Our Hearts Are In Uganda:
A Global Initiative Sponsored by Gift of Life International
In the summer of 2008 Gift of Life International’s Board of Directors voted to institute the ‘Our Hearts Are in…’ program. This program has three main objectives: (1) Illustrate the possibilities of Rotary; (2) highlight the plight of the children of a specific country; and (3) showcase the global network of Gift of Life’s ability to deliver services to children in need. The first country to be chosen was Uganda.
Uganda was chosen based upon the place that this country holds in the history of Gift of Life (GOL). The first Gift of Life child came from Uganda in 1975. Since then many other Ugandan children have been saved through Gift of Life programs around the world, including the 10,000th Gift of Life child that was operated on in the fall of 2008.
Our Hearts Are in Uganda has three Phases. Phase I took place in January of 2009 when 6 children were operated on at 4 GOL affiliated hospitals in the United States. The intent of this Phase was to determine the issues that would have to be dealt with when we handled over 25 children at the same time. On May 6th Phase II began. This Phase saw 30 children leave Kampala, Uganda on May 6th and May 9th for 25 GOL affiliated hospitals in 13 countries. Ugandan children traveled to countries such as the Ukraine, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, the United States, Guatemala, Colombia, Russia, Israel, China, Jordan, South Korea, Italy and India for their life-saving surgeries. In each country Rotarians and healthcare professionals were waiting to help these children and their parents through this most difficult time of their lives.
Over the period of January 1st to June 15th thirty-five Ugandan children were operated on at 25 Gift of Life affiliated hospitals. All but 2 of our 36 children underwent successful surgeries. Unfortunately we lost a little girl two weeks after her operation and a little boy before he was able to receive his operation. Their loss is a tragedy that has affected us all and reminds us the serious nature of these children’s conditions. It also reinforces the fact that children all over the world live in constant despair and that our efforts give them hope for a second chance at a healthy life.
All of our children have now returned home and are in the process of being registered at the Uganda Heart Institute so that we may monitor their recoveries.
We are now beginning Phase III of the ‘Our Hearts Are in Uganda’ initiative.; In early October we will convene a Conference of pediatric cardiac surgeons and Rotarians in Kampala, Uganda. The objective of this gathering will be to develop a strategy to establish a sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery program at the Uganda Heart Institute. Invitees to this conference will be surgeons, cardiologists and Rotarians that participated in Phase I and Phase II of this initiative. It is expected that Gift of Life programs throughout the world will sponsor 4 to 6 surgical missions per year for 4 years. Each surgical mission will hold a dual purpose: (1) to operate on 20 Ugandan children suffering from heart ailments and (2) to train the surgeons at the Ugandan Heart Institute. Surgeons from Italy, India, the United States and many other countries will be dedicating their time and talent to pursuing the goal of establishing a sustainable program in Uganda.
"Our Hearts Are in Uganda" has proven that great things can be accomplished when people of diverse backgrounds come together with a common objective: To help a child in need. Hundreds of individuals from 13 different ethnic backgrounds contributed to one of the greatest humanitarian efforts that have been attempted. We now embark on the mission of training the healthcare professionals in Uganda to treat their own.
Our Hearts Are In Uganda: Participating Surgeons And Hospitals
Dr. Bassam Akasheh – Khalid Medical Center (Amman, Jordan): Praise Dr. Mark Turrentine – Riley Hospital For Children (Indianapolis, Indiana): Innocent Dr. Survo Sett – Westchester Medical Center (Westchester County, New York): Ismail And Matayo Dr. Sergei Gorbechevsky – Bakoulev Center (Moscow, Russia): Emmanuel Dr. Samuel Weinstein – Montefiore Medical Center (Bronx, New York): Lilian Dr. Paul Chai – Tampa Children’s Hospital (Tampa,Florida): Mich Dr. Giancarlo Crupi – Ospedali Riuniti Di Bergamo (Bergamo, Italy): Owen And Fiona Dr. Young Hwan Park – Severance Hospital (Seoul, South Korea): Jane Dr. Khan Nguyen – St. Joseph’s Hospital (New Jersey): Rodney And Colline Dr. Umar Boston – Le Bohneur Children’s Hospital (Memphis,Tennessee): Natesha Dr. Rodrigo Soto – (Visiting From Chile) Hospital Infantil A. Grullon (Santiago, Dominican Republic): Gloria Dr. Mike Slack – Children’s National Medical Center (Washington, Dc): Desire And Tevin Dr. Elman Frantz – The University Of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, Nc): Patrick |
Dr. Lior Sasson – Wolfson Medical Center (Tel Aviv, Israel): Harvey Dr. O P Yadava – National Heart Institute (New Delhi, India): Apophia Dr. K S Iyer – Escorts Heart Institute And Research Centre (New Delhi, India): Harriet Dr. Steven Greenberg – St. Francis Hospital (Roslyn, New York): Robinah Dr. Todd Rosengart - Stony Brook University Hospital (Stonybrook, New York): Annet Dr. Richard Perryman – Joe Dimaggio Hospital (Hollywood, Florida): Daniel Dr. Nestor Sandoval – Cardio Infantil (Bogota, Colombia): Nathan Dr. Alex Dovgan – Kiev City Heart Centre (Kiev, Ukraine): Charles Dr. Ludgerio Torres – Philippine Heart Center (Quezon City, Philippines): Herbert Dr. Oscar Veras – Unicar (Guatemala City, Guatemala): Sharon Dr. Neil Devejian – Albany Medical Center (Albany, New York): Wilbur Dr. He Qiang/Dr. Shang Yu Giang – Suzhou Kowloon Hospital (Suzhou, China): Patience |
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Kato
Natesha Hatega
Patience
Tevin
