In this month’s UVIS Member Spotlight, we shine a light on Steve Holland and his charitable work with the Heart to Heart International Children’s Medical Alliance.
Member Steve Holland is not only President of Fidelity Insurance Services but is also the Chairman of the Board of California-based non-profit Heart to Heart International Children’s Medical Alliance. Steve joined the Heart to Heart Board in 1998 and has served as Chairman since 2002. His Heart to Heart colleagues believe his people skills and business acumen have been key to Heart to Heart’s evolution. Steve’s leadership has nurtured a remarkable level of board commitment and involvement.
With Steve leading the Board, Heart to Heart dramatically expanded its children’s programs throughout the heartland of Russia and positioned itself on firm financial ground. During Steve’s tenure as Chairman, 15,000 babies and children have been saved! Heart to Heart is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching doctors and nurses abroad how to treat children born with heart defects. The organization was founded with the goal of teaching physicians in Russia how to perform open-heart surgery on children of all ages, including newborns. The organization, along with Steve, envision a world in which every child – regardless of where in the world they are born – will have access to life-saving heart care.
ABOUT THE ‘INTO THE HEARTLAND CAMPAIGN’
Heart to Heart’s ‘Into the Heartland Campaign’ started in 2002 and is scheduled for completion in 2019. The purpose of this campaign is to give every child throughout Russia access to open heart surgery. To accomplish this, in 2001, Steve and his colleagues devised a strategic plan to develop a network of seven regional self-sustaining children’s heart centers. Currently they have five operational sites, a sixth site is scheduled to launch in April. And they plan to launch the seventh and final link in their life-saving network in 2016. The wonderful fact about Heart to Heart’s approach is that they “teach a man to fish”. To date, new specialists trained by Heart to Heart’s dedicated volunteers have saved more than 18,000 babies and children.
A GLOBAL NEED: EXPANDING HEART TO HEART’S WORK AROUND THE WORLD
Heart defects are the most common birth defect worldwide and afflict children at the same rate around the globe regardless of socioeconomic status. In fact, every 30 seconds somewhere in the world a child is born with a life-threatening but highly-treatable heart defect. Along with Steve, pediatric cardiac specialists volunteer their time in order to provide direct patient care and to teach surgeons, cardiologists, and intensive care doctors how to lead self-sustaining programs to save children with heart defects. Unfortunately, the majority of children worldwide still do not have access to life-saving open heart surgery. With the completion of their Russia project in sight, Steve and his colleagues are poised to expand to other areas of the world. For those of you who want to join Steve as an active volunteer with the Heart to Heart Alliance, or if you want to learn more information about the ‘Into the Heartland Campaign’ or how to donate, please visit www.heart-2-heart.org.
