Healing the Children Sends Teens to Good Shepherd

Two Salvadoran teens have traveled across the globe to be treated for heart conditions at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital.

The teens are coming to Good Shepherd to be seen by cardiac specialists for what doctors believe is supra-ventricular tachycardia.

“With an SVT, out of nowhere, your heart rate soars to maybe 200 beats per minute, causing such discomfort and dizziness that it’s not unusual for a person to pass out,” Cardiologist and electrophysiology expert Dr. Raymond Kawasaki said. “That’s what may be happening—we’ll have to see.”

The teenagers were sent to Barrington through a medical mission of mercy arranged in partnership with Healing the Children Foundation. The charity sends children in need from countries lacking medical care to hospitals in the United States that have the capability and willingness to donate their services.  This is the sixth charity case that Good Shepherd and Midwest Heart Specialists have participated in.

“Both the hospital and Midwest Heart’s doctors volunteer their services without hesitation—it’s a real blessing,” Director of Healing the Children’s Indiana-Illinois chapter Jeff Degner said.

Good Shepherd hospital is one of the only hospitals in the region that offers high-definition three-dimensional echocardiography imaging technology, which is necessary in treating their condition.

“We’d anticipate that the two can be treated for irregular heartbeats—if that’s what’s going on—and give the children for the first time an opportunity to live a normal life,” Midwest Heart Specialist doctor Russell Tonkovic said.

The teens, ages 15 and 14, will be staying with foster families in Woodstock and Barrington Hills while receiving treatment at the hospital.