One of the greatest pitfalls of a ministry or humanitarian project is to make the assumption that those in need of help are somehow incapable of learning to help themselves. It is often the case that we who are privileged enough to be in the position to serve forget that we ourselves were taught and eventually brought to a state of healthy independence. Children's Cross seeks to break this pattern.

By providing equipment and specialized training to the hospitals and excellent medical personnel already practicing in El Salvador, we can help expand the number and type of cases that can be treated in-country. Because we are directly impacting those living and working daily as part of the country's medical system, we have a much larger impact on the Salvadorian children than if we were simply bringing individual cases to the States for operations.

Based primarily out of the pediatric charity hospital, Benjamin Bloom, our teaching projects establish specialty surgical units over a five-year period, and leave the hospital able to offer life-changing procedures to the children of the community. Each year teams of US professionals conduct on-site training through demonstrating pediatric operations on patients the hospital has selected; we also procure whatever necessary specialized equipment is necessary for the procedures and have them installed.

During the five-year process, our surgeons often come across children with conditions that require the quality of US hospital equipment and resources, in which case Children's Cross arranges for that child to come to the States as a teaching case (see US Surgical Cases link). Accompanying the child is a doctor from Benjamin Bloom, who then spends some time following various surgeons within the specialized field, observing techniques which can then be applied in his/her own practice.

To date, Children's Cross has begun five such programs in the following fields:

Congenital Heart Surgery (program complete; 500 patients served each year)

Kidney Transplant Surgery

Craniofacial Surgery

Urology Surgery

Orthopedic/Spinal Surgery

A rheumatic heart program will begin early 2007.