2016 End of Year Report
On behalf of our entire organization, I wish you a Happy New Year!
2016 brought great growth to Little Hearts Medical, and with great gratitude and appreciation I thank you, our donors and supporters, for helping us to surpass our goals for the year! Thank you to all who spearheaded fundraisers, donated time and medical supplies, and spread the word about the work of LHM! It has been immensely gratifying to see LHM’s reach extent to more and more children who desperately need to be provided with hope and care, and I am so honored to work alongside of those who share our vision.
Little Hearts Medical is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) organization.
During 2016, we accomplished the following:
-157 file reviews of children born with congenital heart disease were completed for orphanages, adoption agencies, and prospective adoptive families. Our team of Pediatric Cardiologists and Surgeons provide these assessments free of charge. Post-assessment consultation with the reviewing physicians is part of this service, as is assistance with medical expedites as warranted.
-16 cardiac assessments and/or echocardiograms provided to orphans and children living with their biological families during our medical trip to Beijing in June, along with surgical consulting at BaYi Children’s Hospital (our partner hospital). Two of our pediatric cardiologists/interventionists, Dr. Laurie Armsby and Dr. Jay Fricker, volunteered their services during the trip, and paid for all travel expenses except for guide/translation fees which were paid by LHM. Administrators (Executive Assistant Eric Olson and Special Projects coordinator Ann Bartlinski), also paid all costs associated with the trip minus guide/translation fees which were paid by LHM.
-7 open heart surgeries were provided in August to children at our partner hospital in Beijing by our Surgical Director, Dr. Stephen Langley, who volunteered his services and paid all of his travel expenses. Our mission is to “teach a man to fish” and as such, the surgeries trained the BaYi surgeons in procedures new to them. Dr. Langley trained the China team in arterial switches, complex re-repairs, and various univentricular operations.
-We provided two more pairs of surgical loupes to the Jr. Cardiothoracic surgeons of BaYi Children’s Hospital.
-The balances were paid on the hospital bills of two children in China whose families were not able to afford the entire costs of their open heart surgeries and related hospital expenses. Assisting in family preservation is vitally important to us.
-We provided two sets of critical care transport equipment to Little Flowers Dew Drops medical foster home in Beijing, along with several thousand dollars for their surgical fund.
-Scanlon International, a foremost provider of surgical equipment, donated tens of thousands in pediatric cardiac surgery tools for us to donate to our partner hospital in Beijing.
-We worked with multiple adoption agencies on ongoing medical consulting for several waiting children with complex congential heart disease.
-With the help of Love Without Boundaries and Video Medical Missions/World Care Initiative, we assisted in arranging a cardiac catheterization for a critically ill CHD child.
Attached are our Income and Expense charts for 2016. Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have. I can be reached at aolson@littleheartsmedical.org or you can reach Mike Lee, our co-founder and Chairman of the Board, at mlee@littleheartsmedical.org. We strive for transparency, and we want our supporters to have the utmost confidence in our stewardship of the funds we are entrusted with.
We look forward to a fruitful 2017! Thank you for helping us to care for some of China’s most vulnerable children, and to continue our mission of expanding pediatric cardaic care in China.
With heartfelt thanks,
Andrea Olson
Executive Director, Little Hearts Medical
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