The Heart of VIP

For years, HEART of VIP has been a group of women committed to raising awareness and funds to support children and women impacted by violence and poverty. It began on a hot day in June, almost 20-years ago, after a seven-year-old girl was brought to our trailer clinic after a violent assault on the streets of Los Angeles. Her dress was dirty, dingy, and far too big. She had no shoes or underwear. She had dirt ground into her entire body and she was crying. I had nothing to give her – not even a drink of water – so I sent the receptionist to the dollar store. She came back with underwear and a dress that would fit. I took her home in my red SUV and marveled at the dinginess and graffiti that were the normal background to the grimy apartments that lined the street. It was out of her needs that HEART was born, transforming VIP into what it has become. I remain eternally grateful to Eve Somer for asking me what she could do to help, and responding with HEART.

HEART (“Helping Ease Abuse-Related Trauma”) transformed our approach to the diagnosis and treatment of trauma related to abuse, neglect, sexual assault, and family or street violence. Because of their support, we were able to ask children, families, woman, and the elderly what they needed in order to find safety and rediscover their sense of self-worth. HEART has sent children to have plastic repairs for disfigured faces; paid for the orthodontia of a foster child in need; and even helped a child change schools because of bullying. There is a constant stream of support needed by staff and patients alike. Because of HEART we are able to ask the key question – “How can I help you?” The help may be nothing more than listening to them. And, when it is more, we rely on partners in the community of philanthropy to help buy necessities. There is a food giveaway every Friday, and daily requests for help from patients and their families. It has changed our lives for the better. We realize, every day, that the healing of a child or family impacted by violence is the reason we are here, and the reason we aren’t going anywhere.

HEART brings healing to trauma. It energizes, supports, and drives what we do at VIP, and the different it has made to children and families across Southern California is immeasurable. THANK YOU to all of the leadership and members of HEART – you have changed what is done for children in our community, and made a real difference in the lives of all of our patients.

So – in gratitude to all of you,
 
Astrid Heger – HEART

“How Much Is A Child Worth?”

There comes a time in one’s life when, as a pediatrician, you have to answer a very important question – “How much is a child worth?”

Is it worth a call to my old trailer to see a little boy brought in by the LAPD with remnants of tape across his face and wrist?

He had been taped and pushed to the bottom of a full bathtub in the temporary local motel in Bell. He was brave! By kicking on the wall he was able to summon help which saved he and his sister from drowning.

Was it worth driving through the early morning March fog to see a small AA girl misdiagnosed at a local hospital ER on her way to foster care?

I asked the family how to help them, then sent her home and watched her elegant father carry her to the car. “What would you ask me to do if I was magic?” I asked, smiling, at the sad little seven-year-old. “Can you make my mother love me?” she replied.

How much are they worth? They are worth the world!

I have known this since I was seven and my father taught me to care about everyone: young, old, and everyone in-between. It was holidays with students who had nowhere to go, gathered around our dining table in our small house in Riverside; playing games, and laughing the night away – joy at sharing what little we had and learning that the most important thing in life was giving.

VIP was built on – “How can I help?” But the hardest lesson to accept is that passion and caring are often threats to those who have power and do nothing. They never ask, “How much is a child worth?” They ask, “How much did you spend to save them?” I am afraid that we have entered a time when the price to save the life of a small minority, immigrant, or gay child might be too high for most of society.

But, a few Saturdays ago, I drove to the High Desert where Dorothy threw a party in her front yard for hundreds of foster children and foster parents (a Winter wonderland) and celebrated their value and the value of foster parents. It was amazing and validating for VIP to be there to see that – yes – what we do and say is really important. What makes the work important? Perhaps it’s…

• Sending a box of clothes and supplies to a young foster parent in Palmdale – a box of what she needed for the foster teenager who arrived the night before;

• Having the ability to send children across the country – or the world, for that matter – if it means safety;

• Receiving a request for airfare to bring young children to Los Angeles to see their mother one last time before she dies from her terminal uterine cancer;

• Watching family after family leave through our back gate carrying gifts for their children. 

It’s these moments when it’s possible for us to say – “Yes – YES! We value who you are.” When we ask – “How can I help you?” – we can actually answer and deliver on those requests for help.

I WANT TO THANK ALL OF YOU FOR CARING ENOUGH to help us fill up those dreams with yes’s.   

I hope you had a blessed holiday season! 

Astrid

“Hope is a species of happiness, and perhaps the chief happiness which this world affords.”- Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson’s quote has never been more appropriate than today! Currently, with the epidemic surge rising up ahead of us yet again, we have to rely on hope as the most important ingredient in each day. I hope that despite the despair that seems to prevail that we will use this unique opportunity to embrace a renewed sense of kindness and caring for each other. I have been clinging to the HOPE that school would restart this August, so that an extra pair of eyes would be on the well being of children. I wonder how much hope children have now, who once knew that if they could get to school there was the hope of food and kindness; and a teacher or aide or someone who could recognize their need for safety. I hope their family and neighbors are paying attention…

I hope everyday that 30 plus years of building a system to protect children and families would not be discarded as unimportant because a wave of this epidemic sweeps over the country and the world for that matter. I weep at the thought that these children and their families are forgotten.

I have been living with the hope that the emergency response funded from the Mayor’s office will recognize the need for giving women living with violence the hope of a future of continued safe housing, jobs, child care, and education.

I have been waiting for the past 7 years for a solution to the homeless problem in this County. There are such great ideas out there that get buried quickly under the weight of greed and inefficiency. I hope that this health crisis will bring cool heads to the table.

I wonder if the University of Southern California will recognize the unique position it holds in Los Angeles, the County, the city, as well as in this country by providing the leadership on pioneering a university-wide coalition of professors, students, and administrators who will guarantee equity for students, faculty, as well as for this community we live in and must serve. Can this same University come with humility to the people of this county and to its agencies and ask: “How can we help with this crisis? How do we build a better Los Angeles?”

Most of all I hope that all of the entities with the power, influence, and money to make a real difference in our lives and will put aside personal gain and fame, to ask the people who live here – HOW CAN WE HELP? I also hope that they will listen carefully to the answers that come back from our community.

VIP is ready and able to participate in embracing the community, our fellow providers and faculty, the students and our patients – with the creation of the path to hope.

–Astrid