Healing Hearts this Holiday Season

Thanks for participating in the poll! Although we didn’t meet our challenge grant for the additional $500 donation, the GoErinGo! Fund did donate the $2,500 to fund an open-heart surgery for a child.

To mark the holidays, the GoErinGo! Fund is donating $2,500 to pay for one open-heart surgery for a child in South America. What a great way to celebrate the season!

And you can be involved too! Vote “Yes” by Dec. 31, and if we receive 500 votes, we’ll donate an extra $500 to help pay for ongoing care. Vote Today!

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Providing Operations for Children

Heart Care International is a non-denominational, non-sectarian nonprofit organization that provides life-saving heart care for children suffering from congenital heart disease who live in developing countries. The organization was started more than 20 years ago by a NYC doctor who brought a group of his medical colleagues down to Guatemala to administer life saving pediatric surgery for 25 Guatemalan children.

Here’s a snapshot of all the medics’ fabulous work, including performing:

• 600 open heart surgeries
• 175 interventional heart procedures
• Medical screenings more than 1,500 children/young adults

Not only does the org perform free operations for sick children, but they help train local medical personnel to care for the patients after the team returns to the U.S. Between the medical missions, the doctors remain in constant communication with the foreign hospital to assist as medical issues arise.

If a child needs a surgery that cannot be performed abroad, Heart Care International can also help arrange for the patient (and parent) to travel to the U.S. to receive medical attention. Heart Care also transports medical supplies to the host country on every trip.

Medical Professionals Volunteer

I heard about Heart Care International from my friend Antoinette, a pediatric nurse. She was just coming off her 4th volunteer trip where she donated her nursing skills to help children in Peru receive one of the org’s life-saving operations.

Here’s Antoinette talking with us about why she repeatedly volunteers:

Can’t see the video? Click on this link: Antoinette Volunteers in Peru

Heart Care International welcomes pediatric medical and surgical volunteers from any country. To date, the team represents over 20 major medical institutions in over 22 states and 5 different countries. So far the organization has performed life-saving pediatric surgery in Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Peru.

Here’s the medical staff letting off a little steam after a long week in the operating theater:

Can’t see the video? Click on this link: Pediatric Medics in Peru

If you have an area of expertise that you would be interested in sharing with Heart Care International, please contact them directly at heartcarei@aol.com.

You Too Can Help!

Do you want to help support Heart Care’s good work? You can:

• Vote Yes! – If we receive 500 votes by the end of the year, we’ll donate an additional $500 to help pay for ongoing care.
• Donate – $2,500 saves a child’s life
• Volunteer – Administrative team members are also needed to help coordinate the surgical missions, both in the host country and back in the U.S.
• In-Kind Gifts – Corporate sponsors are needed to provide medical supplies and equipment.
• Fund Raise – Heart Care International has a number of fundraising events that you can help support.

Interested in learning more about overseas volunteer engagements? Check out:

• Pirjo Volunteers in Nepal
• Erin Volunteers in Sri Lanka

Tags: child surgery, donations, giving, HeartCare International, volunteering volunteer

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2012 and is filed under Donate My Dollars.