Innsbrook (Richmond) Rotary

Four Richmond area Rotary clubs are sponsoring life saving heart surgeries for six to seven children from the Eastern Caribbean islands of St. Vincent and St. Lucia as part of a district and international grant project called Healing Hearts. The sponsoring clubs are Richmond, Bon Air, Huguenot Trail and Innsbrook. Our first three patients have been identified; in fact, our first, Jevonique “Jev”, age 5, is already here with her guardian, her cousin Ingrid. Jev had her surgery on 2/28 at VCU Medical Center and will be recuperating here over the next four weeks at the nearby Hospital Hospitality House (HHH).

Ester, age 1 year, is expected to arrive 3/20 and Darius “Dari”, age 3 is expected sometime in April.

In addition to providing the local funding for the project, our four clubs are committed to making the stay as pleasant as possible for these children and their accompanying parent or guardian and helping to support and relieve the stress of the parent while their child goes through the surgery and recovery. A stay is, typically, six weeks for each patient. The parent/guardian is usually just sitting and waiting at the hospital or HHH. We support the children and families in many ways while they are here for their surgeries, and we encourage involvement!!!

Following are several examples of the ways we can all help the children and families during the hospital stay:

Visiting at the HHH or hospital.
Playing games or planning activities that are not too physically demanding for the child (baking and decorating cookies in the HHH kitchen is usually a big hit!).
Providing small items for the children to keep them entertained and help make them feel at ease. Keep in mind that toys or gifts that cannot be easily taken home on the return flight are not a good idea. The best items to bring are consumable. These families love fresh fruit juices.
Bringing food already prepared, or that can be easily prepared in the HHH kitchen. Food popular in the islands, especially fresh fruit, is especially appreciated. HHH provides one hot meal a day, other meals are prepared by the parent/guardian at HHH.

Taking the child and guardian for outings (e.g. parks, a museum, to our home or restaurant for a meal). Children are usually well enough to go out on outings before surgery and after a couple of weeks following surgery.
Taking the children or families to a local church service.
Welcoming new patients arriving at the airport and helping them navigate the VCU hospital and surrounding area.
Feel free to be creative!!!

Beth Noakes is coordinating our efforts for the Healing Hearts program. If you are interested in participating, please contact her at cnoakes@aol.com.