Variety Children’s Lifeline was founded in 1982 with the sole mission of providing medical assistance to children with treatable and survivable heart conditions in developing countries where the appropriate medical facilities, expertise or resources do not exist. Lifeline’s primary focus continues to be pediatric cardiac surgeries, but is also involved in pediatric neurosurgeries, cranial-facial procedures, tuberculosis, neo-natal clinics, pediatric rehabilitative medicine and plastic surgeries for children. Lifeline also formulated a relief response to the Tsunami devastated areas of Southeast Asia and the hurricane Katrina devastated areas of the United States by providing water treatment systems to prevent water borne diseases.

To date, Lifeline serves children from 47 countries, has completed nearly 125 missions and treated almost twenty thousand children through this most cost-effective program.

Lifeline’s medical mission teams include volunteer cardiologists, surgeons, anesthesiologists and intensivists, as well as other critical medical staff including perfusionists, respiratory therapists and nurses, none of whom receive any financial compensation. The Lifeline mission team makes repeated trips to the correspondent country public hospital, leaving a rich resource of medical knowledge and equipment with the goal of building a self-sustained local medical program.

Each year, over 1,000 children undergo life-saving cardiac surgery or non-invasive cardiac care; approximately 200 receive cranial facial surgeries; 75 receive neo-natal interventions and 250 children receive nutritional care. This accomplishment is a testament both to the committed medical personnel who volunteer their services to the Lifeline program and to the generous donors who ensure that Variety Children’s Lifeline will be able to continue saving the lives of the world’s children.