Bronx, NY (April 19, 2010) -- There was a lot of excitement at The Children's Hospital at Montefiore (CHAM) on Thursday, April 15, when two members of the hugely popular Latin singing group Aventura visited the hospital, but more importantly, brightened the day of a child recovering from open-heart surgery.
Though just days away from embarking on a world tour, Aventura members Mike Santos and Henry Santos Jeter took time from their busy schedules to visit with Laurin Rivera-Hernandez, a six-year-old girl from Panama who was brought to CHAM under the auspices of the Rotary Club of Ossining, a participant in Rotary International's Gift of Life Program. Laurin suffered from a congenital heart abnormality called Ventricular Septal Defect, a hole between the chambers of her heart. The hole was patched by Samuel Weinstein, MD, Director of Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery at Montefiore, on Monday April 12. The post-operative care and diagnosis was provided by CHAM's Pediatric Cardiology Staff, led by Daphne Hsu, MD, Chief of Pediatric Cardiology. Laurin was well enough to be discharged April 19.
Due to the wide popularity of Aventura, which recently sold out three concerts at Madison Square Garden, the visit was well covered by both English and Spanish language media, including CNN Espanol, WNJU-Channel 47-TV Telemundo, NY-I Noticias-TV, News 12-Bronx, News 12-Westchester, and the Bronx Times-Reporter.
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