GIFT OF LIFE CELEBRATES 88 HEART SURGERIES PERFORMED IN 7 COUNTRIES

Glenda Campaniola, a member of the Paramus Rotary Club, and co-chairwoman of the Gift of Life Committee, as she received the John D. Hartman Memorial Award from Chair David Whitlock, presented to the one person “who has demonstrated outstanding service in the interest of saving children’s lives through the Gift of Life.”

Rotary District 7490’s Gift of Life Foundation celebrated the completion of 88 heart surgeries last year, with 85 of those surgeries being performed in seven nation abroad and three in the United States.

Jennifer Padolina, co-chairwoman of the Gift of Life Committee, speaking of the GOL medical mission to Hanoi which took place four weeks earlier, in mid-January

Speaking at the Gift of Life’s annual dinner on February 11, Jennifer Padolina, co-chairwoman of the District’s Gift of Life Committee, (of the Paramus Rotary Club) thanked hospitals in New Jersey and New York - Children’s Hospital of New Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, St. Joseph Children’s Hospital in Paterson, and Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, all in New Jersey; and Westchester Medical Center Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, N.Y. - which have donated use of their facilities for heart surgeries, and the doctors who donated their time.

She spoke also of two medical missions, one led by Raymond R. Hough of the Paramus Rotary Club to El Salvador shortly after Thanksgiving Day last fall, and the second by Past District Governor Joseph Laureni last month in Vietnam. In the latter mission, Jennifer said, doctors performed surgeries over a period of five days while people such as herself who participated in the mission prepared supplies for the surgeries.

David Whitlock, the Gift of Life Committee’s second cochairman, (and a member of the Ridgewood Rotary Club) spoke of the 88 surgeries that were performed last year, 24 in Vietnam, 12 in Ukraine, 10 each in El Salvador, Jamaica, Haiti and Uganda and nine in Myanmar. Three other surgeries were performed in New Jersey and New York on patients from Bolivia, Honduras and the Philippines.

In brief remarks at the dinner, District Governor Peter Wells urged his audience to support the Gift of Life Foundation, and he also urged participants in the Gift of Life program to share their experiences with Rotarians and the people around them.

For more information, read our February Newsletter.