Mission Trips

The goal of all HCI mission trips is to bring life saving surgery and training to the host country.  HCI brings a comprehensive array of volunteers (lay and medical) as well as supplies (quality of life items and medical) on each trip.

Trips vary in length depending on the agenda, which is outlined by the needs of the host country.

• Some mission trips will typically last 3 weeks in length (1st week - prescreening, 2nd week - surgical, 3rd week - follow up care) and can involve over 50 volunteers.  These teams will focus on treating the children with congenital heart disease whose demise is imminent, while simultaneously training the local medical staff to work independantly in our absence.
•  Other missions are smaller, lasting only one week with between 10 - 20 volunteers.  These missions are dedicated only to training local physicians, nursing staff and administration.

Mission trips were conducted in Guatemala from 1994 - 2000, the Dominican Republic  from 1999 - 2008 and El Salvador from 2005 - ongoing.  Smaller, focused trips continue in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic as requested by the host country.

Host Country Trips

Historical Surgical/Interventional Case Statistics

HCI's Education and Training Paradigm

Heart Care International is committed to continuing its rich tradition of not only bringing cutting-edge medical care to each of the host countries, but also bringing cutting-edge medical training to local medical professionals in order to prepare them to work independently.

The majority of the instruction is 'hands-on" at the time of a mission, however, HCI has developed the following programs to help ensure that trainning is a 'year-round' experience for the host country:

• The  Allison Fund:  Provides scholarships for physicians from our host countries to train in the US or in established programs around the world. In 2008/2009, HCI sponsored Dr. Luis Martinez, an anesthesiologist from El Salvador on a 2 year training program at the Instituto Ignacio Chavez in Mexico City to become a pediatric cardiovascular anesthesiologist.  Currently, Dr. Martinez has returned to his home country and has enabled the Bloom Hospital medical team in El Salvador to perform many of the basic surgical repairs independently of HCI.  Dr. Martinez continues to take advantage of the HCI mission trips to further his training and will help grow the Bloom Hospital program. In addition to subsidizing Dr. Martinez's training, HCI has sponsored 3 ICU nurses from the Dominican Republic and 2 from El Salvador to train in Guatemala. One Perfusionist from Guatemala was sponsored to train at Ohio State University.
• The "International Cardiac Medical College":  Guatemalan physicians teaching Dominican physicians
• Lesion Specific training missions:  Smaller mission trips, requested by a host country, that focus only on repairing a specific congenital anomaly that the local team may see in high volume or wants to improve outcomes.  For example, the team may only operate on a specific type of hole in the heart (ventricular septal defect), or a particular approach to repair, such as interventional device therapy.

Family Interaction

Operating on children, regardless of nationality, is extremely stressful for the family of that child.  One of Heart Care International's goals is to help make the parents of these children as comfortable as possible during this experience, and to help them understand and cope with the issues of having a child with congenital cardiac disease. 

HCI brings family liaison volunteers to the host country (bilingual) and provides a Parent Handbook ((English) » and  (Spanish) ») in order to help prepare the family before, during and after the procedure.

HCI volunteers also bring toys, art supplies, stuffed animals, blankets and other gifts donated to us for distribution to the children and families during their stay at the hospital.