Stacy Harris in Kenya

JANUARY 2010

I will be returning to Kenya on February 15th as a part of the Global FICS (Foundation for International Cardiovascular Services). I am excited as now I can continue to work with the very same children I started with in 2006. Thank you for your support for as a missionary with a wife and son, life can be hard sometimes. Just when I thought the dream of changing lives in Kenya was over, a bigger and better opportunity presented itself. Global FICS will be helping the same children I have been working with since 2006 and it is a blessing because now they will have access to medicines and healthcare. Since the majority of the children suffer from diseases like AIDS and TB, this is a major breakthrough. This is what Dr. Patel and I will be doing in Kenya and we greatly appreciate your continued support. This is a story of two former football players who met up on Kenya 25 years later to make a difference in the lives of the suffering children. Thank you for your support in helping me when I was in need, especially when my son was born. As a missionary I always appreciate any support from friends and family. http://globalfics.webs.com

Check out our website and our Global FICS Facebook page. I will be posting updates via Kenyan Child Education Fund and Global FICS. I can't wait to see the smiles on the childrens faces when Dr. Patel brings the medicines, but what is more amazing, I am looking forward to seeing the families who benefit from the free surgeries. If you think we have a healthcare problem in America, just visit Kenya and you will realize we are not that bad!

My family is having a "Farewell to Stacy" party on Saturday, December 6 at Fisk AME Chapel in Fair Haven. I hope to see you there as I can explain fully what I will be doing in Kenya. It is so strange because just when I though my time in Kenya was over, the job seems to get bigger. More children, more problems, but more blessings. As I watch the suffering in Haiti, I can't help but think about all the needy children in Kenya. There is so much suffering, but now we can make a difference.

DATE: Saturday, February 6

TIME: 1 - 4 pm

PLACE: Fisk Chapel AME, 38 Fisk Street, Fair Haven, NJ

Go down River Road from Red Bank going toward Rumson. When you pass Krausers make a right on Maple Avenue and you will see Fisk Chapel on your right. Even if you can only come for a short time I hope to see you there. We will have food, fun, videos and slide shows about the children in Kenya. If you need more information feel free to email me. I hope to see you there as one of the things I miss the most is friends from America. It is not the same in Kenya, especially in a country where they think a football is a soccer ball. You can call me at (732) 747-1752

Check out our Global FICS Facebook page for more information at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-FICS-Foundation-for-International-Cardiovascular-Services/236549249923

I will no longer be taking donations for Kenyan Child Education Fund as I am now directing all funds to Global FICS to assist with the incredible work they are doing. Also, it makes shipping supplies so much easier and less expensive. But I will still be receiving donations for my family in Kenya. You can mail them to Stacy Harris at 34 Browns Lane, Fair Haven, NJ 07704 I have enclosed some photos and information about what I will be doing in Kenya and the extent of the healthcare crisis. If you watch what is going on in Haiti, and I pray you continue to support them, remember, that is what it is like on a regular basis without all the fallen buildings. As you support Haiti, please do not forget to pray for the children in Kenya.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN FOR GLOBAL FICS

In 2008, Global FICS began working with AIDS orphans and women infected with HIV. With half of the people in Kenya living in slums and making less than $1 per day, health care often becomes secondary to food and daily survival. As a result, communities in Kenya are ravaged by HIV/AIDS due to lack of awareness and proper treatment.

AIDS orphans suffer from all forms of abuse, both physical and sexual, and are often ostracized from the community due to the negative stigma placed on AIDS in Kenya. At Mzesa Academy, a school we support in the slums of Nairobi, 75% of the kids are AIDS orphans and most cannot even get one meal a day, let alone proper medical care. The AIDS epidemic is at a pandemic stage in the slums of Kenya and as a result, the young girls are forced into prostitution or drug peddling just to survive.

In 2003, Dr. Parag V. Patel, a cardiovascular specialist and Director of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, IL, began sending medical supplies to Kenya. Motivated by the extreme poverty and lack of basic medical equipment, Dr. Patel founded Global FICS (Foundation for International Cardiovascular Services), a US non-profit organization devoted to "Saving Lives in Kenya."

Saving Lives in Kenya."

Global FICS has been performing cardiovascular surgeries and has donated over $2 million worth of medical supplies and equipment to Kenya hospitals. Donations include 200 stethoscopes, medical text books, pacemakers, 100 ICU monitors, EKG machines, baby warmers, defibrillators, dialysis machines, stress test treadmills, incubators and school supplies.

SENDING MEDICAL EQUIPMENT, SUPPLIES AND MEDICAL CARE PROFESSIONALS TO KENYA AND HELPING AIDS ORPHANS

In Kenya, babies and mothers die daily due to a lack of medicines and equipment. Health services often cannot provide the necessary treatment resulting in one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. HIV/AIDS, TB and cholera are killing millions in Africa every year.

In the slums of Nairobi, where 100,000’s are living in cramped quarters, the spread of communicable diseases is literally out of control. Children, especially babies and girls, suffer the most as they must deal with the extremely unhygienic conditions including, rivers of raw sewage, 10 foot high piles of trash, lack of food, which leads to severe malnutrition, and they routinely die from easily preventable diseases. According to a recent study by the UN "You are lucky to turn five in Kenya."

WHAT MOTIVATES DR. PATEL TO RETURN TO KENYA EVERY YEAR?

You are lucky to turn five in Kenya."

WHAT MOTIVATES DR. PATEL TO RETURN TO KENYA EVERY YEAR?

During his first visit to Kenya in 1989 as a first year medical student, Dr, Patel saw a country of 33 million people where fathers watched their daughter’s die of rheumatic heart disease and where families went hungry because parents with heart conditions could not work. He also noticed undertrained medical workers dealing with an overwhelming number of patients, some literally dying in the halls waiting for treatment.

Everywhere Dr. Patel looked he saw the lack of the most basic of supplies, including gauze, tape, splints and antibiotics. Medicines were not readily available and the lack of modern equipment was keeping Kenyans from receiving much needed diagnosis and treatment.

Born in Kenya in 1966, Dr. Patel, who was raised in America, felt an emotional attachment to his birth country and he then began to lay the groundwork for what he is doing now. He realized he had to do something when he saw 15 medical students sharing one stethoscope, a tool he routinely saw handed out like chewing gum while attending Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine in Iowa.

"Ever since I visited Kenya as a first year medical student in 1989, I wanted to do something meaningful for the country. I said to myself, you have seen it, now you are going to do something about it."

Dr. Parag V. Patel DO

WHY IS THIS PROJECT IMPORTANT?

ISSUES BEING ADDRESSED

 Providing medical treatment to people who otherwise would not be treated.

 Providing medicines, supplies and equipment to overwhelmed hospitals.

 Training Kenyan medical professionals who lack basic skills and tools.

 Providing children’s medical services to AIDS orphans and street kids.

 Combating malnutrition and poverty by providing food and school supplies.

 Empowering women, via treatment and counseling, which will reduce the HIV/AIDS and infant mortality rates.

This project is important because the poor people of Kenya desperately need proper medical attention. The jobless rate in Kenya is extremely high and women often resort to prostitution to feed their families, thus steadily increasing the AIDS rate. The number of people in need of medical attention far exceeds the number of services available and the extreme poverty leads to chronic malnutrition and the spread of diseases.

Poverty and unsanitary living conditions are the main issues in Kenya which cause most of the health problems. Many women are so poor and hopeless that they are misled sexually resulting in more babies born with HIV and an infant mortality rate that continues to rise. There is a generation of street families and children in Kenya and girls, since they are still not treated equally with boys, are often left out of school while many turn to drugs, prostitution or begging to get a meal.

According to the UN, Kenya’s Global Hunger Index is listed as serious. These are some of the bone chilling statistics from the UN concerning Kenya,

 3.8 million people in need of immediate food relief

 47.2 years is the life expectancy

 33% of all Kenyans are malnourished

 Over 2 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS

 180,000 people die of AIDS each year

 1.4 million AIDS orphans

 79 of 1,000 babies die at birth

 20% of children under 5 are underweight

HOW TO MAKE A DONATION

Make a check payable to Global FICS and mail to:
1010 Sheridan Rd | Wilmette, IL 60091

www.globalfics.webs.com
FROM THE EDITOR/STACY HARRIS

I met Dr. Patel in 1984 when we were both freshman football players at Colgate University. 25 years later, we are working together in Africa with a common interest of "Saving Lives in Kenya". We thank you for your support and with your help we can make a difference in Kenya.

Saving Lives in Kenya". We thank you for your support and with your help we can make a difference in Kenya.

TO DONATE ONLINE: Visit our Global FICS Facebook causes page.
US non- profit 501 (c) (3) organization

Or Contact Stacy Harris
Email salexanderharris@yahoo.com
Phone: 011-254-728-470-538

For mailing supplies
Shipping Address
Global FICS
312 N. River Road
Franklin Park, IL 60131

GLOBAL FICS - FOUNDATION FOR INTERNATIONAL CARDIOVASCULAR SERVICES

http://globalfics.webs.com

Global FICS| 1010 Sheridan Rd, Wilmette, IL 60091 | phone 1-224-875-1631 | Kenya 011-254-713-480-736

STACY IN KENYA - FAREWELL CELEBRATION AS STACY LEAVES FOR KENYA