Healing the Children Oregon and Western Washington 

Our Programs

• Medical Teams Abroad sends volunteers worldwide to provide medical assistance.
• International Inbound brings children to the US for major medical care.
• Around the Corner fosters opportunities to learn more about global health issues.

Every year, we secure millions of dollars in donated medical supplies and resources to bring children the critical medical help they need…and deserve. We pride ourselves on the highest standards in medical care and service delivery through the time, talent, and dedication of our medical and program volunteers.

Current Services
In 2013 Healing the Children will support 8 to 10 Medical Teams Abroad programs in the countries of Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Vietnam, and Nepal providing donated medical care in the specialties of audiology, podiatry, hand and burn care, ENT, family medical care, mental health, and education. We currently have 2 children in the US for follow up care and are seeking donated medical care for 2 more.

Healing in Guatemala
This year, marks the 10 year anniversary for Everett Audiologist and HTC Volunteer Mike Mallahan's work in Guatemala to bring children the gift of hearing. Mallahan is the director of Hearing and Balance Lab and a volunteer with HTC. Since 2003, Mallahan and other Volunteer audiologists have evaluated thousands of children and fitted over 2,000 with hearing aids in Guatemala. “When you get to see a child that’s maybe 5 or 12 years old, and they have never heard their mother’s voice and they are starting to hearing their mother’s voice or they’re staring to hear things for the first time – it is pretty awe-inspiring!” says Mallahan. At HTC, we think volunteers like Mallahan and so many others are inspiring! It is through their gift of time, talent, and resources that they help to heal children, who lack access to medical care, around the world.

International Inbound Program
During 2012, HTC facilitated donated transportation, medical care, surgical procedures, and/or prosthetic limb attachment for four children representing the countries of Haiti, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, and Honduras. The children in this program are hosted by highly screened families who provide extended care and support for the child before, during and after surgery. Our volunteers also supported 8 children through our continuing care program and assessed 22 others for services. Our goal is to return the child to his or her homeland with health fully restored.

Abayneh from Ethiopia
Imagine being just 10 years old and losing both of your arms. This was Abayneh’s nightmare four years ago following a terrible accident. Although happy to be alive, Abayneh was only just beginning to realize his limitations in life. He couldn’t dress, feed, or bathe himself. But he adapted and even learned how to write with his feet so he could continue to go to school. That was until the school developed a “shoes required” policy. Healing the Children was contacted to see if it would be possible to bring Abayneh to the states to receive an arm prosthetic. Arrangements were made for Abayneh through Healing the Children Oregon and Western Washington Chapter to receive the medical care he needed. Abayneh now wears a fully functioning right arm thanks to Everett Cornerstone Prosthetics. Abayneh returned to his home able to perform all self care tasks, play soccer, swim, ride his bike, and go back in school.

Collaborations
Key to our success and sustainability has been collaborations and partnerships with doctors, medical facilities, volunteers, and hospitals. Over the past 27 years, the International Inbound program has provided donated medical care and often life-saving surgery for more than 600 children through such esteemed medical facilities as Swedish, Seattle Children’s, Providence Medical, Everett Clinic, Group Health, Virginia Mason, Mary Bridge in WA and Shriner’s and Randall Children’s in OR. Internationally, we have provided access to health care to more than 20,000 children through partnerships with local health care providers, hospitals, medical facilities, non-governmental organizations, schools, universities, service clubs, and the private sector. In 2011, we worked with multiple Rotary Clubs to build a clinic in Monterrico, Guatemala to provide health care for 23,000 people. Currently we are constructing a health care clinic in Merger, Haiti to serve a community of 8,500.

Together, we can change the lives of impoverished children around the corner and around the world. With your continued support we can change a child’s life forever.

Current Needs
According the World Health Organization, 6.9 million children under the age of five will die every year at a rate of 800 per hour. Infectious diseases such as phenomena, diarrhea, and malaria account for 58% of these deaths. Improvement in and access to healthcare for children has been at the forefront of a Global Health movement thanks to the leadership of such organizations as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, WHO, and so many others. We are fortunate to live at the doorstep of this effort which is critical to effecting systemic change. The eradication of polio is nearly complete and work is now at hand to eradicate malaria.

At HTC our work often addresses conditions which require medical and surgical intervention. Our volunteers continue to train local health care providers to prevent these conditions in the future. One example is our podiatry program which provides club foot repair or surgery to children in Nepal, Guatemala, and Honduras. This team trains the local doctors on the Ponseti method to correct club foot at birth through a non-invasive procedure which will prevent painful surgery later in life.

Future Plans
The majority of our medical teams abroad programs are established, long term relationships developed by our doctors. Our audiology and ENT program in Guatemala is in its 10th year and the podiatry program in Nepal is entering its 6th year with an expansion to a new site expected this fall. The completion of the Haiti Clinic will be managed by a partner in Haiti and supported  by the Ministry of Health with a full time nurse. This clinic will support at least one medical team per month with a team of 10 volunteers. We are looking at several opportunities in Africa specifically in Liberia, Nigeria and Ghana.