Our Hearts Are In El Salvador:Digicel

Gift of Life International and its affiliated programs Gift of Life Los Angeles and Gift of Life Florida announced in January of 2010 that the country which the global network of Gift of Life programs would focus on for the year was El Salvador. El Salvador holds a special place in the history of Gift of Life. In 1988, Regalo de Vida El Salvador became one of the first Gift of Life programs. Over the past 20 plus years nearly 250 Salvadorian children have been saved through this program.

Gift of Life is a Rotary-based program that now has over 65 programs on 5 continents. Since its inception in 1975, more than 11,500 have received life-saving open-heart surgeries at 75 affiliated hospitals in 67 countries. In 2009, Gift of Life International instituted the "Our Hearts Are In…" global initiative under which a specific country is chosen to be the focus of the global network. The country in 2009 was Uganda and in 2010 it is El Salvador.

Gift of Life International has committed to saving the lives of 90 Salvadorian children in 2010. They have been fortunate to partner with Digicel El Salvador to accomplish this goal. Digicel El Salvador has committed $150,000 in 2010 to ensure that the 90 Salvadorian children receive life-saving interventional catheterization procedures or open-heart surgeries. As part of the "Our Hearts Are In El Salvador" program, Digicel is sponsoring 50 interventional catheterization procedures at Hospital Diagnostico in San Salvador, El Salvador. Hospital Diagnostico has donated the use of the catheterization lab and the recovery room, as well as the nursing care to make these procedures possible.

In addition, Digicel's contribution will help to support Gift of Life International's efforts to provide life-saving open-heart surgery to 40 additional children. These children will travel to 28 Gift of Life affiliated hospitals in 13 countries before the end of the 2010 Summer. Digicel El Salvador is a leader in the effort to build a healthy and bright future for the children of El Salvador.