CubaPLUS Magazine

It is a startling statistic that nine out of 10 people in lower-resource countries lack access to medical and surgical care. As a result, every day children suffer or die needlessly. This is where the likes of the World Pediatric Project (WPP) come in.

WPP’s vision is that “every community, in every country, will have the capacity to connect children to advanced pediatric healthcare.” This is why interCaribbean fervently supports the charity.

“Our goal is to highlight this work in the region, to create awareness for parents with children who may have a need that is not attended to because of cost concerns,” says Trevor Sadler, CEO, interCaribbean, “and to encourage those who would like to make a donation to the charity, no matter how small, to help continue to support the real costs that are required.”

WPP provides access to 15 pediatric sub-specialties across more than 12 countries in the Caribbean and Central America. In all, the non-profit organisation has helped more than

15,000 children, performed around 10,000 surgeries and conducted over 42,000 consultations since its inception in 2001.

Since the airline committed its support to WPP, Sadler says he has been privileged to play a part in some incredible stories – such as repatriating a 14-year-old girl who had required heart surgery in the Cayman Islands.

“The simple act of getting her home to Dominica was quite an effort, as we were moving into countries opening up post-COVID,” says Sadler.

“We contacted Cayman Airways to solicit their help to free up two seats (for the young lady and her mum) to get her to Kingston, Jamaica. We also needed to arrange a hotel in Kingston for one night before they caught their flight the following day. After we initially sought a reduced rate to assist with the cost, the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Port Royal – on hearing the reason for our request – offered the night for free.

“With COVID leaving us with a much-reduced schedule, the only option we had was to get her to Antigua that following day. To help with the last mile, we contacted our colleagues at Winair to finally get them home on Christmas morning.”

Other support the airline has provided to WPP includes delaying a flight to transport a new-born infant requiring emergency open-heart surgery, and carrying a group of doctors “taking a massive amount of surgical tools to one island, where 25 surgeries and 80 or so consultations were given.”

Sadler adds: “There are many more where we know little of the story but quietly support the charity and the cause. Supporting the travel of the patient, family and the doctors for a child in need of life-saving or life- changing surgery is among the most honourable things we can do. Many of the doctors donate their vacation time from their otherwise full-time roles to come and support these surgeries.” Explaining the help that interCaribbean offers the charity, WPP chief executive Vafa Akhavan says: “As our transportation and mobility partner in the region, interCaribbean Airways is a critical part of taking care of -the children we serve, who are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.

“The mobility the airline provides helps us ensure we get the children to their care and that it takes less time for them to get to that care.”

To find out more, go to www.worldpediatricproject.org