Our Inbound program is easily described: we bring children here for life-saving or
life-enhancing surgeries and other health care not available in a child’s
home country.
Here is how it works:
●
Children are referred to us through our International Partners in their
country, from a
visiting HTC health team, or perhaps from a
missionary.
●
Through the support of over 30 hospitals and a network
of over 300 physicians, we provide treatment free of charge for these
children.
● Volunteer Area Coordinators are a vital link in the HTC network. We have these coordinators in 10 cities or geographic areas: Ann Arbor, Cincinnati, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Hastings, Holland, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Toledo and Trenton/Downriver. We are seeking to expand to Cleveland, Columbus and Akron.
● Volunteer host families provide a level of nurturing that cannot be given in an institutional setting and is an integral part of the work of Healing the Children. The host family assumes the responsibility for substitute parenting, care, and treatment for the child. Host families, who open their homes to these children and receive no payment, act out of caring for those who are less fortunate than they.
● Volunteer escort services are provided by caring, compassionate airline employees who are members of Airline Ambassadors and who travel with the children on their days off. To read about the Airline Ambassador Escorts, click here.
● All funds to cover round-trip airfare and other expenses for children coming to the States are met through donations, fund-raising activities, and sometimes donated airline miles.
● The children treated in Michigan and Ohio have come to us from 57 different countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Antigua, Armenia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Burkina Faso, China, Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Greece,
● Some of the types of surgical procedures our
physicians provide to the children include: plastic
surgery, open heart, orthopedic, neurosurgery,
renal,
ophthalmology, otolaryngology, urological,
cranio-facial, maxilofacial and many others.
●
The Area Coordinators work with the doctors, hospitals, and
ancillary medical service providers like dentists and therapists
to secure gratis care for the children. In addition, they match
the volunteer host families with the children and monitor each
child’s progress throughout his or her stay.