This is 4 year old Cristel who lives here in Cuenca. She was born with a non functioning left eye which caused her eye to  shrink to almost nothing. We were contacted by her grandmother who had heard of HKIE from another family we had helped. It seemed she was losing vision in her functioning eye.
We got Cristel to Exilaser where it was determined that fortunately all she needed for her right eye was stronger lenses. (She is s0 sweet....she is shown here applauding when she identified the pictures she was shown>.)
After receiving her new glasses, HKIE got her to our prosthetic specialist, Dra Mariela Siguencia at Hospital del Rio. She informed us that Cristel could indeed use a partial prosthetic eye but that the eye socket had also shrunk so surgery was needed to increase the socket size to match her other eye.
Las week Dr. Pablo Salamea Molina and Dra. Siguencia operated on Cristel's eye and put in a temporary prosthetic. In 3 weeks she will receive a more permanent one and later she will receive a final prosthetic. This little girl will be a real cutie after this!
Her mother and grandmother are so very very grateful to HKIE, the donors and all the doctors who are providing such wonderful care to their precious little one.

This is 9 year old Nazareth from the Ecuador coast. She was born with cerebral palsy type syndrome and is unable to walk. As she is obviously growing, it had become more and more difficult for her parents to carry her. So she had become more and more housebound.
An expat on the coast asked if HKIE could provide her with a wheelchair. Thanks to the coordination of our 2 coastal reps, Luis Galarza and Maite Mijares, we were able to locate a suitable wheelchair and get it to the family.
​Nazareth and her family are so very grateful for the mobility and better quality of life the donors to HKIE hve provided.​

​Child 480 is 13 year old Vicky who is seen here with Jim Cory.
Vicky had previously received medication which unfortunately affected her eyes. Without medication and care from Exilaser she may have become blind. She now has eye medication and new glasses. As you can see, she is one happy young lady.

Child 481 is 6 month old Angelina who has been living at Hogar de Esperanza. Garry Vatcher contacted us about the baby having a rash. Our dermatologist Dra. Yadira Tapia saw little Angelina and diagnosed her with severe dermatitis. Afler receiving some special soaps, creams and medications, Angelina will have a follow up in about 10 days. Her mother died of an overdose; the family history is tragic.

Child 482 is little 4 month old Andrew who was born with an extra wide mouth preventing him from eating properly and learning to speak correctly. Dr. Pablo Salamea performed surgery on him and he will now be able to have a normal life.

None of these children would have been treated through HKIE had it not been for our donors and the generosity of all the doctors and clinics involved who donate their time and allow HKIE generous discounts!

Tuesday saw the arrival of a team of surgeons, including our medical director, Dr. Pablo Salamea, to the small village of Taisha at the edge of the Amazon. At the request of Ecuador's Vice President and health officials, this team is providing medical care and surgeries to 42 individuals. The residents of Taisha have never before been afforded access to such high quality medical care.
Due to the limited seating on the small plane we were unable to go on this mission.
Dr. Pablo and his team performed 15 surgeries in 2 1/2 days.
Taisha, and indeed, Ecuador, is blessed to have such a group of skilled doctors willing to volunteer their time and skills to the less fortunate in their country.

 

​This is 10 month old Luciana. Her plight was brought to our attention by Sr. Veronica from the Palmar clinic, asking if HKIE could help.
Luciana, her mom Jocelin, and her grandmother Rosa, took the bus here and spent their first night last Sunday at Posada de Angel (thanks for the discount Daniel!). She had her Covid test Monday morning and we moved them over to Buen Samaritano (Emaus House .... our version of Ronald Mcdonald for those who are not familiar with it).
Dr Pablo Salamea Molina performed this difficult surgery on Tuesday and they returned home on Wednesday. As you can see the surgery was a great success !! Thaanks to Dr. Pablo, Hospital del Rio and our donors, this little one has a bright future.
Luciana will return next eek to be fit for a special dental prosthesis so her teeth and mouth will form correctly. Dra. Mariela Seguncia will make the form for her.
Another child helped thanks to all of you!

​A life saved thanks to the surgeons, Hospital del Rio and our loyal donors!
This is 1 1/2 year old Allisson who was born with an extra vein between her heart chambers. This caused blood around her lungs and prevented her from breathing normally. Can you imagine how her mother felt, seeing her little baby struggle to breathe, knowing there was a surgery to correct the problem, but also knowing she could never afford it!
Thanks to Derrylyn Churchill who alerted HKIE of this situation, Allisson was seen by Dr. Rodrigo Mendoza of Hospital del Rio. Between Dr. Rodrigo, our medical director Dr. Pablo Salamea Molina, Dr Juan Flores the cardiac surgeon, and Hospital del Rio, HKIE was able to provide the necessary heart surgery.
Allisson had her surgery last week and Dr. Rodrigo informs us she is set to have a heart healthy life! (Shown with mom and Dr. Rodrigo)
None of this would have been possible without the joint efforts of all concerned, and most importantly ..... all those who donated to this foundation!
Both Dr Flores and Dr Mendoza waived their surgical fee! Thank you. As they always do, the hospital gave us a generous discount!
All of the donors who have been supporting HKIE over the years should stand up and take a bow! Without you the foundation wouldn't have been able financially to help this child or the previous 455 children.

​Our medical director, Dr. Pablo Salamea Molina, has been busy these last couple weeks.
First was Emil, from Troncal, with his cleft lip. He is shown before and after.
The second is Santiago who had a seriously bad cleft lip which Dr. Pablo also repaired.
Thanks to Dr. Pablo donating his skills, Hospital del Rio giving us a generous discount and of course our supporters, these two babes will be able to go through life with beautiful smiles and no problem speaking normally!

​This is 13 year old Tatiana who has been staying with her family at Hogar de Esperanza. Until Garry welcome them to The Hogar, they
were living on the street. When she and her family arrived, Tatiana had a severe eye infection which Garry immediately attended to. While it improved, Garry called us and if asked HKIE could double check her vision to insure proper healing. Of course we said yes.
Tatiana was seen by Dra Naty Torres at Exilaser who gave her some more medications and asked that she be seen by Dr. Miotto to see if there was any damage to the cornea. Dr. Miotto confirmed there is some scarring on her left cornea that has severely compromised her vision. Tatiana will have a follow up in three weeks. She also received a pair of glasses to improve the impaired vision in her right eye. (Doesn't she look cool and sophisticated in her glasses!)
All of us at HKIE and Hogar de Esperanza are hopeful the medication will do the trick. The fight to save her vision is on! All of our loyal donors make it possible to save her vision.
Huge thanks to all our donors and the wonderful doctors and staff at Exilaser for allowing these little miracles to take place. A huge thank you also goes out to Garry and his wonderful staff for all the amazing work they do for the least fortunate people in our community!