Rotary Club Honors Wellesley Doctor

By Ben Terris
Town Correspondent

Wellesley resident and Chief Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital Jeff Myers was honored by the local Rotary Club earlier this month for the work he has done with the Gift of Life New England Program.

As part of the Gift of Life Program Myers has operated pro bono on five children from Latin America with heart conditions, and for this was awarded the Paul Harris Fellowship award for outstanding humanitarian service.

Gift of Life International started in 1975 as a means of helping give medical care to children of developing countries. In 2000, Rotarians from the central Massachusetts district started the Gifts of Life New England. Rotarians in the area offer their homes to the children and raise money for some hospital costs—costs that are made much smaller by the hospital staff operating free of charge. Since 2000 around 50 children have been operated on from almost 20 countries.

“This is one of our favorite programs at the Rotary Club,” said Ted Shaughnessy the president of Gift of Life New England who has hosted five children at his own house. “Its an intimate cultural exchange, and it gives you the opportunity to save a child’s life, and to create bonds that really last a lifetime.”

Myers has operated on two children from Belize and three from Panama, and was rewarded this year for his humanitarian efforts.

“Dr. Myers has been such an asset to this program,” said Shaughnessy. “He has donated to us well over $50,000 in kind services, but you cannot measure his impact in terms of money.”

Shaughnessy said that there is one story that sums up just how beneficent Myers is.

“We had a case of two year-old twins from Panama, that were sent to Mass General for consideration, and only one was accepted,” said Shaughnessy. “This twin, Bridget, was operated on by Myers. For many, that would have been enough, since he wasn’t allowed to do the other case. Instead of just sending back the second twin, however, Myers went the extra mile, or 650 miles as it were. He pulled some strings with a friend in Ann Arbor, Michigan with his friend, and got the case placed there. Really, he saved two lives. This is just an outstanding humanitarian, goes well beyond anything normal.”