Last week we heard once again from Dr. Cattaneo and the remarkable work he is doing in Ethiopia to save young lives. Because they lack access to penicillin, many children do not receive effective treatment for the relatively minor experience of strep throat, and in time their heart valves are so compromised that they die. Dr. Cattaneo and a small group of colleagues travel to Ethiopia periodically to perform the heart surgeries that these young people need.

 

The pity, Dr. Cattaneo told us, is two-fold. First, the need for the surgery far exceeds his team's ability to respond. But more distressingly, the surgeries would not be necessary at all if children could be treated at the earliest stages of the infection with penicillin. President Tim Peterson has made this issue the primary focus of his presidency, and we are pleased to report that there is reason to hope. As luck would have it, the president of the Rotary club in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, knows the Minister of Health there and is helping our club write a grant to get penicillin to the children of Ethiopia. Fingers crossed!