The hall of the state Scientific-Practical Children’s Cardiac Center in Kyiv has graffiti on the wall: Smiling faces of a boy and a girl. It was drawn by a happy father whose child was cured in this center.
But the center that performs nearly 2,000 heart surgeries a year needs expensive new equipment which it can’t afford. Here steps in the Kamaliya Foundation, run by singer-actress Kamaliya Zahoor, who is married to Kyiv Post publisher Mohammad Zahoor.
The hospital was selected to be the beneficiary of the foundation’s fourth annual St. Nicholas Charity Night that will take place at the Hilton Kyiv on Dec. 6.
Each year since 2014, Kamaliya raises money for different purposes: to help children with Down Syndrome, children of killed Ukrainian soldiers or to buy winter clothing for orphans.
“We receive so many letters in which people ask money for expensive surgeries for their children somewhere abroad,” says Kamaliya. “We could raise the same money and invest it in the medical equipment for a cardiac center in Ukraine so more children could be saved and there will be no need to go to other countries. Fortunately, we have many top-notch doctors in Ukraine.”
The Children’s Cardiac Center in Kyiv has been working for more than 26 years. Its surgeons perform over 1,900 surgeries per year and treat the full spectrum of cardiac disorders, including the rarest and the most complex congenital heart defects.
Patients range from newborn babies to adults, yet 70 percent of the patients are children under three years old.
One surgery may cost up to $8,000, with the money coming from Ukraine’s Health Ministry and philanthropists.
Serhiy Chernyshuk, an anesthesiologist and the head of Intensive Care Unit at the Scientific-Practical Children’s Cardiac Center, treats the center’s youngest patients. He says that the center is in the constant need of new equipment that it cannot afford.
“Even a simple bed for the intensive care department costs thousands of dollars,” points out Chernyshuk.
Closer look
When Kamaliya found out about the clinic, she says she immediately wanted to help.
On Nov. 21, Kamaliya and her husband were invited to the hospital to take a closer look at the place they were going to donate to.
“We prefer charitable contributions in the form of medical equipment rather than money donations,” says Deputy Director and Chief Medical Officer Volodymyr Zhovnir. “This way, people see what their money is spent on.”
Zhovnir showed Kamaliya and Zahoor around the clinic. The most emotional stop was at the intensive care department with about 30 babies in it.
Some of them were only a couple of days old. Here, babies from all over Ukraine are kept for a few days after their heart surgeries.
Looking at the babies in the intensive care, Kamaliya, a mother of 4-year-old twin daughters, couldn’t stop herself from crying.
One of the parents she met at the hospital was Ludmyla Zhuk, a mother of a 2-year-old boy suffering from a heart disease.
“We came here when my son was practically dying,” recalls Zhuk. “He had a surgery the same day we arrived in the clinic. Now he is stable, and we will go home in a couple of days.”
Zhuk expressed gratitude to Kamaliya for deciding to raise money for the clinic that saved her son.
“We did not pay for anything,” points out Zhuk. “Everything was free.”
Zhovnir said that the clinic staff were pioneers in the life-saving fetal cardiac interventions. The perioperative mortality rate in the clinic is 1 percent.
According to Zhovnir, only the best clinics in Europe and the United States can boast such a low mortality rate.
After visiting the clinic, Kamaliya said that she hoped that even more people come to her St. Nicholas Charity Night to help raise money for the new equipment for the clinic.
“One person, no matter how rich they are, cannot help everyone,” the singer said. “But if a thousand or at least a hundred of people come together, they can make a huge difference.”
Oscar night
The theme of the St. Nicholas Charity Night this year will be Oscar-winning songs. The set list includes the hit songs like “Take My Breath Away,” “I’ve Had the Time of My Life,” “Colors of the Wind,” and “Let It Go.”
Kamaliya will perform 10 songs and will change her stage costume three times to create different moods for the event.
To support young talents, she also invited six children performers to join her on stage.
The dress code of the St. Nicholas Charity Night is black tie. Guests will be treated to a three-course dinner prepared by a celebrity chef.
There will be a charity auction with antiques, designer clothes and oil paintings. The guests will have a chance to win a trip to any part of the world.
Organizers hope to raise up to $50,000 for Scientific-Practical Children’s Cardiac Center state institution.
To buy tickets to the fourth annual St. Nicholas Charity Night and help the Children’s Cardiac Center, please send an email to [email protected]
