Heart To Heart Connection

THE HEART-TO-HEART CONNECTION

Hearts stand for love. Big hearts represent generosity. Having a heart symbolizes compassion. But when the heart is unhealthy, none of the above stands a chance.

“Save a Heart....Save a Life” is a project undertaken by Rotary Bangalore Yelahanka. The aim of this project is to provide financial support to perform paediatric heart surgeries.

We have so far helped 105 children since the starting of the project. Our project partner is the “Needy Heart Foundation” which co-sponsors the expenses towards surgery and executes the project.

Our project focus is on congenital heart diseases (CHD) in children from poor families in the age group of zero to 10 years. Congenital heart diseases refer to structural or functional heart defects, which are present at birth. This is one of the most common birth defects in developing countries and it is on the rise. The only treatment for this is surgery. Though India can boast of modern cardiac facilities at internationally competitive rates, it is out of reach of for the economically weaker sections of the society.

Rotary Yelahanka sponsors the surgery of children after a thorough examination by cardiac experts from well-known hospitals like Narayana Hridayalaya, Manipal Hospital, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology, Columbia Asia etc.

What started as a small project a few years ago, when Rotary Yelahanka was supporting 5 to7 surgeries, has now become a major project, growing steadily since 2018. In 2019-20 we have been able to support over 65 paediatric heart surgeries with unstinted support from the corporates and our dedicated partner, the Needy Heart Foundation. We are hopeful to organise many more surgeries to help the needy children in the coming years too.

Rotary Yelahanka not only organises the surgery for children but also visits the hospitals to meet the children and their parents. It is soul-nourishing to see the recovering children with their smiling parents which give immense satisfaction and inspiration for us to help more and more ill children from poor families.