The Israeli medical organization saving the hearts of children

Volunteer doctors, nurses, and technicians at the Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) organization based at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon bid farewell this week to a group of 10 children and teens from African countries whose lives they saved at no cost in complicated cardiac surgery. 

They and their eight escorts flew back to their respective countries – three children and their mothers and one nurse from Ethiopia; two children and one mother from Zanzibar, one child and his mother from Liberia, and four children and two mothers from South Sudan.

Two siblings from Sudan, 17-year-old Job Lado Bernard Silvestro and Christine Ile Bernard Silvestro, aged five, presented a rare case in which the two had to undergo lifesaving cardiological procedures in Israel simultaneously. 

SACH is a non-profit, Israeli-based humanitarian organization providing life-saving heart surgeries and follow-up care for children from developing countries. Its mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care in developing countries for children who suffer from congenital heart disease and to create new centers of competence in these countries. 

A team of 70 dedicated experts, from chief surgeon to physiotherapist, contribute a substantial portion of their time without any payment from SACH. Since its inception in 1995, they have treated more than 7,000 children worldwide, including more than 3,000 children from various African countries, such as Zambia, Rwanda, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, and more.

A gift from Dr. Ami Cohen

It exists today because of the vision, passion, and boundless energy of the late Dr. Amram (Ami) Cohen, an excellent surgeon, an inspiring leader, and a warm and caring person who came on Aliya from the US in 1992. He joined Wolfson’s staff and served as the deputy chief of cardiovascular surgery and head of pediatric cardiac surgery under the direction and mentorship of Prof. Arieh Schachner, then head of the cardiothoracic department.

SACH came into being when an Ethiopian doctor contacted Cohen after being referred to him by a mutual friend at the University of Massachusetts. He asked for his help with two children in desperate need of heart surgery. Cohen received Schachner’s approval and support to begin this project.

From that collaboration, the result was the impressive nonprofit organization that has operated at Wolfson on thousands of children from 65 developing countries – all at no cost to patients. It also trains local surgical teams to do operations on children with congenital heart defects in their own countries.

Cohen performed hundreds of lifesaving operations, but he died in a tragic accident while climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in August of 2001 with his 18-year-old daughter. They made it to the summit, but unfortunately, he died in his sleep of high-altitude sickness. His daughter survived. 

“It was a challenge, and he was a man of summits. He was rather overweight, and with the thin air, he did not have enough oxygen,” recalled Schachner. “His African guides said that since he was a doctor, he must have known what he was doing. We all miss Ami.”