also in line with the Association's other actions: we have been able to develop a scientific research action based on the medium and long-term results of the most complex congenital cardiopathies, allowing the publication of several articles in international medical journals.
25 years and 4,000 children later, we receive thank-you notes, wedding and birth photos of our little ones who have grown up... life takes its course!
Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque regularly carries outmissions to the children's countries of origin. These visits allow us to meet the doctors and partners of the Association on site and to diagnose the pathologies requiring treatment.
Working with 70 countries requires regular and strong relationships with the referring doctors who identify the children. This is why we carry out an average of 4 missions to the children's countries of origin each year. These missions allow us to meet the doctors, to identify potential candidates for the training of doctors and to better understand the local problems: level of medical equipment, geographical remoteness of the populations, access to medicines, living conditions and above all to see our patients again and diagnose new cases.
Each mission is made up of an average of 3 people, including at least one cardiopediatrician and one permanent staff member of the Association. Costs are kept under control thanks to the presence of local referents allowing us to save "living expenses" on site.
The development of doctor training aims to improve the quality of care for children. This desire to go further and closer to children is part of the genesis of Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque 's mission: to enable all the world's children to benefit from technological advances and to offer them a quality of care that we would like for our own children.
The association Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque and the Francine Leca Foundation finance these training programmes. Under the aegis of the Caritas Foundation, the Francine Leca Foundation is entitled to receive tax-deductible donations from the IFI.
. Learning to diagnose
. Comprehensive, useful and practical training in cardiopediatrics
> 50 courses on mobile application
. Learn in depth about heart disease and ultrasound.
. Specific and technical training
> Videoconferencing for groups of 100 doctors
. Learning from patients with complex cases
. Training based on specific issues
> Private lessons by video conference, in the presence of the patient
. Learning from clinical to diagnostic
. Comprehensive training accessible to all levels
> In vivo learning in a small group alongside an expert doctor
. Learn ultrasound with an "expert" programme
. Advanced training for experienced cardiopediatricians only
> One week internship in France in a hospital with training on a machine
Since 2009, Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque has launched a programme to sponsor children who have undergone surgery at school, in countries where this is possible. The aim? To provide schooling for children operated on by Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque. These children, because of their pathology, were generally unable to start school before their surgery.
You can sponsor one of these children. Contact our team of volunteers who are actively working on this by sending an email toparrainage@mecenat-cardiaque.org or by telephone on 01 49 24 02 02.
Countries of origin of the children: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Comoros, Congo Brazzaville, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Gambia, Haiti, Laos, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Vietnam.
Juvénal, a Roman poet from the end of the first century, said "Mens Sana in corpore Sano", (a healthy mind in a healthy body), referring to the ambition that body and mind should both rise together in harmony. Schooling, often nonexistent or interrupted due to health problems and lack of means, must resume when the child returns home cured or very much improved by surgery ; this is one of the creeds of Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque. Our school sponsorship team is actively working on this.
366 children sponsored in the 2021/2021 school year
1- Implementation is only possible in countries with a relatively stable political situation to allow for monitoring by a local referent. This referent is a volunteer or an NGO with a local presence
2- The children must live in a geographical area where they are school-age and the parents must be motivated to ensure the child's school attendance.
3 - The family's level of resources must be modest.
A team of volunteers at the heart of the sponsorship operation
In each country we recruit one or more volunteer referents or we sign an agreement with a local NGO to :
-carry out initial social surveys,
-control of the destination of funds,
-monitoring of children,
-the collection of information that we will pass on to the sponsors.
A fixed and shared tuition fee of €25/month
Each sponsor finances the schooling of one or more children by name. The sponsor makes a moral commitment. The cost of financing a child's schooling is 25€ per month, or 300€ per year. These costs include the cost of :
- schooling,
- books,
- supplies,
- the child's uniform
This budget paid in the form of a donation is tax deductible like all other donations to Mécénat Chirurgie Cardiaque.
On Sunday September 17, we invited all our host families in the Paris region to join us for a not-to-be-missed back-to-school event: the Fête des Familles!
As part of our pediatric cardiology training program, we welcomed for the second time one of our correspondent physicians for a one-week echocardiography internship in France.
This 2023 edition has been exceptional, as we celebrate 20 years of presence on the Tour de France. Two decades that have enabled us to save 358 children's hearts thanks to our fund-raising activities on the event, and soon 21 more little hearts, operated on thanks to this 2023 edition.
