Donor Spotlight
Get to know some of our amazing donors. Without their generosity, partnership, and dedication, none of our work would be possible, and we can’t thank them enough.
Donor Spotlight
SSIS students run to save lives!
SSIS Students Run To Save Lives
Donors for Heartbeat Vietnam are various and no age limit. In November 2011, students from National Honor Society (Saigon South International School) created an amazing fund raising event called Laps for Love* to support heart surgery and one year medical treatment for a 6 month Vietnamese child. This is the second time National Honor Society (NHS) funded Heartbeat Vietnam as last year, they saved two kids by similar activity. Being touched when visiting the two kids at the hospital, they dedicated to save more children by gathering friends and their sponsors for another Laps for Love. To organize this one hour fundraising event, these students have worked hard for three months. In February 2012, they came to Tam Duc hospital to visit Viet, the boy saved by Laps for Love. Heartbeat Vietnam caught up with NHS students for an interview to know more about them and their changing lives laps.HeartbeatVN: The fund raising was run by National Honor Society. Can you tell me about your club?
Sonya Eom (NHS President – Grade 12): The National Honor Society is based on the four pillars of leadership, scholarship, service and character. The NHS chapter of our school began in 2010 with only 11 students. Now we have 30 members and we are continuing to grow annually. All sophomores and juniors with a minimum GPA of 3.3 and must have had experience being of service and being a leader throughout their academic career. The members are selected by a group of faculty members. By becoming a member, s/he must maintain the 3.3 GPA, fulfill four hours of service per month and be a role model for the student body. As a group, we must also organize one service project and one cultural trip per semester. With this, the National Honor Society drives students to be active, well-rounded, of service and culturally aware.
HeartbeatVN: How did you come up with the idea of raising funds through Laps for Love?
Philip Pincus (Grade 12):In my old school we had two major fundraising events called Laps for Love and Hoops for Hearts. Those events were a great way to raise money and furthermore raise awareness for different charities in and around the country, and so I thought it would be a good idea to introduce it to our school and to begin a new tradition for the NHS. Eventually, we’ve found that Laps for Love is an excellent event to generate some funding for children in Vietnam who are in need for heart surgeries.
SSIS students run at Laps for Love to raise fund for heart surgery
HeartbeatVN: Can you share us one memorable experience you have had during the funding?
Jo-an Chen (Grade 11): One memorable experience of the funding was watching everyone run and give their best efforts. As the person photographing the event, every moment of our event was worth being captured on camera, recorded and relived. The scene was almost beautiful – the perspiration, the motions of the runners, and the smiles on everyone’s faces. I felt honored at the time, to be able to observe such a memorable experience and to be able to document every moment of it.
HeartbeatVN: What is your biggest challenge to organize the funding?
Wei Syn Tan and Sonya Eom (Grade 12): We think that the biggest challenge was the marketing of Laps for Love. We had to advertise a lot and convince students that they should participate in Laps for Love to fund raise for Heartbeat Vietnam. We did try our best to spread the event’s message to our friends. We formed an advertising committee to create posters which were put in the hallways, bulletin boards, different classrooms, the library and the art room. The posters varied in design and size in order to attract the passersby. In addition, we created a Facebook events page with the necessary details, inviting our friends to attend. We wrote for the daily announcements which the students could access on the school website. We feel that our method of advertising was successful because approximately fifty students participated in the event for both last year and this year.
HeartbeatVN: What do you think about the funding?
Clara Ki (Grade 11): Although we didn’t raise millions of dollars, I think our funding was very successful. We raised all the money we could for the children and I hope that all the funds that we raised were appreciated by the supported child. I certainly expect us to raise more funds next year, maybe even enough to support more than one child as we did last year. Dream big to achieve big!
HeartbeatVN: What is your expectation when joining Laps for Love?
Sherry Kim (Grade 11): At first, I had expected organizing Laps for Love to be just another one of the things on my ‘to do’ list. Even the entire time we were organizing the event – from finding chaperones to making posters, Laps for Love was merely another event. However, when we actually visited the kids we were helping at the hospital, the event became personal. As soon as I walked into the hospital room and saw the child’s face break out in a wide grin, I realized that we had helped shape another person’s entire future. The actual feeling of achievement greatly surpassed my initial expectations of this activity.
HeartbeatVN: Did the funding and hospital visit meet your expectation?
Amy B Chen (Grade 12): No, but yes. Unfortunately, monetary-wise, the amount of money we raised in our fund this year did not meet our expectations if we were to use last year’s funds as our standards. This is because we raised slightly more last year, reaching a total of approximately 2662USD, than we did this year. So it is a pity that we raised less this year as it had prohibited us from donating more cash in order to fund more children’s heart surgeries. But besides some issues we had with students not handing in their donations on time, everything else from setting up for Laps for Love to planning this event was pretty much the same as last year- within our expectations- and happened smoothly this year, as well. As for the hospital visit, it was more than satisfying to the point of exceeding our expectations because the experience was immensely heartwarming.
HeartbeatVN: In your opinion, what is the most rewarding part of joining this activity?
Lisa Kim (Grade 11):During the event itself, everyone was tried and exhausted from doing the preparations, hosting the event, and tidying up afterwards on a Saturday afternoon. However, after we realized that we could save a child and shape his/her life through our hard work, we all felt this strong feeling of achievement. Especially when we saw the child’s face break into a wide grin, and the child’s mother thanking us again and again, I actually regretted feeling tired and frustrated because there was so much work. It was very rewarding to realize that I actually did something to save the child who was sitting right in front of me. And that something, was only a few hours of hard work.
SSIS students visit Viet, the boy saved by their fund raising Laps for Love, after his surgery (Feb 2012)
Mai Vi Dang (Grade 12):It was a really wonderful experience to have visited the child and the family at Tam Duc Hospital. He was such a small and delicate baby; didn’t cry for a single second and smiled at us for the whole time. Fortunately, it was a very good recovery and he has been doing very well since the surgery. It was very touching to hear the mother explaining their circumstances and difficult it was for their family to finally found the organization. While organizing the event Laps for Love, it never really occurred to us that we would be saving lives! Understanding the baby’s critical medical condition and their financial circumstance made what we have done a lot more meaningful.
HeartbeatVN: What else you can advise Heartbeat to organize similar charity activities for you?
Sang Yeon Lee (Grade 12): Other than merely participating in fund-raising events for Heartbeat Vietnam and visiting the child who received the heart surgery with our money, we can also participate in events that can further raise awareness of patients waiting for the surgery. Even though I also participated in the fund-raising event last year, I was not so clear about the situation in Vietnam. However, I understood the situation more clearly when we visited this year as there was some explanation about it. Therefore, raising awareness of the situation of Vietnamese patients waiting for the heart surgeries would be helpful.
HeartbeatVN: Who would you like to say thank to after such a meaningful event?
Jane Lee (Grade 12): This very meaningful event could be only possible because there were countless people willing to help the NHS to organize it. First of all, there were several teachers who happily agreed to help us with counting the number of laps for each runner during the event. Thanks to their effort to count accurately, Laps for Love was a big success. Second, the PTA, Parent Teacher Association, provided us with Revive to distribute to the runners of Laps for Love and soft drinks to sell to the participants and spectators. With their support, NHS could express our appreciation towards the thirsty runners. Last but not least, without the maintenance’s help to set up the Middle School Gym, we wouldn’t be able to hold this meaningful event. Although Laps for Love was created and is primarily organized by National Honor Society, there were so many people and groups behind the scene that were extremely significant in making this event possible. Thank you so much!
*Laps for Love is an annual fund raising event organized by National Honor Society (SSIS). Middle and high school students of SSIS find sponsors to sponsor them to run for laps at the event. The money that each student raise is based on the number of laps that they run around the middle school gym. Looking at the four core values of SSIS: Academic Excellence, Sense of Self, Dedicated Service, Balance in Life, and Respect for all, the school focuses further on helping other people and respecting every one of our lives/ cultures. This Laps for Love event really helps them to shout out their four core values by practical meaningful action, rather than merely learning them inside school.
Liem Pham, a Grade 12 Vietnamese student, shared: “Most importantly, we got to see that we can make a real difference to a person’s life with what we are doing and the all the hard work we’ve done has really paid off.”As the NHS Advisor, Ms. MacArthur said: “NHS students are really motivated by having the opportunity to meet the babies whose lives they can help.”
Val Monk & 1000Miles2Work
Val’s 1000Miles2Work
Nothing has ever stopped Val Monk from achieving what she sets her mind to. As a child, she had three open-heart surgeries. But that didn’t stop her from running around in the coast of Gibraltar and playing with all the other kids that lived by her. Nor did it stop her from going to school.
When she became an adult, she had yet another open-heart surgery. Despite this she has run two half-marathons, climbed Mt. Kota Kinabalu, and backpacked all over Southeast Asia and Australia. Now she is cycling 1000 miles to raise money for children with congenital heart disease “because she can.”
However, this is not the case for many around the world, especially children who are living in developing countries. Many find themselves too weak to have normal childhood: running around playing tag, climbing trees, swimming, riding bicycles, or the other things that little kids always do. And then there are some that can not even go to school. Children with chronic diseases miss out on life, miss out on a normal childhood.
Because of Val’s past challenges, she has developed a burning passion to help others. So she has decided to bike 1000 miles to work, testing her endurance and commitment. Why is she doing this? “Because I can,” while others can’t.
An interview with Val
So Val, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I have lived in the UK most of my life, as an adult based around west London. My family live in Shrewsbury in Shropshire now, where I lived as a teenager, it is a superbly friendly town and I love it, I go “home” whenever I can. As a child I grew up in Gibraltar, in the sunshine and sea, never watching TV and always just a little bit sandy.
I have been lucky enough to travel to some great countries. I quit my job on the day I got a pay rise when I was 24, realizing that I was beginning to define myself by my role at work! I booked a round the world ticket but ended up spending 3 months in East Malaysia, a short time in Thailand and a wonderful month in Vietnam. In Vietnam I stayed in a remote village in the north of the country and spent time chatting with a few mothers. They noticed my scar and asked what had happened, when I explained they could not believe that I had survived hospital once, let alone four open heart surgeries.
I then bought a van in Australia and spend 6 months avoiding tourists and having a great deal of fun in the process. Since then I’ve traveled to India for work, visiting an orphanage for children with HIV and tuberculosis, which made me realize how difficult access to medicine is for some. Throwing a party for those children was the most rewarding £40 I ever spent!
How did you hear about Heartbeat Vietnam?
It took me a while to find the charity. I knew that I wanted to try to help people in developing countries to get access to the life saving medicine that I have benefited from. I was really interested in aligning my event with my experience so I concentrated my search on cardiac care in India and Vietnam. I tweeted to the British Medical Association, searched the web and tried to get in touch with a UK junior doctor association that I thought may know something. In the end I searched on twitter and found someone who had recently tweeted about the Heartbeat Vietnam – and hey presto, an email later we were off!
How did you come up with the idea with biking to help raise money?
I realized that to get sponsored you need to do something out of the ordinary and achievable, which is a difficult balance! I am basically fit and well, a walking miracle, but can’t do altitude, I don’t do endurance well and I’ve done two half marathons so another one of those would be cheating! I realized that I needed to get a striking headline and work it into my routine in a way that would test my endurance and commitment. It had to sound like a challenge to people without my medical history, so when they learned about it they it would push them from “oh, wow” to “I’ll just get my credit card”!
Please help support her as she makes these trip and follow her on her blog by clicking here.
FedEx – Delivering Heartbeats Throughout Vietnam
As foreign companies bring their business and services to Vietnam, they also bring an environment and attitude of “giving back.” A company that truly exemplifies the attitude of giving back to the Vietnamese community is FedEx. FedEx is an incredibly valuable partner to many organizations in Vietnam, and VCF is incredibly lucky to have them on board.
Through the FedEx Delivers Heartbeats program, VCF is able to operate a full year of outreach clinics throughout Vietnam. That’s 25 outreach clinics that will impact the lives of over 3,750 children in Vietnam! On April 16th, Representatives from FedEx visited an outreach clinic in the rural province of Binh Phuoc. In attendance from FedEx were Binh Nguyen, Chief Representative for FedEx Vietnam and Stacey Han, Senior Corporate Communications Specialist for FedEx Korea.
We recently sat down with FedEx to discuss the organization and its role in growing the communities of Vietnam:
Mr. Binh Nguyen, Country Representative for FedEx Vietnam, and Mrs. Robin King Austin, VCF's CEO & Executive Director, at the signing ceremony for "FedEx Delivers Heartbeats" in Binh Phuoc Province.
How long has FedEx been partnering with VinaCapital Foundation?
We first partnered with VinaCapital Foundation in 2010 by funding lifesaving heart operations for 16 poor children, and now with FedEx Delivers Heartbeats we can help save and improve the quality of life for thousands more children. Beginning in March 2011 in Ninh Thuan Province, and running through December 2011 in different provinces, each FedEx Delivers Heartbeats clinic will last two to three days per province and provide free care to 100 – 400 children, including diagnostic testing, treatment, and placement on the national cardiac surgery waiting list of required.
How did FedEx get involved with the Outreach Clinic program?
As a company that cares for the community in which we work and live, FedEx is very pleased to sponsor the mobile medical outreach clinics to bring health care to poor children suffering from congenital heart disease. FedEx employees also dedicated their time and effort to support this program. They assisted the families with registration and conversed with them while their children wait to be examined. They also played a journalist’s role by interviewing the families, taking photographs of children and writing profile stories for Heartbeat website and newsletter.
What other initiatives does the company take part in?
Parents wait outside the examination room at Binh Phuoc Provincial Hospital during one of the "FedEx Delivers Heartbeats" outreach clinics.
In terms of local community volunteerism, since 2009, our employees in Vietnam have been taken part in FedEx Cares Week, an annual activity of FedEx around the world. For 2009, we took time off to visit, read books and play with children facing cancer at Ho Chi Minh City Hospital of Cancer, together with BenSmile Charity, a non-profit organization that helps these children. For 2010, together with children from Be Tho Charity House, we participated in a series of activities with an environmental theme. In addition to learning about the animals, activities included beautifying the Sai Gon Zoo by doing ‘small things with big results,’ such as putting garbage into the dustbins, building an “Eco home” from FedEx materials, etc.
In terms of health and human service, we have sponsored ORBIS and its Flying Eye Hospital travel to Vietnam to combat blindness through education, training and treatment for 3 times. The first time was in 2006, and then we continued to contribute to the goal of delivering the gift of sight to the Vietnam through its flight in 2008 and 2010.
In terms of safety, we established the Walk This way program together with Safe Kids, and Vietnam is the eighth country to launch this program.
In 2009, we piloted Walk This Way at four schools in Ho Chi Minh City, providing pedestrian safety education to over 4,000 primary school students and 340 teachers. Based on the program’s success in 2009, in 2010, Safe Kids Vietnam continued to implement Walk This Way at the four pilot schools and further expanded to Dong Nai province, reaching almost 1,000 students. In addition to providing pedestrian safety education, we built a 1,700 square meter Traffic Safety Park in Dong Nai to provide a realistic environment for students to practice traffic safety lessons. FedEx supported the PHOTOVOICE project and organized a “PHOTOVOICE” photography exhibition. It is an opportunity for children to express themselves and communicate their opinions about the environment using photography and words. In April 2011, Safe Kids Vietnam and FedEx hosted the “Who is the Number One?” competition at the traffic safety park for students participating in the Walk This Way program.
In terms of education, FedEx provided funding to build 3 schools through Vietnam Children Fund. The latest school, in Quang Nam, was opened in late 2006 and 2 more schools at Xuan Trung and Chu Lai have been also built with the support of FedEx.
In addition, FedEx has been assisting with delivery of the books for the last three years by offering free shipment from the United States of America to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In 2010, FedEx and San Francisco-Ho Chi Minh City Sister City Committee collaborated to deliver books to the children of Vietnam via the General Sciences Library of Ho Chi Minh City. More than 700 books collected by the San Francisco-Ho Chi Minh City Sister City Committee have already been donated.
Mr. David Carden, Managing Director of Thailand & Indochina for FedEx Express, and Mr. Binh Nguyen, Country Representative for FedEx Vietnam, pose with some of the 16 Heartbeat Vietnam children who received heart operations thanks to a generous grant from FedEx.
Why does FedEx support health based initiatives?
FedEx commits to give back to the community where we live and work. FedEx wants to enhance the quality of life in Vietnam by addressing key human service issues. Our support can help to save and improve the quality of life for thousands more children and people so far and make us proud to contribute to the goal of delivering healthcare to Vietnam.
How do supporting health initiatives support the mission of the company?
The FedEx commitment to philanthropy spans 4 key areas: disaster relief, safety, education, health and human service. Therefore, supporting health initiatives will fulfill FedEx’s mission and have significant impact on the needs of communities.
What is the best way to learn more about FedEx and what they do in Vietnam?
The best way to learn more about FedEx is to visit http://www.news.fedex.com
In addition to the outreach clinics, FedEx has also recently sponsored transportation costs for three Babylog machines for our Survive to Thrive program in Da Nang. Thanks to their hard work and dedication, these life-saving pieces of equipment made it safe and sound to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Da Nang in time for our Baby Day event on May 27th.
Through the compassion and generosity of FedEx, countless of lives will be touched and saved thanks to FedEx. VCF cannot begin to thank the staff at the Ho Chi Minh City and Regional offices enough for all that they do for us. We look forward to working with them and growing together.
ExxonMobil Supports Children’s Health in Vietnam
ExxonMobil Donates Pediatric Emergency Care Equipment to Hospitals in Central Vietnam
On October 19, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Vietnam Limited and VinaCapital Foundation met with provincial authorities of Quang Ngai, Quang Nam and Danang to handover emergency care equipment, supplies and training to 16 of their hospitals. This ExxonMobil donation is part of VCF’s Critical Response program. ExxonMobil’s donation greatly expands VinaCapital Foundation’s Critical Response program to the coastal hospitals in central Vietnam.
“ExxonMobil has a long history in Vietnam,” stated Russ Berkoben, President and General Director of ExxonMobil in Vietnam. “We are honored to be a member of and contribute to the development of the communities where we operate. Working together with VinaCapital Foundation, our contribution of pediatric advanced life support equipment meets the needs of coastal hospitals in Danang, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai.”
ExxonMobil is donating pediatric life support equipment to fully stock trolleys for 23 emergency room and neonatal intensive care unit installations in 16 hospitals, all of which are in coastal districts of the three provinces. Each trolley includes the mobile cart that carries a portable defibrillator, portable suction machine, ambu-bags for adults and children, medical hand tools, drugs and supplies. Robin King Austin, CEO and Executive Director of VinaCapital Foundation, said, “VinaCapital Foundation is proud to partner with ExxonMobil. Together, we help build capacity in the Vietnamese health care system by providing emergency care hardware and more importantly the training to upgrade skills. Children are the beneficiaries.”
Before implementation of equipment in the local hospitals all doctors are required to attend the Pediatric Advanced Life Support course (PALS), an intensive education course developed internationally to provide a standardized approach to the evaluation and treatment of critically ill children. In addition, all practitioners are trained on the actual equipment at the local level when the equipment arrives at the hospital.
Donor Spotlight
SSIS students run to save lives!
SSIS Students Run To Save Lives
HeartbeatVN: The fund raising was run by National Honor Society. Can you tell me about your club?
Sonya Eom (NHS President – Grade 12): The National Honor Society is based on the four pillars of leadership, scholarship, service and character. The NHS chapter of our school began in 2010 with only 11 students. Now we have 30 members and we are continuing to grow annually. All sophomores and juniors with a minimum GPA of 3.3 and must have had experience being of service and being a leader throughout their academic career. The members are selected by a group of faculty members. By becoming a member, s/he must maintain the 3.3 GPA, fulfill four hours of service per month and be a role model for the student body. As a group, we must also organize one service project and one cultural trip per semester. With this, the National Honor Society drives students to be active, well-rounded, of service and culturally aware.
HeartbeatVN: How did you come up with the idea of raising funds through Laps for Love?
Philip Pincus (Grade 12):In my old school we had two major fundraising events called Laps for Love and Hoops for Hearts. Those events were a great way to raise money and furthermore raise awareness for different charities in and around the country, and so I thought it would be a good idea to introduce it to our school and to begin a new tradition for the NHS. Eventually, we’ve found that Laps for Love is an excellent event to generate some funding for children in Vietnam who are in need for heart surgeries.
SSIS students run at Laps for Love to raise fund for heart surgery
HeartbeatVN: Can you share us one memorable experience you have had during the funding?
Jo-an Chen (Grade 11): One memorable experience of the funding was watching everyone run and give their best efforts. As the person photographing the event, every moment of our event was worth being captured on camera, recorded and relived. The scene was almost beautiful – the perspiration, the motions of the runners, and the smiles on everyone’s faces. I felt honored at the time, to be able to observe such a memorable experience and to be able to document every moment of it.
HeartbeatVN: What is your biggest challenge to organize the funding?
Wei Syn Tan and Sonya Eom (Grade 12): We think that the biggest challenge was the marketing of Laps for Love. We had to advertise a lot and convince students that they should participate in Laps for Love to fund raise for Heartbeat Vietnam. We did try our best to spread the event’s message to our friends. We formed an advertising committee to create posters which were put in the hallways, bulletin boards, different classrooms, the library and the art room. The posters varied in design and size in order to attract the passersby. In addition, we created a Facebook events page with the necessary details, inviting our friends to attend. We wrote for the daily announcements which the students could access on the school website. We feel that our method of advertising was successful because approximately fifty students participated in the event for both last year and this year.
HeartbeatVN: What do you think about the funding?
Clara Ki (Grade 11): Although we didn’t raise millions of dollars, I think our funding was very successful. We raised all the money we could for the children and I hope that all the funds that we raised were appreciated by the supported child. I certainly expect us to raise more funds next year, maybe even enough to support more than one child as we did last year. Dream big to achieve big!
HeartbeatVN: What is your expectation when joining Laps for Love?
Sherry Kim (Grade 11): At first, I had expected organizing Laps for Love to be just another one of the things on my ‘to do’ list. Even the entire time we were organizing the event – from finding chaperones to making posters, Laps for Love was merely another event. However, when we actually visited the kids we were helping at the hospital, the event became personal. As soon as I walked into the hospital room and saw the child’s face break out in a wide grin, I realized that we had helped shape another person’s entire future. The actual feeling of achievement greatly surpassed my initial expectations of this activity.
HeartbeatVN: Did the funding and hospital visit meet your expectation?
Amy B Chen (Grade 12): No, but yes. Unfortunately, monetary-wise, the amount of money we raised in our fund this year did not meet our expectations if we were to use last year’s funds as our standards. This is because we raised slightly more last year, reaching a total of approximately 2662USD, than we did this year. So it is a pity that we raised less this year as it had prohibited us from donating more cash in order to fund more children’s heart surgeries. But besides some issues we had with students not handing in their donations on time, everything else from setting up for Laps for Love to planning this event was pretty much the same as last year- within our expectations- and happened smoothly this year, as well. As for the hospital visit, it was more than satisfying to the point of exceeding our expectations because the experience was immensely heartwarming.
HeartbeatVN: In your opinion, what is the most rewarding part of joining this activity?
Lisa Kim (Grade 11):During the event itself, everyone was tried and exhausted from doing the preparations, hosting the event, and tidying up afterwards on a Saturday afternoon. However, after we realized that we could save a child and shape his/her life through our hard work, we all felt this strong feeling of achievement. Especially when we saw the child’s face break into a wide grin, and the child’s mother thanking us again and again, I actually regretted feeling tired and frustrated because there was so much work. It was very rewarding to realize that I actually did something to save the child who was sitting right in front of me. And that something, was only a few hours of hard work.
SSIS students visit Viet, the boy saved by their fund raising Laps for Love, after his surgery (Feb 2012)
Mai Vi Dang (Grade 12):It was a really wonderful experience to have visited the child and the family at Tam Duc Hospital. He was such a small and delicate baby; didn’t cry for a single second and smiled at us for the whole time. Fortunately, it was a very good recovery and he has been doing very well since the surgery. It was very touching to hear the mother explaining their circumstances and difficult it was for their family to finally found the organization. While organizing the event Laps for Love, it never really occurred to us that we would be saving lives! Understanding the baby’s critical medical condition and their financial circumstance made what we have done a lot more meaningful.
HeartbeatVN: What else you can advise Heartbeat to organize similar charity activities for you?
Sang Yeon Lee (Grade 12): Other than merely participating in fund-raising events for Heartbeat Vietnam and visiting the child who received the heart surgery with our money, we can also participate in events that can further raise awareness of patients waiting for the surgery. Even though I also participated in the fund-raising event last year, I was not so clear about the situation in Vietnam. However, I understood the situation more clearly when we visited this year as there was some explanation about it. Therefore, raising awareness of the situation of Vietnamese patients waiting for the heart surgeries would be helpful.
HeartbeatVN: Who would you like to say thank to after such a meaningful event?
Jane Lee (Grade 12): This very meaningful event could be only possible because there were countless people willing to help the NHS to organize it. First of all, there were several teachers who happily agreed to help us with counting the number of laps for each runner during the event. Thanks to their effort to count accurately, Laps for Love was a big success. Second, the PTA, Parent Teacher Association, provided us with Revive to distribute to the runners of Laps for Love and soft drinks to sell to the participants and spectators. With their support, NHS could express our appreciation towards the thirsty runners. Last but not least, without the maintenance’s help to set up the Middle School Gym, we wouldn’t be able to hold this meaningful event. Although Laps for Love was created and is primarily organized by National Honor Society, there were so many people and groups behind the scene that were extremely significant in making this event possible. Thank you so much!
*Laps for Love is an annual fund raising event organized by National Honor Society (SSIS). Middle and high school students of SSIS find sponsors to sponsor them to run for laps at the event. The money that each student raise is based on the number of laps that they run around the middle school gym. Looking at the four core values of SSIS: Academic Excellence, Sense of Self, Dedicated Service, Balance in Life, and Respect for all, the school focuses further on helping other people and respecting every one of our lives/ cultures. This Laps for Love event really helps them to shout out their four core values by practical meaningful action, rather than merely learning them inside school.
Liem Pham, a Grade 12 Vietnamese student, shared: “Most importantly, we got to see that we can make a real difference to a person’s life with what we are doing and the all the hard work we’ve done has really paid off.”As the NHS Advisor, Ms. MacArthur said: “NHS students are really motivated by having the opportunity to meet the babies whose lives they can help.”
Val Monk & 1000Miles2Work
Val’s 1000Miles2Work
Nothing has ever stopped Val Monk from achieving what she sets her mind to. As a child, she had three open-heart surgeries. But that didn’t stop her from running around in the coast of Gibraltar and playing with all the other kids that lived by her. Nor did it stop her from going to school.
When she became an adult, she had yet another open-heart surgery. Despite this she has run two half-marathons, climbed Mt. Kota Kinabalu, and backpacked all over Southeast Asia and Australia. Now she is cycling 1000 miles to raise money for children with congenital heart disease “because she can.”
However, this is not the case for many around the world, especially children who are living in developing countries. Many find themselves too weak to have normal childhood: running around playing tag, climbing trees, swimming, riding bicycles, or the other things that little kids always do. And then there are some that can not even go to school. Children with chronic diseases miss out on life, miss out on a normal childhood.
Because of Val’s past challenges, she has developed a burning passion to help others. So she has decided to bike 1000 miles to work, testing her endurance and commitment. Why is she doing this? “Because I can,” while others can’t.
An interview with Val
So Val, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
I have lived in the UK most of my life, as an adult based around west London. My family live in Shrewsbury in Shropshire now, where I lived as a teenager, it is a superbly friendly town and I love it, I go “home” whenever I can. As a child I grew up in Gibraltar, in the sunshine and sea, never watching TV and always just a little bit sandy.
I have been lucky enough to travel to some great countries. I quit my job on the day I got a pay rise when I was 24, realizing that I was beginning to define myself by my role at work! I booked a round the world ticket but ended up spending 3 months in East Malaysia, a short time in Thailand and a wonderful month in Vietnam. In Vietnam I stayed in a remote village in the north of the country and spent time chatting with a few mothers. They noticed my scar and asked what had happened, when I explained they could not believe that I had survived hospital once, let alone four open heart surgeries.
I then bought a van in Australia and spend 6 months avoiding tourists and having a great deal of fun in the process. Since then I’ve traveled to India for work, visiting an orphanage for children with HIV and tuberculosis, which made me realize how difficult access to medicine is for some. Throwing a party for those children was the most rewarding £40 I ever spent!
How did you hear about Heartbeat Vietnam?
It took me a while to find the charity. I knew that I wanted to try to help people in developing countries to get access to the life saving medicine that I have benefited from. I was really interested in aligning my event with my experience so I concentrated my search on cardiac care in India and Vietnam. I tweeted to the British Medical Association, searched the web and tried to get in touch with a UK junior doctor association that I thought may know something. In the end I searched on twitter and found someone who had recently tweeted about the Heartbeat Vietnam – and hey presto, an email later we were off!
How did you come up with the idea with biking to help raise money?
I realized that to get sponsored you need to do something out of the ordinary and achievable, which is a difficult balance! I am basically fit and well, a walking miracle, but can’t do altitude, I don’t do endurance well and I’ve done two half marathons so another one of those would be cheating! I realized that I needed to get a striking headline and work it into my routine in a way that would test my endurance and commitment. It had to sound like a challenge to people without my medical history, so when they learned about it they it would push them from “oh, wow” to “I’ll just get my credit card”!
Please help support her as she makes these trip and follow her on her blog by clicking here.
FedEx – Delivering Heartbeats Throughout Vietnam
As foreign companies bring their business and services to Vietnam, they also bring an environment and attitude of “giving back.” A company that truly exemplifies the attitude of giving back to the Vietnamese community is FedEx. FedEx is an incredibly valuable partner to many organizations in Vietnam, and VCF is incredibly lucky to have them on board.
Through the FedEx Delivers Heartbeats program, VCF is able to operate a full year of outreach clinics throughout Vietnam. That’s 25 outreach clinics that will impact the lives of over 3,750 children in Vietnam! On April 16th, Representatives from FedEx visited an outreach clinic in the rural province of Binh Phuoc. In attendance from FedEx were Binh Nguyen, Chief Representative for FedEx Vietnam and Stacey Han, Senior Corporate Communications Specialist for FedEx Korea.
We recently sat down with FedEx to discuss the organization and its role in growing the communities of Vietnam:
Mr. Binh Nguyen, Country Representative for FedEx Vietnam, and Mrs. Robin King Austin, VCF's CEO & Executive Director, at the signing ceremony for "FedEx Delivers Heartbeats" in Binh Phuoc Province.
How long has FedEx been partnering with VinaCapital Foundation?
We first partnered with VinaCapital Foundation in 2010 by funding lifesaving heart operations for 16 poor children, and now with FedEx Delivers Heartbeats we can help save and improve the quality of life for thousands more children. Beginning in March 2011 in Ninh Thuan Province, and running through December 2011 in different provinces, each FedEx Delivers Heartbeats clinic will last two to three days per province and provide free care to 100 – 400 children, including diagnostic testing, treatment, and placement on the national cardiac surgery waiting list of required.
How did FedEx get involved with the Outreach Clinic program?
As a company that cares for the community in which we work and live, FedEx is very pleased to sponsor the mobile medical outreach clinics to bring health care to poor children suffering from congenital heart disease. FedEx employees also dedicated their time and effort to support this program. They assisted the families with registration and conversed with them while their children wait to be examined. They also played a journalist’s role by interviewing the families, taking photographs of children and writing profile stories for Heartbeat website and newsletter.
What other initiatives does the company take part in?
Parents wait outside the examination room at Binh Phuoc Provincial Hospital during one of the "FedEx Delivers Heartbeats" outreach clinics.
In terms of local community volunteerism, since 2009, our employees in Vietnam have been taken part in FedEx Cares Week, an annual activity of FedEx around the world. For 2009, we took time off to visit, read books and play with children facing cancer at Ho Chi Minh City Hospital of Cancer, together with BenSmile Charity, a non-profit organization that helps these children. For 2010, together with children from Be Tho Charity House, we participated in a series of activities with an environmental theme. In addition to learning about the animals, activities included beautifying the Sai Gon Zoo by doing ‘small things with big results,’ such as putting garbage into the dustbins, building an “Eco home” from FedEx materials, etc.
In terms of health and human service, we have sponsored ORBIS and its Flying Eye Hospital travel to Vietnam to combat blindness through education, training and treatment for 3 times. The first time was in 2006, and then we continued to contribute to the goal of delivering the gift of sight to the Vietnam through its flight in 2008 and 2010.
In terms of safety, we established the Walk This way program together with Safe Kids, and Vietnam is the eighth country to launch this program.
In 2009, we piloted Walk This Way at four schools in Ho Chi Minh City, providing pedestrian safety education to over 4,000 primary school students and 340 teachers. Based on the program’s success in 2009, in 2010, Safe Kids Vietnam continued to implement Walk This Way at the four pilot schools and further expanded to Dong Nai province, reaching almost 1,000 students. In addition to providing pedestrian safety education, we built a 1,700 square meter Traffic Safety Park in Dong Nai to provide a realistic environment for students to practice traffic safety lessons. FedEx supported the PHOTOVOICE project and organized a “PHOTOVOICE” photography exhibition. It is an opportunity for children to express themselves and communicate their opinions about the environment using photography and words. In April 2011, Safe Kids Vietnam and FedEx hosted the “Who is the Number One?” competition at the traffic safety park for students participating in the Walk This Way program.
In terms of education, FedEx provided funding to build 3 schools through Vietnam Children Fund. The latest school, in Quang Nam, was opened in late 2006 and 2 more schools at Xuan Trung and Chu Lai have been also built with the support of FedEx.
In addition, FedEx has been assisting with delivery of the books for the last three years by offering free shipment from the United States of America to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In 2010, FedEx and San Francisco-Ho Chi Minh City Sister City Committee collaborated to deliver books to the children of Vietnam via the General Sciences Library of Ho Chi Minh City. More than 700 books collected by the San Francisco-Ho Chi Minh City Sister City Committee have already been donated.
Mr. David Carden, Managing Director of Thailand & Indochina for FedEx Express, and Mr. Binh Nguyen, Country Representative for FedEx Vietnam, pose with some of the 16 Heartbeat Vietnam children who received heart operations thanks to a generous grant from FedEx.
Why does FedEx support health based initiatives?
FedEx commits to give back to the community where we live and work. FedEx wants to enhance the quality of life in Vietnam by addressing key human service issues. Our support can help to save and improve the quality of life for thousands more children and people so far and make us proud to contribute to the goal of delivering healthcare to Vietnam.
How do supporting health initiatives support the mission of the company?
The FedEx commitment to philanthropy spans 4 key areas: disaster relief, safety, education, health and human service. Therefore, supporting health initiatives will fulfill FedEx’s mission and have significant impact on the needs of communities.
What is the best way to learn more about FedEx and what they do in Vietnam?
The best way to learn more about FedEx is to visit http://www.news.fedex.com
In addition to the outreach clinics, FedEx has also recently sponsored transportation costs for three Babylog machines for our Survive to Thrive program in Da Nang. Thanks to their hard work and dedication, these life-saving pieces of equipment made it safe and sound to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Da Nang in time for our Baby Day event on May 27th.
Through the compassion and generosity of FedEx, countless of lives will be touched and saved thanks to FedEx. VCF cannot begin to thank the staff at the Ho Chi Minh City and Regional offices enough for all that they do for us. We look forward to working with them and growing together.
ExxonMobil Supports Children’s Health in Vietnam
ExxonMobil Donates Pediatric Emergency Care Equipment to Hospitals in Central Vietnam
On October 19, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Vietnam Limited and VinaCapital Foundation met with provincial authorities of Quang Ngai, Quang Nam and Danang to handover emergency care equipment, supplies and training to 16 of their hospitals. This ExxonMobil donation is part of VCF’s Critical Response program. ExxonMobil’s donation greatly expands VinaCapital Foundation’s Critical Response program to the coastal hospitals in central Vietnam.
“ExxonMobil has a long history in Vietnam,” stated Russ Berkoben, President and General Director of ExxonMobil in Vietnam. “We are honored to be a member of and contribute to the development of the communities where we operate. Working together with VinaCapital Foundation, our contribution of pediatric advanced life support equipment meets the needs of coastal hospitals in Danang, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai.”
ExxonMobil is donating pediatric life support equipment to fully stock trolleys for 23 emergency room and neonatal intensive care unit installations in 16 hospitals, all of which are in coastal districts of the three provinces. Each trolley includes the mobile cart that carries a portable defibrillator, portable suction machine, ambu-bags for adults and children, medical hand tools, drugs and supplies. Robin King Austin, CEO and Executive Director of VinaCapital Foundation, said, “VinaCapital Foundation is proud to partner with ExxonMobil. Together, we help build capacity in the Vietnamese health care system by providing emergency care hardware and more importantly the training to upgrade skills. Children are the beneficiaries.”
Before implementation of equipment in the local hospitals all doctors are required to attend the Pediatric Advanced Life Support course (PALS), an intensive education course developed internationally to provide a standardized approach to the evaluation and treatment of critically ill children. In addition, all practitioners are trained on the actual equipment at the local level when the equipment arrives at the hospital.