Community assessment: How the project team learned about the community’s needs
Little heart surgery is one of the flagship projects of the club. Rotary Club of Mumbai Lakers has become a beacon of hope for kids under the age of 18 born with heart defects, through the Touching Little Hearts campaign. There are different forms in which we help the families bear the cost of the heart surgeries. Sometimes we bear partial costs of surgery, and in most cases, we bear the full cost. The ‘Touching Little Hearts’ surgeries have reached 324 children over the last 8 years through RCML. The youngest child whose heart surgery we have supported was 5 hours old.
Project impact: How the project will help the community after the project ends
To be born with congenital heart defects in this country, especially in underprivileged families, is almost like a certain death sentence. On top of that, over half of hospitalizations in India are in private hospitals, where the medical expenditure per hospitalization is seven times that of government hospitals. Given this, the poor are less likely to avail of hospitalization, which really endangers toddlers with Coronary Heart Disease, making their chances of survival even slimmer. with these surgery, the infant go on to live a long, heaslthy, fulfilling lives
Sustainability: How the benefits of the project will continue afterward