Midwest Foundation Helps Iranian Children Needing Medical Treatment

By Sabrina Ousmaal-Moin

This year's celebration by Iranian communities all over the world of Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, on March 21st, and the Muslim observance one week earlier of Eid al Fitr and the end of Ramadan, provided annual opportunities to remember the less fortunate. This is the everyday goal, however, of the two-year-old Foundation for the Children of Iran (FCI).

Salim, a five-year-old boy diagnosed at birth with a serious heart condition caused by a defective and obstructed valve, was selected as FCI's first case. He needed a surgical procedure which was not available in Iran. In January 1992 he arrived in Minnesota, where Dr. Harold Katkov of the Minneapolis Children's Medical Center performed a pulmonary balloon valvuloplasty. This consists of inflating the defective valve with a balloon. Four months later, Salim was able to return to Iran.

A year later, the FCI took on the case of Leyla, a 16-year-old girl who suffered from a deformed back and spine. When she arrived in the U.S. in August 1993, she was barely able to walk. Rods and hooks to readjust Leyla's spine were applied by Dr. John Lonstein of the Minnesota Spine Center. In 10 hours of anterior and posterior spinal surgery at the Fairview Riverside Medical Center in Minneapolis, Leyla's spine was repositioned. Five days later she began to walk again and later was able to return to Iran.

Founded in 1992 by Nazie Eftekhari, a mother of two who runs Ethix Midwest, a Minnesota-based managed care organization, FCI is a non-profit, non-partisan organization designed to help children of Iranian origin obtain medical services that are not presently available in Iran. "I felt I needed to do something for the children back there," Eftekhari said. "Iran still lacks the support services, the equipment, the adequate nursing, and other basic necessities such as antibiotics and blood."

Before FCI accepts a case, it is investigated by a team of volunteers. Although it has never had problems with the Iranian government, the FCI must abide by strict American immigration rules. This makes obtaining a visa for these children the first difficult task.

For each case it takes on, the FCI must submit detailed medical and legal files to the Immigration and Naturalization Services, along with personal guarantees to insure the child will return to Iran after his or her treatment. This is why FCI can not consider cases of children suffering from chronic disease or terminal illness.

During the investigation, the foundation also makes sure that the medical procedure is indeed not available in Iran. Once the investigations are completed only a few potential cases remain eligible.

Through a grassroots network of supporters, the FCI usually is able to raise funds to cover some of the outstanding medical and transportation costs, making it possible for children like Sahm to breathe freely and Leyla to walk. Once a year, the FCI holds a fund-raising evening which is attended by hundreds of supporters. "We accept donations of any shape or form," Eftekhari said.

At each event, auctions of donated items by famous Iranian artists such as Oveissi, authors such as NaJmieh Batmaglij, and designers like Bijan take place. During last year's fund-raiser, the FCI collected $16,000.

"Though we are extremely happy, $16,000 may not cover more than the cost of a three-day stay at the hospital, " Eftekhari explained. "Our work would not be possible without the help of local physicians and hospitals who donate their services, as well as the lawyers who help us on a pro-bono basis."

Headed by Dr. Hossein Aliabadi, a highly respected pediatric urologist, the FCI medical team is composed of specialists who have agreed to donate their time and services. As Eftekhari explained, most of Dr. Aliabadi's colleagues also have similar involvements with other groups through which doctors can exchange volunteer services.

Future Goals

In the future, the FCI would like to create a team of doctors, like those of "Medicins Sans Frontieres" (Doctors Without Borders), a French humanitarian relief organization. An FCI team could then travel to Iran to help hundreds of children directly. Specialized surgical operations, however, would still be performed in Minnesota.

The FCI currently is working on the case of a Washington, DC child of Iranian origin who suffers from a congenital urinary tract condition. The organization unfortunately had to reject the case of an Iranian child with multiple sclerosis because the health procedures even in the U.S. are still very experimental and would require months of treatment.

Readers interested in helping FCI should send their tax-deductible donations to the Foundation for the Children of Iran, 8500 Normandale Lake Blvd., Bloomington, MN 55437. Nazie Eftekhari, who reports that most of FCI's work "is spread by word of mouth," can be reached at (612) 896-1203 to discuss children readers think could benefit from FCI's work.

Sabrina Ousmaal-Moin is the business manager of the American Educational Trust, which publishes the Washington Report.