In 1975, four Rotarians brought a child from Uganda to the United States for life-saving open-heart surgery at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn.
Forty years later, the Gift-of-Life program that grew out of that act of compassion has now aided 12,000 children in developing countries with no end in sight.
“The main purpose [of Gift of Life] is to give children heart surgery who cannot have it done in their home country,” said Mary Reardon, chairman of the Gift of Life. “We bring in children from places like Kosovo, Belize — anywhere a Rotary club finds a child who needs help.”
On May 1, the Gift of Life will celebrate its anniversary with a black tie gala at the Garden City Hotel and honor two people who have supported the program in the past – Dr. Giancarlo Crupi, an Italian doctor who has operated on Gift of Life children, and Matt Campo, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island in New Hyde Park where children after being released from the hospital.
They will be joined by several adults who had been operated on as children and are returning to the United States to tell their stories.
One man who had an operation years ago, Reardon said, will come from Haiti to tell his story about how he had gone to medical school and how well he has done in life since his operation.
“We don’t always hear from families again but some do keep in touch,” Reardon said.
Reardon said that following the first surgery 40 years ago the four Rotarians from Queens and Long Island who brought the child to the United States – Robbie Donno, Frank Regnante, Tony Zino and Kurt Weisthaupt – felt inspired to do more.
“After the surgery they said ‘why don’t we see if there are other children out there who need the surgery,’” Reardon said.
With the support of Rotary organizations across the world, the Gift of Life grew and eventually opened its current location at 475 Northern Blvd. in Great Neck,
Most often the operations are done at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, North Shore-LIJ Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park and Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
But sometimes doctors are flown to foreign countries to operate if a child patient cannot travel.
“We’ve done about 12,000 surgeries on children, either in the U.S. or in missions in places like Haiti and Russia,” Reardon said. “We set up a team of doctors who go to these countries where they have had screening missions to find children who needed surgery.”
The process of getting a child into surgery starts with a Rotary Club from another country contacting an American club suggesting a child be brought to the United States.
The foreign Rotary club submits the child’s medical records, which Gift of Life will submit to one of the hospitals to see if the hospital will accept them to do the surgery.
Most of the children referred get the surgery they need, Reardon said. The hospitals do the surgeries for a nominal fee, Reardon said. The total cost for bringing a child to this country and getting the surgery done is $5,000, she said.
Gift of Life gets most of their funds through donations, but also holds events as well. These have included motorcycle rides and regattas.
The Gift of Life children can be housed at one of several Ronald McDonald Houses in the New York area, but most often they go to the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island in New Hyde Park.
“Without [the Ronald McDonald House] our children would have to be placed in someone’s home,” Reardon said.
The Ronald McDonald House charges Gift of Life a nominal fee as well to house the children.
The children usually stay in the United States for about a month, Reardon said.
Different local Rotary clubs will host the child, and will see to it that all their needs are met from when they get off the airplane to when they get back on.
“[The Rotary clubs] take them grocery shopping, they find what they need, they take them clothes shopping — these kids don’t have a lot when come here,” Reardon said. “They basically take them to their doctor’s appointments and see to their every need.”
The gala’s reception will start at 7 p.m. and dinner will be served at 8 p.m. Black tie is preferred, and the cost of a ticket is $225 per person.
“It’s now worldwide — there are Gift of Life programs in almost every state,” Reardon said. “It all started with one child from Uganda.”
