GIFT OF LIFE

Dottie Hancock, District 6560 Gift of Life Chair spoke to the club on December 8th. The Gift of Life Program began in New York when a Ugandan child was the first recipient of the surgery. Now a grown woman, the Ugandan recipient will speak at the 2010 District 6560 Conference.
District 6560 began supporting the Gift of Life Program in 1998 and has helped save more than 150 children worldwide. Previously, the program has only supported heart surgery needs, but recently has also helped children with other ailments. This year, a Haitian girl was brought to Indianapolis with a large tumor in her stomach. She was unable to stand up straight because of the size of the tumor. After her life-saving surgery, her father allowed her to be adopted by an Indiana couple. Also this year, a Kenyan girl needed heart surgery and cleft palate surgery. Another child from Honduras and 2 children from Uganda were also recipients of heart surgery at Riley Hospital in Indianapolis.
Another project Gift of Life supports is sending a medical team to Jordan. In the past 3 years, through 5 teams, 50 children have been saved because of this project. Rotarian Dottie also talked about the potential of a Pediatric Heart Center in Uganda, where surgeries could be completed without having to pay for the children to travel.
The Gift of Life Program is supported by donations from clubs and individuals, matching grants and Riley Hospital. For each sugery done at Riley, Rotary pays only $5,000 and Riley takes care of the rest. Children are chosen after an EKG of their heart is reviewed. The goal is to correct their ailment with only one sugery. Programs like Gift of Life and Polio Plus are what Rotary is all about.