Statements
Mission
To bring hope and holistic healing to underprivileged children in Guatemala by providing free, life-changing medical care.
Background
The Shalom Foundation has been active in Guatemala City for over two decades, serving acutely poor children in need of surgical care. In 1991, several founding members of The Shalom Foundation Board took their first trip to Guatemala City. In 1995, a team provided construction assistance and conducted the organization's first Medical/Dental "clinic". Annual Missions Trips were planned and led each year since that time. In June, 1996, Construction Teams began work on Shalom Church with Pastor Alvaro Perdomo. In May, 1997, a Missions Team continued construction work on Shalom Church and provided much-needed medical treatment. Construction Team members traveling in April, 2001, participated in The Shalom Foundation's first Home Construction project, building 6 homes. In 2003, The Shalom Foundation outfitted a commercial kitchen for the "Food for Thought" Nutrition Program - our very first nutrition project. In May, 2004, Shalom Team members provided medical and dental services, eye exams, computer programming as well as home and school construction. In 2007, The Shalom Foundation began seeking a facility in Guatemala City to remodel and equip as a modern medical facility to better serve the children. With the purchase and renovation of the facility, The Moore Pediatric Surgery Center opened in 2011 to serve children and families from across Guatemala. Without intervention, these children would otherwise go untreated, facing life-long suffering or death. The Moore Pediatric Surgery Center serves as an international destination for Children's Hospitals, Medical Centers, and medical teams from across the country supporting the foundation's Medical Initiative. The facility is utilized by teams year-round. These teams work with local Guatemalan medical specialists to provide surgical care to the poor free of charge, within a modern facility. By partnering with in-country doctors and nurses for follow up treatment, the most and best care can be provided to the most children. This unique model can provide on-going services where there are otherwise none available. The Moore Center provides hope and the opportunity to heal hundreds of children each year. Charitable care services provided through the surgery center transform hundreds of families each year, touching thousands of lives. To date, over 7,000 children have received life-changing surgical care!
Impact
The Shalom Foundation impacts thousands of under-served children and families each year by providing medical care and nutritional outreach. We focus our efforts in Guatemala, where access to healthcare is extremely limited. In 2019, 937 children received life-changing surgeries at The Moore Pediatric Surgery Center, our state-of-the-art surgical hospital located in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Over 500 volunteers joined with us to make our medical programs successful! In 2021, we hope to send 18 medical and surgical teams to the Moore Pediatric Surgery Center. At The Moore Center, children receive free medical and surgical care provided by teams of medical professionals from across the United States. Guatemalan doctors and nurses work side by side with these medical professionals from the United States. We envision a world where every child in Guatemala has access to quality, affordable healthcare!
Needs
- Surgical Team Partners (we have a growing list of children waiting their turn for surgery) Universities or Children's Hospitals interested in partnering and sending a team to Guatemala; individual pediatric surgeons wanting to lead a surgical mission team
CEO Statement
The Moore Center boasts a unique model in which it attempts to address the limitations of a usual medical mission 'fly-in, fly-out' marathon of procedures. The Moore Center offers an independent space for patients, visiting surgeons and local physicians to coordinate peri-operative and operative care. We offer safe and effective patient care within a modern facility. The Moore Center serves as a replicable model for providing integrated clinical care by partnering with local healthcare providers with visiting surgical teams. Rather than competing, providers compliment each other's care, with local teams offering peri-operative services (patient screening, pre-operative labs and imaging, follow-up appointments, and post-operative care ) and visiting teams providing the specialized procedural interventions. The Moore Center does all of this in a state-of-the-art facility with equipment and resources similar to operating rooms present in the US. Without The Moore Center, these children would have no where to go for their surgery needs.
Board Chair Statement
A lot of people ask me how I chose Guatemala. And the truth of the matter is, I didn't choose Guatemala. God chose Guatemala for me. If you know me, you may know that I have taken every possible step to support the effort of this mission by managing and eliminating local overhead burden, so that 100% of the donated funds go directly to Guatemala to pay for pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and supplies, doctors, nurses, support staff, food and all of the pertinent needs of running a successful surgery center facility. In 2018 we hosted 13 teams at The Moore Center in Guatemala and provided 739 free surgeries to the impoverished children. These procedures in the US would cost ~$15,000 on average. That is the equivalent of over $11,000,000 in contributed world class healthcare. Think of that: $11 MILLION! Whether it is creating new partnerships with children's hospitals, or keeping surgical equipment operating and up to date, or raising money to support the cost of a surgery center...the ongoing needs are great and wide.
Service Categories |
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| Primary Category: | Health Care - Hospitals |
| Secondary Category: | Food, Agriculture & Nutrition - Nutrition |
| Tertiary Category: | - |
Areas Served
Guatemala City, Guatemala is where The Moore Pediatric Surgery Center is located. Children and families all across the country travel to our center to receive free, life-changing surgeries and after-care.
| International |
| TN |
