A Note from our Executive Director, LaRelle:
Today the world lost a great and humble man, Dr. Lester Sauvage. Although Dr. Sauvage has not ‘practiced’ for some time, his practice was always kindness and compassion to all of his patients, young and old. I personally knew him through Seattle Children’s Hospital. I worked as one of the scrub and circulating nurses in Children’s Cardiac Surgery operating room. He was a quiet man in the OR, unlike many of his colleagues. He prayed for his patients, and quietly made difficult decisions to improve the quality of life the children we served at Children’s.
Dr. Sauvage is one of the many mentors that touch my life, and gave me a passion for children who need heart surgery. Dr. Sauvage’s art of saving kid’s lives through heart surgery touched my life, and is a part of the reason why the not-for-profit organization and INGO, MEDRIX, works to not only improve the quality of life for children in Vietnam, but also sponsors children and young adults for life-saving heart surgery.
For m
ore information I would encourage you to check out the organization Dr. Lester Savuage founded: Hope Heart Institute: www.hopeheartinstitute.org and then take a look at MEDRIX www.medrix.org. Our deepest condolences to the Sauvage family and to all of the patients whose lives were touched forever by Dr. Sauvage.
Taken from the Hope Heart Institute web site: “Lester R. Sauvage, MD was a young cardiovascular surgeon in 1959 when he founded the Hope Heart Institute, a cardiovascular research facility. He began his practices at Providence Seattle Medical Center and Children’s Medical Center in Seattle just a few months before opening the doors of The Hope. His efforts were balanced between his clinical research and his work as a surgeon.” Photos used from the Hope Heart Institute website.
