Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Rachel Jamison. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Rachel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’re complete cheeseballs and so we love asking folks to share the most heartwarming moment from their career – do you have a touching moment you can share with us?
I am a pediatric cardiologist and work as the Chief Medical Officer for Hope Ignited, a non-profit dedicated to bringing hope and healing to the children of Guinea, West Africa. We opened the only pediatric center of excellence in the country in May 2023. Part of my role in the center is to provide pediatric cardiology care to patients suspected of heart disease. Over the last year, we have partnered with another non-profit organisation in France to send over 45 children for life-saving heart surgery in Europe. Each child we send is special and the reward in seeing their lives and the life of their family transformed through healing is both humbling and incredible. However, there are two children whose story is especially touching.
Oumou and Aissatou are the best of friends, a bond now made stronger by their shared experiences. Oumou was diagnosed in our clinic with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart disease that causes low levels of oxygen in the body. She was accepted for open heart surgery in France and her recovery has been nothing short of miraculous. She went from being unable to walk down the hallway of the center to running and playing on the playground. She also returned to school, which is where she met Aissatou.
When Oumou saw Aissatou for the first time, she saw that Aissatou was too tired to walk and was unable to carry her own backpack. She recognized that Aissatou had a similar problem as she had before surgery. So she started offering to carry the backpack and the two girls developed a sweet friendship. Over time, Oumou started telling Aissatou that she knew a place where Aissatou could find healing and once their parents heard this over and over, they finally decided to take a chance on coming to Sacre Coeur.
Aissatou’s family had known she had a problem with her heart from the time she was 6 months old. They had gone to 3 different centers in Conakry, each of whom had promised to help her get the surgery she needed. But after years of waiting at each hospital, she continued to suffer. When they came to Sacre Coeur for the first time, her dad said that he “knew immediately that something was different here.” He dared to hope once more that his daughter would find healing. After several exams, Aissatou was indeed diagnosed with the same heart condition as Oumou. Her case was accepted by the same organization in France and she had life-saving heart surgery in May of this year. When Dr. Rachel shared the news of her acceptance with the family and told them how different Aissatou would be when she returned, her dad said, “Dr. Rachel, it is as if she is already healed because I now have hope for her.”
The girls continue to be the best of friends, but now they are both in school every day, able to play together on the playground, and can imagine a bright future for themselves and each other.
Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?
Passion, ambition, and willingness to sacrifice. There will always be people who have the intelligence and can learn enough to be the only pediatric cardiologist and build a pediatric center in a developing country. But not everyone has the passion and ambition to make it happen, or are willing to make the sacrifices needed to see it through. It has taken insane amounts of work, time, and energy to build our center – the planning, fundraising, construction, procurement of equipment and pharmaceuticals, recruitment of staff, creation of educational and clinical programs, etc. It certainly added a few gray hairs and wrinkles! And we have it all away from family and friends in a country that is so difficult. But what keeps us going is our passion to see hope and healing spread in Guinea, our ambition to make it excellent in every way possible, and our willingness to continue to sacrifice for the benefit of the people of this beautiful country.
Any advice for managing a team?
I think the most important thing is to lead by example and communicate the vision often and well. This is especially important during the building phase of a project. It’s hard work and everyone gets really tired, and there are times when the team wants to slow down or even give up. But those are the moments to dig deep and remember the why behind our work, to share stories of successes and remind ourselves how far we’ve come. We have monthly leadership meetings where we can come together to discuss what’s needed, where we see gaps, issues that need sorting out. But we also make sure to share wins and to focus on our growth so that we can appreciate where the hard work has gotten us to this point.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.hopeignited.org
- Instagram: @HopeIgnited
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HopeIgnited/