SURGEON AIMS TO FILL HOLE IN HAITI'S HEART CARE
(New York Post) - By Rita Delfiner
Dr. François Lacour-Gayet’s native country, France, conferred the Legion of Honor on the heart surgeon for his humanitarian work, and in New York, his colleagues have dubbed him “Knight of The Bronx.’’
Lacour-Gayet, who came to Montefiore Medical Center two years ago from a hospital in Denver, is chief of Montefiore’s department of pediatric cardiac surgery -- and is on a mission to build a heart hospital in Haiti.
“There is absolutely no cardiac care in Haiti. Nothing,’’ he said.
“People cannot be treated for severe heart disease, and they simply die unless they belong to the happy few that have resources to go elsewhere.’’
He said that only two days before a 2-year-old “beautiful little girl’’ was scheduled to leave Haiti and travel to Montefiore for surgery to repair a hole in her heart, she died. “It was too late,’’ he said, adding that children die there of heart disease “every day.’’
Lacour-Gayet said that he’s now in the fund-raising phase of the Haiti project, and he hopes to create a foundation -- involving Montefiore and French and American partners -- to build a teaching cardiac hospital that will serve children and adults and train Haitian doctors.
He was nominated for a Liberty Freedom medal by Montefiore spokesman Michael Quane.
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