Los Cabos Childrens Foundation
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Mission Statement
The mission of LCCF is to Promote, strengthen and advance programs that have a focus on health and wellness for children in Baja California Sur, Mexico. We identify needs within BCS’s statewide healthcare landscape and support the local direct service providers addressing these needs (such as hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centers, therapeutic centers, etc.) with funding as well as hands-on capacity-building support.
About This Cause
The idea of LCCF was born in 2002 with an act of personal philanthropy by Tom Walsh, a South Dakota businessman, avid golfer, and part-time Los Cabos resident. Tom learned about a local child who was struggling with cancer but had no options for treatment in BCS. Tom’s response was to find (and personally underwrite) ways to send this child — and soon, close to 60 more children— to the United States where treatment could be provided at our partner hospital, Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In the coming years, it became clear that this approach, while generous, had its obstacles: primarily, the high cost and the long timeline. In a few heartbreaking cases, children died while waiting for approval of their visas. In response, LCCF embarked on a new approach that included bringing a team of doctors from another U.S. hospital partner, Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, down to BCS each year to perform multiple surgeries on waiting patients. This enabled us to dramatically increase the number of children we could serve over the next few years, but it still did not address a chief problem: the skills to perform these surgeries did not exist in local medical personnel. Mexican children still remained wholly dependent upon U.S. doctors. So LCCF took the next step of bringing the U.S. medical team down to train BCS doctors and nurses in these much-needed procedures. In the case of children with cancer, after finding a Mexican hospital partner across the Sea of Cortez, we “imported” a Pediatric Oncologist, who with support and guidance from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, began treating the children close to home. Eventually, we founded a Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Unit in the state capital of La Paz. By adopting this capacity-building strategy, LCCF has been successful in catalyzing systemic change within BCS’s healthcare system over the past 16 years. To date, we’ve raised and invested $16 million into 26 partner organizations and programs that are delivering critical health-focused services to children in the following four categories: 1. Spirit of Love— Congenital heart defects are the second highest cause of mortality in children under the age of four in BCS. Since our founding, LCCF has supported cases related to heart malformations in minors. In 2013 our support made it possible to perform the first open heart surgery in BCS. Since then, we have enabled the delivery of 116 additional surgeries locally and have contributed to the accreditation of the Pediatric Cardiology Program at our partner hospital in La Paz, Salvatierra General Hospital, which ensures the long-term availability of care for children in our state. Our other program partner, Abriendo Corazones-Opening Hearts, operates and organizes cardiac surgery sessions, which are now held twice a year at Salvatierra Hospital, as well as ongoing training of the local pediatric cardiology team. 2. Spirit of Joy— In BCS, cancer is the second highest cause of mortality in children between five and 14 years of age. With LCCF’s support, children with cancer in BCS can now be treated in the Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Unit at Salvatierra General Hospital in La Paz and are also provided with food, transportation, lodging, and psychological services. LCCF supports initiatives that focus on childhood cancer from a comprehensive approach, which includes research and collection of relevant data. LCCF works with six partner organizations to deliver cancer-focused services. 3. Spirit of Hope— The Spirit of Hope program of LCCF was formally born in 2014, with our investment in the creation of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Salvatierra Hospital, the only one of its kind in the state. Together with the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, they provide care to minors from throughout the state with the most critical health conditions. LCCF also supports ongoing training for medical personnel in the care of critically ill pediatric patients and provides aid to the families of critically ill children who do not have the resources to cover a life-saving drug, medical test, or procedure. 4. Spirit of Service—Over the years, LCCF’s work has expanded to include other initiatives that address different aspects of health and quality of life for children in BCS. Our 14 partners in this effort include a food kitchen for vulnerable families, therapy centers serving children on the autism spectrum, a program that provides cribs to low-income families of newborns, a youth gardening/nutrition program, a shelter for at-risk pregnant women, a youth shelter providing specialized psychological and psychiatric care to highly vulnerable young people, and programs serving children and youth with physical disabilities. LCCF not only brings critical financial resources to these partner programs, but we also facilitate a network across the state, connecting programs to each other so that they may learn from one another, share best practices, and share information to improve patient care. LCCF has traditionally been associated with alleviating existing health problems for children, but since 2016 we have also started investing in prevention. We want to prevent children from falling into unhealthy habits that ultimately end up in childhood or adult obesity, diabetes, and other illnesses; or dropping out of school, falling into substance abuse, and engaging in violent behaviors. Promoting healthy lifestyles through good nutrition, physical activity, and regular medical and mental health screenings is a new goal as LCCF moves forward. Collectively through these programs, this year LCCF will be benefitting 30,000 children.