PAST: A seven month old Herbie Quinones who lived in Brooklyn, New York needed medical assistance and was brought to the "Sick Kids Hospital" by Paul and Gina Godfrey. By starting the "Hebie Fund" Paul and Gina were successful in raising money for Herbie to arrive in Toronto, Ontario for his treatment. In February, 1979 the Herbie Fund started the organization to help children worldwide. (Herbie Fund, 2013)
PRESENT: Children worldwide who are unfortunate to receive medical care due to their low socio economic status are brought to the Sick Kids Hospital where they receive treatment by the funds raised. At Sick Kids, the physicians waive their surgical fees and donate their time and expertise to support children. (Herbie Fund, 2013)
FUTURE: Extend the life expectancy of children undergoing biological deficeiney and improve the quality of receiving care in different countries. Also, listening to the children's voices so they are not ignored; this will allow them to recover and become productive members of the society. (Herbie Fund, 2013)
Hello Jasmine and Julia,
ReplyDeleteI feel that the importance of this foundation in today's society is high because there is a growing need for medical care all around the world yet not many people have the means to access it. I think that it is truly amazing and shows great character that doctors are willing to donate their time and knowledge to truly helping those in need during times where they can not help themselves. I also feel that the Herbie Fund has the right mind set in helping future generations by providing care and increasing life expectancy.
Rose.M
Herbie Fund is important to today's society as it is an international foundation, that looks at the care of all children. Most of the doctors who are willing to do the surgery or expertise are employed at SickKids where SickKids are in partnership with the Herbie Fund.
DeleteThank you for commenting Rose
-Jasmine & Julia
I love that that you are supporting the Herbie fund foundation as it is helping children from around the world access to life altering surgeries that can save their lives. Through the generosity of the Paul and Gina Godfrey and others that heard Herbie's story ,more children can get the surgeries they need to help them as they grow up to be adults that are healthy. I love that doctors and nurses take time to do surgeries on children that might not be able to access it in their own countries,but these surgeries help children from around the world get what is needed.
ReplyDeleteKelcey John
Kelcey,
DeleteHerbie Fund is a great foundation for children and families to support them in their child's medical hardship. It is great for this foundation to have the support of doctors and nurses to do the procedures, instead of having more of a waiting time to do the surgery.
Thank you for commenting
-Jasmine & Julia
From my opinion that I strongly support the Herbie Fund foundation. I love the fact that you both doing blog on this foundation. In our model world the growing number of the medical care is very high and not everyone get access to free health care like in Canada. In you blog you stated that how Herbie Fund supports children in a global context and they avoids limiting their resources to third world or developing countries. I am just surprise see that because most foundation only help people in the third world countries. Most developed countries in the world don’t have access to all the surgeries or something family can’t afford the money to pay. I still remember that few month ago I hear in the news that how Herbie Fund did surgeries on a child from USA. This Herbie Fund see all the children in the world equal and they believe children that not be able to access surgeries it in their own countries and should get help. I think all the nurses and doctors who do the surgeries for children are amazing people because they are donating their time to do the surgeries for the once who in need. By reading your blog some questions just rise in my mind. How does Herbie Fund select children who are in need? And how many children they take for a year to do the free surgery?
ReplyDeleteLuxshana Maheswaran
Luxshana,
DeleteThank you for supporting the Herbie Fund as it is an important foundation that concentrates on helping children on a international scale. The way children are selected is their application is reviewed and meet the criteria of the Herbie patient. Then the application is reviewed by a larger committee at SickKids, so this is a large process. The consideration for potential patients are: the are 14 years old or younger; the treatment or surgery is not available in their home country; not in immediate life-threatening situation because the process of obtaining a visa and the paper can take up until 6 months. The Herbie Fund is able to take on the average of 26 children per year as it is a long process in enabling the family to travel to Canada.
Thanks for commenting
-Jasmine & Julia
By chance do you know how many children they have helped receive surgeries for? And is there a limit to the amount of times they can provide a single child with surgeries, because I know that sometimes children from developing countries have more complex conditions and may require more than just 1 surgery. Also what further comes to mind is what happens after the surgeries? Most children after a surgery will require medicine to help prevent infection or life long medication to help sustain their lives. I know that this organization is already doing so much, but maybe posting another organization that helps do that for kids would be helpful for people who may work with kids in developing countries??
ReplyDeleteJosephine
Josephine,
DeleteThank you for posting up your questions as other people may have the same questions. For your first question, the Herbie Fund has been able to treat around 684 children around the world. Usually for the Herbie Fund, there is a limit of one surgery per child, but if the doctors can break the surgery into stages depending on the ailment that might take more than one surgery. After the surgery, the doctors will monitor the child, then give the family of clearance for the release of the patient before they leave; once they arrive back to their country it is minimal to no follow up on the child. There may be another organization that is similar to the Herbie Fund that help out children when they recover from a surgery.
Thank you for commenting
-Jasmine & Julia
The Herbie foundation is a wonderful way of helping children on a global scale. I can't imagine the difficulties of caregivers that are caring for their children with health issues that require medical care, especially when they struggle financially. The gift of funded medical procedures is wonderful as there is nothing more expensive than a person's health.
ReplyDeletePlan Canada,
DeleteWe agree with your final comment "there is nothing more expensive that a person's health" because at time families who are from a low socio-economic status have to decide if they should by food, or see a doctor for themselves, or children. The Herbie Fund aids families who are in need by relieving them of their stress in the medical area. Therefore, the Herbie Fund supports the families who are struggling financially because they do not care of the family background, the Herbie Fund is focus on the child.
Thank you for commenting
- Jasmine and Julia