LCIF and five Lions clubs in the Bergamo region of Italy teamed up to purchase cardiography equipment that is improving medical care to patients, especially children. The Lions and LCIF split the US$70,000 cost of a Doppler color echocardiography machine.

The sophisticated ultrasound machine is enabling Floreasca Hospital to provide care to Romanians that was unavailable and unimaginable two years ago when the hospital opened. It was the first emergency hospital in Romania and one of the first in Eastern Europe.

The LCIF grant to the Italian Lions clubs was a standard grant, one of 147 standard grants for US$6.3 million given by LCIF in the 2002 fiscal year. Standard grants are given for large-scale projects that address important humanitarian needs.

Floreasca Hospital recently added a heart surgery unit to its two cardiology units. The demand for pediatric cardiology has soared as birth rates have risen and infant mortality has improved. The echocardiography machine is expected to serve as many as 2,000 patients a year, 80 percent of them children.

The delivery of the machine also included a support program. An Italian heart doctor provided training for 15 young Romanian cardiologists and trainees. The Lions of Ponte San Pietro-Isola financed the training costs. Such training will help ensure the continued viability of the project.

The project was launched after Dr. Mario Scarpelli, the vice president of the Ponte-Isola Lions Club, volunteered at Floreasca Hospital and learned that it lacked modern equipment. The four other Lions clubs involved in the project were Treviglio, Treviglio Fulcheria, Trezzo and Bergamo San Marco.