Three Belizean Children Receive Lifesaving Heart Surgery Support Through Gift of Life Belize Program

One Belizean child has already traveled to the United States for heart surgery, while two others are preparing to undergo life-saving procedures through Gift of Life Belize. The children, all diagnosed with congenital heart defects, were identified during the organization’s free screening clinics by the Gift of Life Belize program.  It is a Rotary-supported initiative that connects children diagnosed with heart conditions to international medical partners so they can receive specialized treatment not available in Belize. According to Rotarian Yvette Burks of the Rotary Club of Belize, the clinics bring together doctors from across the country who refer babies and children showing signs of heart disease for further evaluation. During the screening process, a pediatric cardiologist who is not currently available in Belize is brought in to assess the patients. Burks explained that during the most recent February clinic, several children were evaluated and identified as needing further treatment abroad. Among them were the three children now receiving or preparing for surgical care.

Yvette Burkes, Rotary Club Belize Chairperson, Gift of Life Belize: “It’s a consistent program. We’re constantly working through our network and we have hospitals and contacts in many different places and so we try to place the children who need surgeries in a location where they will be hosted, picked up at the airport, taken care of and where the hospitals are able and willing to give them the professional care free of charge. And luckily for three families that that dream is coming true right now. We have a baby in Houston. We have a baby who is leaving early next week and that baby is headed to New Orleans. And then the week after that another child is going to Minneapolis. So we have been extremely busy and we always have more children needing help and moving on. So we have several others as well who will be going soon. Normally the future of a child born in a country like Belize which is under resourced in certain areas, thankfully we have improved amazingly well but still in pediatric heart care we are deficient and normally their lifespan would be dictated by the geography of their birth, by the economy of their birth and all of that. What Gift of Life Belize does is we level the playing field as well as we can by making this opportunity available to children regardless of where they were born, if they’re living in a dirt floor shack or not. We don’t care. We have sent children from every corner of this country.”

The organization continues to collaborate with international medical partners to ensure children in Belize can access specialized treatment they would otherwise not receive locally. Gift of Life Belize says its screening clinics play an important role in early detection of heart conditions, helping ensure children have access to potentially life-saving care.