Heart To Heart International
and One Heart - Many Hands

Canada Central NMI supports One Heart - Many Hands

Picture

In the coming months, you may notice One Heart - Many Hands talking more about our sister organization Heart to Heart International. This is why...

Most of our friends know that One Heart - Many Hands was founded by Kansas physician Gary Morsch in 1992. Since then, the organization has focused on one thing: connecting volunteers with opportunities to serve in meaningful ways.

 You may not know that in 1992, Dr. Morsch also founded a global humanitarian organization called Heart to Heart International, a sister organization of OHMH.  The main focus of Heart to Heart is to connect medical professionals with opportunities to serve in areas affected by natural disasters and other mass casualty incidents. Recently, Heart to Heart was among the most active organizations of this type responding to medical needs following devastating tornadoes in Missouri and Alabama early in 2011.

In much the same way that One Heart - Many Hands facilitates ongoing service opportunities in neighborhoods where we organize large projects, Heart to Heart International often continues recruiting doctors and nurses to serve in areas where clinics and hospitals do not exist, long after the initial disaster has occurred. (People do not stop being sick or injured simply because the ground stops shaking or the flood waters recede.) 

Which brings us to Haiti: It was the afternoon of January 12, 2010 when an enormous 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck only a few miles from the nation's capital. More than 200,000 people died, 300,000 were injured and more than a million people were made homeless. Even worse, as one of the poorest countries in the world, Haiti was already severely lacking adequate health care facilities, infrastructure and housing for the 8 million residents who live there. Hundreds of schools, hospitals, government buildings and homes became rubble in a matter of seconds, crushing and burying the people inside.  

Along with many organizations, Heart to Heart International expedited an advance team from the United States into Haiti to make a "boots on the ground assessment" and worked to bring volunteer medical professionals "in country" as soon as possible. As a result, and since those early days following the earthquake, more than 460 of our medical volunteers have taken a turn staffing the 13 Heart to Heart International clinics that have been established throughout Haiti. In fact, Heart to Heart International has made a commitment to continue supplying Haiti with medical volunteers, as the international community rebuilds this country.  

So, as friends of One Heart - Many Hands, what can you do to help? You can start by visiting the Heart to Heart International website and learning more about what our partners are doing to improve the quality of health for the wonderful people in Haiti. Also, you can forward this email, along with a link to Heart to Heart, to any medical doctors or nurses you might know who may be interested in traveling with our teams to Haiti, and volunteering for this worthy cause. Share the link with your friends on facebook and twitter. We are very blessed to enjoy the world's highest quality health care. Most of our professional health care providers recognize this distinction and many will feel called to share their skills and high level of training with those in need, if only they are given the opportunity to do so. This is their chance!  

I want to thank you for your continued support of One Heart - Many Hands, our sister organizations and many partners who share our calling to serve people in need. It is truly an amazing time to be alive when something as simple as forwarding a message to just the right person, could mean the difference to so many people in such unimaginable ways.

Sincerely,
George Sisler