A heart-warming mission to support Palestinian children
Driving positive change in the communities we work in is a fundamental element of Sodexo’s Social Impact Pledge. One Sodexo team based at Nuffield Health Leicester Hospital has been putting this into action in a heart-warming way, raising enough money to support a life-saving mission to support Palestinian children by Leicestershire-based children’s charity Healing Little Hearts.
Healing Little Hearts sends teams of specialist surgeons and nurses to perform free heart surgery (open heart surgery and interventional cardiac catheterisation) on babies and children in developing parts of the world. Now in its 13th year, the charity has operated on 2,546 children in 17 countries covering five continents. The latest mission, in December 2022, was named ‘Camp Sodexo’ after the Nuffield Health Leicester Hospital Sodexo team raised the £6,000 total required to fund the mission.
About Healing Little Hearts
The charity was founded by Dr Sanjiv Nichani OBE, a consultant paediatrician who has been working at Leicester Children’s Hospital for 26 years, caring for critically ill babies and children in the ICU. Originally from Bombay, Dr Nichani has developed a deep understanding of the challenges faced by medical teams in India and founded Healing Little Hearts to help tackle the inequalities in healthcare provision across the world. The charity began its work in India but has expanded its reach year on year and is now the busiest children’s heart charity in the UK.
“Every year there are 1.4 million children born with congenital heart disease, the majority in the poorest parts of the world,” says Dr Nichani. “80 to 90% of these children have little or no access to corrective cardiac surgery.
"Our goal is to ensure all children are given the opportunity to live the life they deserve."
Even in India, which is now considered a relatively developed country, we have learned of cases of children having to walk 36 hours to surgery and back. There is no NHS equivalent; even providing primary care is a challenge. This is a health crisis for these young children.”
To emphasis the scale of the problem he shares some alarming statistics to spotlight the huge difference between ‘the haves and the have nots’. “There are an estimated one million babies and children dying every year from untreated heart disease – more than double the number dying from malaria. It is completely treatable, and it is simply the lack of training and facilities available. By comparison, in the UK there are 6,000 babies and children who require heart surgery every year, and all successfully have surgery, with a survival rate of 98 to 99%.”
Funding ‘Camp Sodexo’
Inspired by his work, and a personal resonance with the charity’s focus, catering manager Belinda Smith felt compelled to rally her colleagues to help and was given the green light by her regional manager Paula Campbell. “Dr Nichani looked after my granddaughter when she much younger and in the hospital with a heart murmur,” explains Belinda. “There is also a history of heart disease in my family, so the charity really struck a chord with me.”
Belinda kick started a series of fundraising events at the hospital across 2022 including cake sales, raffles and a summer fayre that raised £1,600 alone. By November, she had reached the £6,000 needed for one trip.
Mission accomplished
Led by Dr Nichani and Lesley Mistry, the charity’s lead nurse and trustee, the ‘Sodexo Camp’ team set off on 10 December and included volunteer surgeons from Leicester, Holland and Bristol. During the mission the 10 volunteers performed open-heart surgery on five children at the AN-Najah University Hospital in Nablus.
“There are an estimated one million babies and children dying every year from untreated heart disease – more than double the number dying from malaria. It is completely treatable, and it is simply the lack of training and facilities available. By comparison, in the UK there are 6,000 babies and children who require heart surgery every year, and all successfully have surgery, with a survival rate of 98 to 99%.
It costs around £700 per child to fund a life-saving heart procedure. For some people that is a weekend away in London. Yet this amount can give a child a new lease of life. We rely solely on public awareness, donations and fundraising. Support from organisations like Sodexo and passionate individuals like Belinda is so important, and we’re incredibly grateful for this,” says Dr Nichani.
Training local teams crucial to success
The local surgical and medical team were able to support the operations proving them with valuable training and experience. “This is a crucial part of our work and key to our success and legacy,” says Dr Nichani. “We have to teach others how to perform cardiac surgery; empower them to become independent.”
In 2015, they helped to set up a paediatric cardiac unit in Vijayawada Andhra in India, training a team which has now gone on to help 1,700 children to date.
Belinda says it is hard not to be overwhelmed by this level of determination and the impact the charity has had. “It is wonderful to know we are making a contribution. I want to help be a voice for Health Little Hearts and raise awareness. It’s something I love to do.”
Driving positive change in the communities we work in is a fundamental element of Sodexo's Social Impact Pledge. Both in the UK and around the world, our employees are enabled to support local fundraising and volunteering activities.