The HOPE Museum™ will engage in domestic and international outreach in the area of reconstructive surgical treatment. The goal is to provide coordination and financial assistance to help, particularly women and children, get surgical reconstructive surgery for disfiguring injury resulting from trauma or mastectomy, that they would otherwise be unable to afford.
In many less developed countries, the victims of disfiguring injuries cannot get care, not because of a lack of medical insurance, but rather because they simply do not have bus fare to get to a hospital, a place to stay when they arrive, or even the small amount of money needed for IV fluids or suture material. The hospitals may provide care without charge, but lack these simple resources, and ask the patient to supply them. When there is not enough money to pay for rice, surgery becomes a luxury that remains out of reach.
In some areas, women lack the literacy needed to navigate the medical system. People may wait in lines for hours to see a doctor, only to be giving an appointment to get some tests, and return on another day. A woman who cannot work because of a disfiguring injury, cannot afford even the transportation cost to return to a hospital over and over, hoping for help.
This is where The HOPE Museum™ can, even with moderate funding, make a difference. By providing coordination and basic funding, locating volunteers to help, and finding and honoring the surgeons who volunteer their skills, we will be able to change the lives of many individuals.
The following link will take you to more information about the need for reconstructive surgery, and the social injustices The HOPE Museum™ will work to end.
