December 1, 2006

ALBUQUERQUE, NM - The services and supplies for the surgeries will be donated by the medical staff at Presbyterian Hospital, TriCore Reference Labs, Anesthesia Associates and Radiology Associates and Healing the Children Southwest will host the children and their families in local homes.

A volunteer medical team consisting of Steve Yabek, MD, from Pediatric Cardiology Associates Douglas Blagg, an ultra sound technician, from Pediatric Cardiology Associates and Shelley Ogle, RN, from Presbyterian Healthcare Services returned from El Salvador early last month after screening more than 60 children with heart problems.

After reviewing the data, the medical team has determined that 45 out of the 61 children they screened are in need of some type of heart surgery.

"I don't believe that El Salvador lacks the knowledge or education to perform pediatric heart surgeries," said Dr. Yabek.

"After visiting with the doctors at the El Salvador Children's Hospital, I gathered that the doctors there are very knowledgeable and respectable. It was the lack of resources that was the most overwhelming to me."

Before the children are to arrive to the United States their families are to be socially screened. The social screenings are to make sure that the families will not abandon their children in attempt to become illegal citizens in the United States.

The heart surgeries that will be performed at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque, for the children who were selected from El Salvador, are set to be scheduled by the first of the year. Presbyterian serves to improve the health of individuals, families and communities.

Presbyterian Healthcare Services was founded in New Mexico in 1908, and is the state's only private, not-for-profit healthcare system. Presbyterian offers seven hospitals, a statewide health plan, and a growing multi-specialty medical group. Presbyterian employs more than 9,000 people throughout New Mexico.