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Dear FNAME,

It has been an exciting and busy month.

We were back in Timor-Leste to run our cardiac clinics and also check on patients who are coming to Australia for surgery soon. I can’t thank our volunteer clinicians enough for their incredible dedication. Their support along with those of our generous supporters truly transforms lives. Our patients who had heart surgery in Australia in May are doing very well - read more about Artimisa below.

Another important aspect of our work is preventing acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD). We have been supporting Maluk Timor to educate communities about the causes of ARF and RHD and how they can be prevented and treated.

Our team has grown with the addition of Mana Sidonia - our new Rheumatic Heart Disease Nurse based in Dili. Mana Sidonia has been busy in our penicillin clinics helping prevent patients’ rheumatic heart disease from deteriorating.

A growing number of supporters have asked us about how they can leave a lasting legacy to help people with rheumatic heart disease. So we have partnered with top-rated Will writing platform, Gathered Here, who are offering free and legally binding Wills, with unlimited updates for life. You can learn more about how to create your free Will by visiting here.

I hope you’ll enjoy reading our October newsletter, and thank you for your amazing support.

Warmest regards,

Jane Papasergio
Chief Executive Officer

Heart screening clinics in Dili and Baucau

Our volunteer cardiac team have just returned from Timor-Leste after holding cardiac screening clinics in mid October. Dr Elizabeth Paratz, shares her experience here.

The 3-day clinic was an enormous success, reviewing a total of 120 patients. This was the largest clinic since the COVID-19 pandemic and it was great to feel fully operational again. We were based at the Hospital Nacional Guido Valdares (HNGV) for the first 2 days, with an outreach trip to Baucau on the third day.

The team led by cardiologists Dr Simon Eggleton and Dr Elizabeth Paratz, was a mix of Australian clinicians and Timorese colleagues including doctors, healthcare workers and nurses. It was a fabulous team with very high morale and efficiency.

Of the 120 patients we saw, 25 require surgery. This is an extraordinarily high rate and is a testament to the excellent referral processes of Maluk Timor and HNGV in identifying the most suitable patients to come to clinic for evaluation.

Patients who live in rural and remote areas can struggle to afford to travel to a clinic. We offered them a small travel allowance to enable them to attend.

A very common theme we encountered during the clinics was that of non-vaccination against COVID due to concerns regarding vaccines causing heart damage. Reassurance was provided to our patients that they would be much safer with some protection against COVID. Maluk Timor is also comprehensively liaising with all patients to ensure they are protected. Such initiation of primary care for patients who were too fearful to get vaccinated was another important benefit for our patients attending the clinics.

One of the most rewarding parts of the clinics was seeing some beautiful babies born to our post-operative patients. It is always wonderful to see our patients who have undergone successful interventions in Australia. But it is especially exciting to see such tangible evidence of how their life-saving intervention has enabled a whole new life for them and their families.

Following an extremely busy clinic, the next step is to secure operative spots for all our patients. We hope to undertake several more procedures in Australia before the end of 2022. With your ongoing support, we hope to start 2023 enthusiastically with more clinics and interventions than ever before.

Artimisa can now walk as far as she wants

Artimisa is one of four patients who travelled to Sydney in May this year to receive heart surgery. She had severe mitral stenosis - a condition where blood flow across her heart’s mitral valve was obstructed. This caused her chest palpitations and Artimisa often felt tired and short of breath. Even walking for 500 metres was a challenge. Artimisa said, “I felt so sad because I have been often thinking about this disease every day and I could not do my daily activity.”

Thanks to our supporters and volunteer cardiologist Dr Virag Kushwaha, Artimisa received life-saving heart surgery at Eastern Heart Clinic. Now she is happy she no longer feels the tiredness and heart pain.

“Before, I couldn’t walk for even 500 meters. I don’t feel any more chest palpitation and sore breath now. I can walk as far as I want!”

Donate to help more patients like Artimisa

A community effort to prevent rheumatic heart disease

In mid October we supported Maluk Timor to run a community engagement event at Becora school. The event raised awareness about acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease.

Rheumatic heart disease involves damage to one or more of the four heart valves, caused by acute rheumatic fever. It is 100% preventable by preventing acute rheumatic fever which is caused by an autoimmune response to the streptococcal A bacterial infection. The infection can cause the heart valves to become swollen, damaged and scarred, making it difficult for the heart to work properly.

Recognising acute rheumatic fever early and treating it with penicillin can help prevent rheumatic heart disease from developing. Early cases of rheumatic heart disease can also be controlled and prevented from becoming worse.

Educating the community empowers and encourages people to be vigilant about preventing acute rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease from developing. It also urges people to seek medical help as soon as they recognise the symptoms. Two patients who receive penicillin shared their experiences of living with rheumatic heart disease to help the community understand the benefits of the treatment program.

A heart and Will to save lives

Did you know that 70% of Australian adults don’t have a legally binding Will? East Timor Hearts Fund partners with Gathered Here to provide our supporters with free Wills.

Regardless of how much you own, having an up-to-date Will is one of the most important things you can do for yourself and your family. Not only can a Will legally protect your loved ones and assets, it can spell out exactly how you would like things handled, iin a way that will be aligned with your values.

The reasons people don’t have a Will when they should are varied but often it’s because they think it’s expensive and time consuming. To encourage our supporters to take this important job off their to-do list, we have partnered with top-rated Will writing platform, Gathered Here, who are offering free and legally binding Wills in less than 10 minutes, with unlimited updates for life. You can create your free Will now by visiting here.

Established in 2016, Gathered Here is Australia’s largest end-of-life services website. Providing services to help people prepare for and manage end-of-life situations including Wills, Probate and Funerals, Gathered Here is supported by an in-house legal team of highly experienced Wills and estate lawyers.

After you’ve provided for your loved ones, we would love you to consider leaving even a small percentage of your estate to East Timor Hearts Fund. A bequest or a gift in your Will is a lasting way you can help save lives and prevent more people from suffering rheumatic heart disease.

Welcome Mana Sidónia Ximenes - our new Rheumatic Heart Disease Nurse

We are delighted to welcome Mana Sidónia Ximenes to the East Timor Hearts Fund team. Mana Sidónia is our new Rheumatic Heart Disease Nurse based in Dili with our partner Maluk Timor. She will be supporting our RHD awareness, education and prevention programs including the penicillin program and our cardiac screening clinics.

Recently Mana Sidónia visit Comoro Community Health Centre to deliver our penicillin program. She was also involved in facilitating the community engagement event at Becoro school to raise awareness about rheumatic heart disease.

Mana Sidónia previously worked for the Timor-Leste Ministry of Health and Red Cross in Lospalos. At the Ministry of Health, she was working in the emergency department, outpatient department and inpatient rooms. She also collaborated with other medical teams in COVID-19 screening triage. While at Red Cross, Mana Sidónia was conducting health promotion with various ethnic groups, providing first aid nursing care and support for drought relief operations.

If you would like to volunteer and get involved, follow us on social media and head to our website.
Want to organise your own event? Download a copy of our fundraising guide.