Boston Cardiac Foundation (BCF) is a non-profit organization that brings medical technologies and services to less developed countries around the world. The BCF team is made up of physicians, nurses and technologist and performs cardiac procedures such as pacemaker implantation free of charge for patients who otherwise would not be able to afford it. Team members have been travelling around the globe on charitable missions for over 30 years.
Past Missions
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2019
Addis Ababa 2016
India 2016
Delhi, India 2020
India 2017
Paraguay 2012
Haiti 2022
Addis Ababa 2017
BCF Haiti Mission 2021
" A Compelling Story"
Vandana Maini was a skinny, 17-year-old high school student who suffered repeated fainting spells when Dr. Salil Midha first met her on a trip to India. Not only did Vandana lack access to quality health care, many of her teachers and peers thought she was faking her blackouts. A visit with Midha and other physicians confirmed Vandana was not a liar. She had a complete heart block, a congenital condition that resulted in a heart rate of 20 to 35 beats per minute, far below the normal 70 beats per minute. On a charitable mission in 1991, Dr. Midha provided Vandana with the lifesaving treatment she so needed, a pacemaker.
Vandana has gone on to graduate from high school and college and get married. Today at the age of 37 she finds happiness teaching children in a local school. She has had 2 successful battery changes for her pacemaker since 1991, but now faces another health challenge. The leads (the electrodes that connect the pacemaker to the heart) are 20 years old and are at high risk of fracturing which can lead to sudden heart block and death. Her options are very limited, and her best chance for survival requires extraction of the old leads. Unfortunately, this technology does not currently exist in India. In February 2012 Boston Cardiac foundation members successfully replaced the failing pacemaker and 2 new leads and she is doing remarkably well.