Mending Little Hearts: Chain of Hope Transforming Pediatric Cardiac Care in Jamaica

Within the halls of the Bustamante Hospital for Children in Kingston, tiny hearts, once on the brink of failure, are beating with new life.

From lips once blue to cheeks now flushed with life, from families overwhelmed with fear to children filled with laughter, quiet miracles are unfolding each day.

At the centre of this remarkable transformation is Chain of Hope Jamaica, the local arm of the internationally renowned charity Chain of Hope, which is dedicated not only to mending hearts but also to restoring futures.

Founded by esteemed Egyptian British cardiac surgeon Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub, who first visited Jamaica in 1996, Chain of Hope was born out of compassion and necessity.

General Manager of Chain of Hope Jamaica, Nola Phillpotts-Brown, tells JIS News that Professor Yacoub saw the need for consistent, high-quality surgical care for children diagnosed with congenital or acquired heart diseases, such as rheumatic heart disease resulting from untreated fever.

She notes that at the time, many of these children faced limited options and often a short life expectancy.

“So, he founded Chain of Hope to ensure they got the care they needed,” she says.

Since its formal establishment in Jamaica in 2007, the charity has worked closely with the Government and Bustamante Hospital for Children through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that set the foundation for a transformative paediatric cardiac programme, one that continues to save lives, one heartbeat at a time.

Today, the programme treats between 130 to 150 children each year, with procedures ranging from open-heart surgeries to minimally invasive catheterisations.

These procedures are conducted by local clinicians and visiting international volunteers, many of whom give up their vacation time to help these children.

In addition to the international expertise, Chain of Hope is focused on building sustainable local capacity to perform these delicate procedures and provide the necessary follow-up care and support.

As such, Jamaican clinicians and nurses have received extensive training, both locally and overseas.

“Quite a few of our doctors were trained in the United Kingdom (UK) through Chain of Hope,” Mrs. Phillpotts- Brown shares.

This training covers every facet of paediatric cardiac care from surgery and catheterisation to intensive care and post-operative recovery.

“We want to reach a point where the local team can handle most of the procedures on their own,” Mrs. Phillpotts- Brown says.

A significant milestone came in 2017, with the opening of a dedicated cardiac centre at Bustamante Hospital.

“We now have a surgery unit focused solely on cardiac care, and we also have a catheterisation lab,” says Mrs. Phillpotts- Brown.

The facility, the only one of its kind in the Caribbean, serves children from birth to age 12, with some teenagers returning for follow-up procedures.

“Our goal is for it to become a regional centre of excellence, welcoming children from across the Caribbean,” Mrs. Phillpotts- Brown says.

The impact of Chain of Hope is not just in the numbers, but in the children who now laugh, run, and go to school with renewed energy.

Mrs. Phillpotts- Brown fondly remembers a young girl whose surgery required her entire blood volume to be replaced.

“She’s now a teenager, thriving, and speaks like a young ambassador for Chain of Hope,” she tells JIS News.

Another child, once suffering from a large hole in her heart, is back in school and doing well, and there is the unforgettable case of a boy airlifted to Canada because he was too fragile for a commercial flight.

“A year later, he came running through the hospital corridors, full of life. It was such a powerful moment,” Mrs. Phillpotts- Brown recalls.

Parents, too, experience a profound change.

“Many of them can’t work because their children are constantly sick, turning blue from a lack of oxygen. Now, these same children are playing, laughing, and their families can breathe a little easier,” she points out.

For Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon at Bustamante hospital, Dr. Sherard Little, the work done through Chain of Hope is deeply rewarding.

“You really feel that you’ve accomplished something because you’re touching the lives of children, and we are also impacting the lives of their families,” he notes.

Chain of Hope is looking to strengthen its impact, ensuring that every child, who needs a heart procedure, has access to quality, life-saving care locally.

Currently, the programme is facing a shortage of specialist nurses, often resulting in delayed procedures. “We can’t operate as frequently as we need to,” says Dr. Little.

There is also the steep cost of medical supplies and equipment, such as heart valves, which can exceed US$13,000 each.

To sustain and expand its impact, Chain of Hope is focused on addressing several critical needs, including the establishment of a renewable servicing contract for the catheterisation lab, which is essential for keeping the equipment functional year-round.

The programme also looking to recruit dedicated cardiac nurses, perfusionists, and anesthesiologists, so that cardiac surgeries can be performed consistently without disrupting other areas of hospital care.

Also being targeted is the establishment of a cardiac recovery ward to ensure that post-operative patients can heal in a safe, specialised environment, protected from infection risks common in general wards, and the acquisition of specialised equipment such as pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (ICU) ventilators, which are vital for improving care in critical situations.

The Government is constructing a five-story building at Bustamante Hospital, which will, among other things, house a dedicated cardiac ward accommodating patients pre- and postoperatively, for cardiac catheterisation and cardiac surgery.

With the support of the Ministry of Health and Wellness, long-term benefactors like Shaggy and Friends, and new corporate partners including Kingston Freeport Terminal, Cari-Med Limited and the Woman’s Club, the programme continues to thrive.

Donations of gently used medical equipment from hospitals overseas help bridge critical resource gaps.

The vision is for the hospital to serve as a centre of excellence across the Caribbean, treating not just local children, but young patients from neighboring nations as well.

Chain of Hope also hopes to provide accommodation for families, particularly those traveling from rural Jamaica or other Caribbean countries, so they can remain close to their children during treatment and recovery.

At its core, the Chain of Hope programme is about transformation – physical, emotional, and social.

“Just to see the change… it’s tear-jerking,” says Mrs. Phillpotts-Brown. “The child is able to breathe, to play, the color comes back to their face; it’s deeply rewarding,” she tells JIS News.

Chain of Hope finds its true reward not in accolades, but in the smile of a child running free for the first time.

Lives are being rewritten, not with fanfare, but with the skilled hands of dedicated doctors, the quiet hum of surgical monitors, and the resolute beating of delicate hearts.

This is a chain that does not break but grows stronger with each heart it mends.