A Local Cause with Lots of “Heart”

Valentine’s Weekend was all about matters of the heart. Next weekend will address matters of the heart of a different sort. Matters of life or death. Every fall, Santa Monica resident Dr. Juan ‘Chuck’ Alejos and Dr. Dan Levi, his partner at UCLA Medical Center’s cardiology department, fly to Peru to perform free life-saving surgeries on the indigenous children of Arequipa, in the country’s southern region. ‘Many of them would die without those procedures,’ says Levi, who lives in Pacific Palisades with his wife, Jennifer, and children Adelle, 4, and Braun, 2. On Saturday, February 28, the cardiologists’ Hearts With Hope organization will throw a Mardi Gras-themed party to fundraise for their next mission, from September 26 to October 10, when they will perform surgeries on 30 to 40 more children. A nonprofit since 2003, Hearts With Hope has a strong connection to the Palisades. Among its board members are Peter and Cathy Longo, Bill and Jennifer Bryan, and Jake and Erin Banks, all Palisadians. ‘Almost every single person on the board, I’ve met through the children,’ Levi says. ‘We all send our kids to the Methodist preschool. I really appreciate what they’re doing. Each of those couples has contributed so much.’ Alejos serves as director of UCLA Medical Center’s pediatric heart transplant/cardiomyopathy program. Since 2003, Levi has been on the pediatric cardiology faculty at Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA. The cardiologists have gone on surgical missions to Peru together since 2000. ‘Dr. Alejos is the father of the organization,’ Levi says. ‘You need a basic team of local doctors, and we have that in Arequipa, because that’s where Dr. Alejos’ family resides. It started very small with him just going there and approaching local doctors. It grew slowly over time. ‘We have almost no overhead,’ Levi continues. ‘Everyone’s a volunteer. We get all this equipment donated. We have adult cardiologists down there who are willing to learn and work with the kids. ‘But recently, we’ve gotten big enough where just the mission itself is going to run $100,000 every time we go. We’ve expanded to include dental treatment and a huge volunteering arm.’ The biggest overhead is plane tickets, since host doctors in Peru provide the lodging. ‘Bringing the kids to America would be more expensive,’ Levi says. ‘This is an incredibly efficient way to get this work done. Manpower is not an issue. We have so many different doctors who volunteer to come with us.’ The L.A. medical team fixes the hearts of these children by going through the arteries of the leg and employing catheter-based therapies. ‘The idea is that we have a lot of resources that go unused in America,’ Levi says. ‘We have stuff that expires that’s perfectly good. We have nurses, doctors, volunteers. We can easily help kids with heart disease in a number of places internationally. What you really need is an area where you have a relationship with the local doctors. In Peru, they have the basic fluoroscopy [x-ray machine] at their hospital. So they have the basic things that we need. And they have the need big time.’ Eventually, Levi and Alejos hope to see Hearts helping other underserved areas of Latin America. As a by-product of their endeavor, Levi adds, ‘The amount of good will we generate for our country is just incredible.’ The upcoming Hearts With Hope fundraiser will include a silent auction and a live auction through which supporters can contribute to the cost of heart surgeries, catheterizations, medicines and supplies, as well as support an ‘adopted’ Peruvian village school. Restaurateur David Houston and wife Dawn are among the Palisadians who attended last year’s fundraiser and have since joined the Hearts board. ‘The adventures they’ve gone on and the work they’ve done, it’s very moving. I was blown away that these successful family men leave their families and go down to help people,’ David Houston says. Last year, the Houstons teamed up with fellow Palisadians Bill and Jennifer Bryan to contribute $3,000 toward one girl’s operation. ‘Her picture was up on the screen,’ Dawn remembers of Karina Mendoza, an 18-month-old diagnosed with a hole between the pumping ventricle chambers. The defect was successfully closed. ‘We are happy to report she has made a full recovery and is now back home living a normal life with her family,’ says Andrea Boddicker, Hearts’ director of fundraising. ‘She had a name, she had an age,’ Dawn Houston says. ‘It was so specific and personal learning about her. It brings it close to home that you can have a direct impact on someone’s life.’ This year, the Houstons have upped the ante on their participation. ‘We’ve each taken the challenge to raise $10,000,’ Dawn says. Since last year’s fundraiser, ‘Dawn and I have been trying to get people to hear about these guys and their mission,’ David continues. ‘It’s tough times for everyone. But even if people just come to the fundraiser and eat and drink your $100 worth, it goes to a great cause.’ The Houstons will also provide beverages and audio-video equipment for this year’s fundraiser, to be held at the Brentwood residence of Hearts board members Jeff and Eva Peterson. But David and Dawn feel that their contributions pale in comparison to the charitable work these doctors do annually. ‘They’re doing millions of dollars of work for tens of thousands of dollars,’ Dawn says. ‘Here at UCLA,’ Levi says, ‘if we don’t show up, someone else can do the procedure. But if we don’t go down there, some of these kids won’t make it.’ Event tickets include hors d’oeuvres and an open bar. Valet parking available. Contact: Andrea Boddicker at (310) 703-8488; visit www.HeartsWithHope.org