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Social MediaMike Johnson2017-12-03T15:33:43-05:00

cardio_start

Meet Yacarol, a sweet 7-year-old girl from Cabrera

Meet Yacarol, a sweet 7-year-old girl from Cabrera in the Dominican Republic who, like many of us, is anxiously awaiting the time when international travel can resume.

Yacarol has a mitral valve cleft and she will need heart surgery in order to grow up healthy. She continuously has cold symptoms, including a runny nose and fatigue. She is always much more tired than her sisters and other little children her age. She often has to take breaks from playing in order to rest. Yacarol's family does not have enough resources to pay for medical consultations, much less an expensive procedure like heart surgery.

CardioStart International is dedicated to building heart surgery programs in low-resource hospitals around the world, including the Dominican Republic. During our training missions, we only provide surgeries to individuals like Yacarol, who would never be able to afford surgery on their own.

The end of the year is a great time to give to 501(c)3 organizations for tax purposes, but it is also the time when CardioStart begins planning and making the difficult decisions about where our resources can best be spent. Your donations are greatly appreciated during this time and are crucial for mission planning. Even small donations can have a huge impact. Link to donate is in our bio.

Wishing you all a safe, happy, and healthy holiday season and a happy New Year!

Instagram post 18128296654193901

Instagram post 18128296654193901

Adamu is a young man from Abuja, Nigeria whose lif

Adamu is a young man from Abuja, Nigeria whose life is paralyzed by his heart condition. Every day, Adamu struggles to breathe. Sometimes he must spend a week straight sitting upright, unable to lay down even to sleep. He has constant trouble with his vision due to poor blood circulation. Often Adamu's heart beats so quickly and irregularly that he doesn't think he will survive another minute.

Adamu is desperate to further his education. He has lost countless job opportunities, but longs to have steady work so he will no longer be a burden on his family. He wants to be able to run, play sports, and be active like other young men. Adamu is a devoted uncle who loves his baby nephew, but worries he will not be able to watch him grow up. Adamu wants to one day start a family of his own, but none of this will be possible without a mitral valve replacement surgery for Adamu's heart.

This year has been incredibly tough for many people, all around the world. While resources have been funneled into fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, many other important causes have been left behind. CardioStart International is dedicated to improving access to cardiac surgery around the world, but especially in West Africa. We are looking forward to completing missions in 2021 and providing patients like Adamu with the promising futures they deserve.

Will you consider supporting CardioStart International this giving season? The funds we raise at this time of year directly affect the number of missions we can plan in 2021 when travel resumes.

Your donations are desperately needed as we move forward into a new year and get back on track towards our global mission of Healthy Hearts for Everyone.

Link to donate in bio. ♥️

#cardiostart #surgerymission #medicalmission #healthyheartsforeveryone #donate #fundraiser #nigeria #heartsurgery

Repost from @worldheartday We had to share this am

Repost from @worldheartday We had to share this amazing photo from @tinyheartsofmaldives - grade 1 students from Kaafu AEC making a socially distanced heart! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ #WorldHeartDay

CardioStart board member Dr. Emily Farkas will be

CardioStart board member Dr. Emily Farkas will be a panelist tomorrow (9/22) for an important discussion about widespread disparities in global access to cardiovascular surgical care. Register for this CTSNet webinar using the link in bio!

CardioStart volunteer Reed Franklin recently made

CardioStart volunteer Reed Franklin recently made a podcast episode about his experience during one of our medical missions. Shortly after being diagnosed with cancer, Reed decided to return to Vietnam to volunteer almost 40 years after he was deployed there. You can listen to his story and hear some of the songs he played in hospitals and orphanages here: https://vetartspan.simplecast.com/episodes/reed-franklin

#GivingTuesdayNow is a new global day of giving an

#GivingTuesdayNow is a new global day of giving and unity that will take place on May 5, 2020 – in addition to the regularly scheduled Dec 1, 2020 #GivingTuesday – as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.
Now more than ever we are asking our supporters to help us continue our work to reduce the health disparities in cardiac care around the world. There are several ways you can help our small 501(c)3 nonprofit during this difficult time: —Support us on social media. Please like our Facebook page and Instagram account and engage with our posts. Feel free to share our accounts with your friends and professional communities. —Consider volunteering on a future mission. We are in the middle of planning future cardiac surgery and outreach missions around the world and hope healthcare professionals will continue joining us when it is safe to do so. —Create a fundraiser for us. If you have ever volunteered for a CardioStart mission, will you consider sharing your story? If heart disease has ever touched your life, would you consider making a fundraiser in honor or in memory of a loved one? —Donate. At this crucial time, every dollar helps us continue our worldwide goal of Healthy Hearts for Everyone! Link in bio: www.cardiostart.org/donate

We hope everyone is staying safe and well during this time. Thank you for your support.

It’s National Nurses Week! We appreciate you now

It’s National Nurses Week! We appreciate you now more than ever. And a special thanks to our past volunteer CV-ICU nurses who have flown around the globe to donate their time and skills in support of #healthyheartsforeveryone 🙏

Happy Perfusion Appreciation Week! We appreciate a

Happy Perfusion Appreciation Week! We appreciate all your hard work and the vital role you play in operating rooms around the world. And a special thank you to those perfusionists working hard on the front lines helping COVID-19 patients via ECMO 🙏 .
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#cardiostart #perfusion #perfusionappreciationweek #volunteer #globalvolunteer #medicalmission #surgerymission #travelperfusionist #healthyheartsforeveryone

Dr. Farah Rahman is currently an assistant general

Dr. Farah Rahman is currently an assistant general surgeon at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey. While on a cardiac surgeon mission with CardioStart a few years ago, she revived her old hobby of embroidery and began making custom OR caps for her CardioStart team members. When she returned from her mission, she continued the custom embroidery projects and last year opened up an Etsy store. Since the coronavirus outbreak began, Dr. Rahman says her Etsy sales have gone up 400%, as she is one of a very few Etsy stores able to keep up with the current high demand for PPE.
Thank you Dr. Rahman for putting your skilled hands to work during this time of need and for helping to spread the message about CardioStart missions!

Instagram post 17851458373956327

Instagram post 17851458373956327

It is with regret we must cancel our adult surgica

It is with regret we must cancel our adult surgical mission to the Dominican Republic at the end of March. The risk of quarantine is too great for our volunteers upon return. We will be setting new dates for this mission for later on in the year.

CardioStart is a proud member of Edwards Lifescien

CardioStart is a proud member of Edwards Lifesciences’ “Every Heartbeat Matters” community. The top right photo features our board member Alison Curtis while she was coordinating a CardioStart outreach mission in Nepal! .
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Reposted from @edwardsgiving: Behind every one of these numbers is a person whose life was impacted by the Every Heartbeat Matters community. This is what #makesourheartbeat #givingback #heartdisease #philanthropy

In honor of Valve Disease Awareness Day, we would

In honor of Valve Disease Awareness Day, we would like to highlight a patient who recently received a valve replacement surgery during CardioStart’s mission to the Philippines last month that was sponsored by Rotary Gift of Life. Melanie is a young woman who is a wife and mother of four children. Daily tasks have been almost impossible for her since she was diagnosed with Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) almost 20 years ago. Melanie can’t move quickly or lift heavy objects, so she often relies on her older children to help out with her two young twin daughters. Her husband often has to take time off work to care for her, furthering the strain this disease puts on her growing family. Now that she is recovering from corrective surgery, Melanie says she is looking forward to watching her children grow and appreciating her “second chance at life.”
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#valvediseaseday #rhdawareness #cardiostart #rotaryclub #giftoflife #medicalmission #surgerymission #healthyheartsforeveryone

Mary-Ann is a young Filipino woman who wrote our t

Mary-Ann is a young Filipino woman who wrote our team the kindest note after her valve replacement surgery: “It will be a new and renewed life... I am so excited of being a wife, a mother, a sister and a friend with a healthy life.” Thank you to our donors and our volunteers who have made Mary-Ann’s healthy new life possible!

Happy Heart Month from CardioStart International!

Happy Heart Month from CardioStart International! February is designated as a time to promote heart healthy lifestyles and raise awareness about cardiovascular diseases. We hope you’ll join us this month as we promote #healthyheartsforeveryone and #heartdiseaseawareness.

CardioStart is in urgent need of a volunteer anest

CardioStart is in urgent need of a volunteer anesthesiologist for an adult cardiac surgery mission to the Dominican Republic from March 29 - April 5. Please help us spread the word. Link in bio!

CardioStart surgeon and board member Vinicius Nina

CardioStart surgeon and board member Vinicius Nina with the Ghana mission’s patient, Raphael, along with his daughters and grandchildren. Raphael is recovering nicely from his mitral valve replacement at the Komfo Onokye Teaching Hospital.

CardioStart’s weeklong mission to Kumasi, Ghana

CardioStart’s weeklong mission to Kumasi, Ghana is underway! Our team of volunteers have come from England, Brazil, Spain, Nigeria and the United States in order to assist with developing a sustainable cardiac surgery and electrophysiology program in this underserved area. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week!
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#cardiostart #volunteer #heartsurgery #medicalmission #volunteerghana #kumasi #ghana #traveldoc #travelnurse #healthyheartsforeveryone

As we leave 2019 to enter 2020, we would like to t

As we leave 2019 to enter 2020, we would like to take time to send a special thanks to those who made this another successful year of realizing our vision in promoting cardiac health in underserved regions of the world. The highlights of 2019 would never be possible without our courageous volunteers and our generous donors.

In 2019, we completed 12 missions in 6 different countries. Over 125 volunteers performed 137 surgical procedures, in addition to screening and educating over 900 individuals. We also sent 3 large shipping containers of valuable medical supplies to Africa. And on top of all that, we also hit 2 very important milestones: we performed our 1000th heart surgery and our 100th medical mission trip!

These great achievements all promote sustainable healthcare, with results being much like a ripple effect that continue long after our missions have ended. And these achievements would never be possible without our donors!

If you are able, we'd like to ask you to make a year-end donation today to CardioStart International. All donations are tax-deductible and go towards improving lives and health outcomes around the world. Teams are currently preparing for January 2020 missions to Ghana, Tanzania and the Philippines... and expenses have never been higher.

We'd like to wish you a Happy New Year, from the bottom of our hearts!
From our Board of Directors, the International Missions Committee, and the staff and volunteers of CardioStart International

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