One aspect of Children’s Heart Project that I love is how people, organizations, hospitals, and churches work together to make surgeries possible for Mongolian children with life-threatening heart defects. To give you a better understanding of how the program works, here’s what the process typically looks like.

Many of the children who are sent to the U.S. are first identified through a “search week” that Samaritan’s Purse does in conjunction with an organization called For Hearts and Souls (FHAS). Once a year these teams, comprised of Children’s Heart Project staff and FHAS doctors, go to Mongolia’s most remote places and screen kids for heart defects. Sometimes, Mongolian doctors will contact us directly if there is a young patient they cannot help with the technology available.

After a child has been selected, Dr. Rita Browning does a full medical evaluation. Dr. Browning is not only a practicing pediatrician and the medical advisor for Children’s Heart Project in Mongolia, but also run another organization that supports an orphanage, a residency program for doctors, and a center for developmentally disabled children.

After a child’s information is compiled and sent to Samaritan’s Purse International Headquarters, we wait. It is always a great day when a hospital agrees to perform surgery. We notify the family and then look for a translator to travel to the U.S. with the mother and child. A typical group has two children, two moms, and a translator.

During the flight, a medical professional (usually a pediatric intensive care unit nurse) travels across the world to help support this family. Many of them give up vacation time to assist these children.

As Samaritan’s Purse works with doctors and the hospital to make final medical arrangements, a Samaritan’s Purse church partner selects a host family. Once the mothers and children land in the U.S., their respective host families meet them at the airport, showing the love of Christ during an uncertain time. With the support of the host church, this family provides food, shelter, transportation, and whatever else is needed for 5-7 weeks. This allows just enough time for the children to receive corrective surgery and recover before returning to Mongolia.

After the surgery, the Children’s Heart Project staff follows up with the children and their families four times throughout the year.

Every time we go through this process, I’m reminded of what an incredible group effort it takes to make a miracle happen in the lives of these children. It is an amazing example of how God uses the diverse gifts and talents of so many within the body of Christ to touch people’s lives with His love.