Rotary Club Giving the Gift of Life

Studies show that one in every hundred children will be born with some form of heart disease.  While most of the cases are mild or easily treatable, there are some that are life threatening and difficult to treat.  In Belize, there are limited services and for many parents it is too costly to undertake on their own.  So, they look forward to the Rotary Club of Belize’s Gift of Life Programme which makes pediatric cardiology services more accessible.  Today, News Five’s Andrea Polanco stopped in at the Lions Club in Belize City to find out more about this year’s program.

Andrea Polanco, Reporting

The Rotary Club of Belize, with support from the Lions Club, is hosting its annual Gift of Life Programme. The programme is for children from birth to eighteen years of age with congenital heart disease.

Ariel Mitchell

Ariel Mitchell, Chairperson, Gift of Life, Belize Rotary

“The Ministry of Health and Wellness was kind enough to allow us this because there are children here who have gone nearly a year without any follow up treatment and so they gave us a sort of priority to have this thing done because a lot of children are in really bad shape. Right now they are being assessed if they can be treated here, will they be sent abroad and they have to arrange for hospitals in the US to accept them.”

A medical team from Nebraska led by pediatric cardiologist Dr. Jeffrey Delaney is heading the three day clinic in Belize City to evaluate children with known or possible heart disease conditions or for recommendation for treatment.

Jeff Delaney

Dr. Jeff Delaney, Pediatric Cardiologist

“We just started this morning but we have already seen a variety of heart disease including holes in the heart; extra blood vessels; all the way up to and including hearts that are significantly malformed and don’t have all the normal pumping chambers or valves that can be a serious problem.”

Andrea Polanco

“From the conditions you have seen today, how many roughly or approximately are treatable?”

Dr. Jeff Delaney

“Well, most of what I have seen today are treatable. I have seen a couple of kids that have more difficult conditions where the treatment may not be able to fix the problem but can hopefully make them more functional and happier as they go through life but not everything has a complete cure with surgery, some of it just has to be fixed to the best of its ability.”

Andrea Polanco

“There are children here who may be referred for surgeries and things like that later on?”

Dr. Jeff Delaney

“Yes, that is something we look after quite a bit through the course of the evaluation and afterwards is that some children will need specialized surgery or procedures that need to be done elsewhere. And fortunately the rotary has an extensive program with referring hospitals and centers throughout the Caribbean and the United States to get kids placed if they are able to get accepted for the procedure elsewhere.”

The medical team from the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha is sponsored by the Downtown Rotary Club in Nebraska in the U.S.A. They have been coming to Belize, at least once a year, to hold clinics and refer children for life saving treatments abroad.

Leroy Swedlund

Leroy Swedlund, Downtown Rotary Club, Omaha

“There are numerous kids whose lives have been saved. I can think of one child probably six or seven years ago who had what’s called transposition artery veins were inverted where the vein should be the artery was and that child had to be sent to the United States. It was lacking oxygen and it was blue and with a fairly uncomplicated procedure in the U.S. they were able to reverse and correct the defect and that child is living a normal life. Another young lady come up to me several years ago and she said to me ’Mr. Leroy, I was in Omaha eleven years ago you fixed my heart.’ She had run several miles in track that day and was studying to be a nurse. So, that is really rewarding.”

Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.

In the coming days the team will be in Dangriga to conduct clinics for the southern districts. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the clinic cannot accommodate walk-ins and therefore advises parents to call Gift of Life to 610-3890 to make an appointment.