The Gift of Life
Sargent Rotaract Club sponsors heart surgery for two-year-old Panamanian girl
About a month ago, Brigitte Flores flew from Panama City, Panama, to Logan International Airport. She spent much of the first three weeks of her visit to Beantown in the hospital, undergoing medical examinations, blood tests, and electrocardiograms, then underwent open-heart surgery — a pretty busy schedule for a two-year-old born with a hole in her heart.
Brigitte’s surgery was made possible by BU’s Sargent College Rotaract Club and the Gift of Life International, an organization that connects children from around the world in need of life-saving heart surgery with American doctors and hospitals willing to donate their services. The Gift of Life contacted the Rotaract Club because of the club’s 2006 sponsorship of Melvin Trujillo, a nine-year-old boy from El Salvador who suffered from congenital heart defects. Rotaract is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women. This time, a Rotary club in Panama raised enough money for Brigitte’s airfare to Boston, and Gift of Life International found a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital willing to donate the surgery. All that was missing was food and housing for Brigitte’s stay.
That’s where Sargent’s Rotaract faculty advisor Karen Jacobs stepped in. After receiving a phone call from Gift of Life, the SAR clinical professor contacted the BU administration about finding a temporary home for Brigitte and her family. Jacobs worked with Joseph Mercurio, BU’s executive vice president, to find a Bay State Road apartment for Brigitte and her mother, Yisel, for the length of their stay.
Caring for Brigitte has involved more than just the Rotaract Club, according to Jacobs. “They say it takes a village to raise a child,” she says. “Well, it takes the BU community to help save one.”
In addition to the apartment, the Rotaract Club and its volunteers have provided toys, clothes, gifts, and groceries for Brigitte’s stay. Club members have accompanied Brigitte and Yisel to all their appointments and meetings, and a member of the club’s board stays at the apartment every night — where they claim Yisel’s Panamanian cooking is a reward in and of itself.
Caitlin Synovec (SAR’09), Rotaract president, is proud of the initiative and dedication of her club’s members. “Its incredible seeing our volunteers make commitments for a child they have never met,” she says.
Brendan Gauthier can be reached at btgauth@bu.edu.
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