Patrons of the Hearts’ unique approach has a 100% success rate
There are two things that make Patrons of the Hearts (POTH) unique. The first is that they bring children with congenital heart disease from their home countries to Jacksonville for specialized treatment. The second is precisely where that treatment takes place – our city’s state-of-the-art, fully equipped, and equally compassionate Wolfson Children’s Hospital (WCH).
The equation has resulted in a one-hundred percent 
success rate. In a partnership with WCH and UF Pediatric Cardiovascular Center, POTH is a non-profit organization that allows and supports the cardiovascular treatment of ten underprivileged patients per year. To date, POTH has sponsored ninety-five patients from twenty-three different countries where adequate treatment was not available or accessible to them. The surgical team of Dr. Ettedgui, chief of the UF Health Pediatric Cardiovascular 
Center at WCH, Dr. Ceithaml and Dr. Shillingford, and the Pediatric Cardiology Division at WCH, have performed sixty-four open heart surgeries, eight closed heart surgeries and twenty-three catheterization procedures. All of the patients have had successful cardiac treatment, and all except one have returned to their home country.
POTH is the brainchild of Dr. Ettedgui, whose wife, Hilda, runs the non-profit organization and says of him, “This is his field and his love.”
