China Cal Winter Fundraising Drive. China Cal’s winter fundraising drive exceeded its goal, having raised $51,000 of the needed $50,000 by New Year’s Day. China Cal thanks our generous donors for their kindness and compassion. We promise to make 2014 even more fruitful for saving the lives of impoverished children suffering from heart disease in Yunnan Province. 

Marc Yu Raises $11,000 for China Cal. On January 19, prodigy pianist Marc Yu gave a benefit concert on behalf of China Cal at his school, the Nueva School in Hillsborough, CA. The concert was well attended and raised approximately $11,000 for China Cal to support its activities in 2014. Before playing, Marc spoke to an audience of about 60 people of his experience in Yunnan in June 2013, where he assisted the China Cal team in its rural heart disease screening program for school children. 

China Cal Helped 185 Children in 2013. In 2013, China Cal assisted a total of 185 impoverished children with free diagnostic, referral and financial support in order to cure their congenital heart defects. Together with our donors, our partner organizations have made it possible for all of these children to be treated at little or no cost to their impoverished families. 

China Cal to Hold Volunteership in Yunnan in July 2014. China Cal will hold one volunteership this year in Yunnan, which will be an excellent opportunity to learn about our activities and to help China Cal fulfill its missions. The volunteership will take place from July 10-28, 2014. Volunteers will start in Dali and later travel to Hong He Prefecture. Volunteers will shadow and assist Dr. Robert Detrano, Founder and Executive Director of China Cal, in the examination of children with heart disease. For details, click here. 

China Cal Appoints Dr. Robert Detrano as China Cal Director for 2014-2015. The China Cal Board of Directors has asked Dr. Robert Detrano, a professor in the University of California at Irvine School of Medicine, to take on the the position as executive director of all activities for a term of two years. For seven years, Dr. Detrano has directed China Cal activities as a volunteer clinical director. Dr. Detrano has accepted this position, and his major focus will be on establishing and directing a school for rural doctors in Yunnan Province. 


China Cal to Launch a Pediatric Heart 
Training School for Rural Doctors. Congenital heart diseases（CHD）are the most common congenital anomalies. During five years of work in rural Yunnan province, China Cal has found that rural medical personnel are not sufficiently trained or motivated to detect CHD in newborns. The result is that children with heart defects go undetected and exhibit their first symptoms between 5 and 15 years of age, when it is too late for corrective surgery. These children die in adolescence or young adulthood. Newborn screening can prevent this tragic scenario. Screening would require adequate examination with a standard stethoscope and pulse oximetry at birth followed by a thorough stethoscopic examination at three to six months of age. China Cal, together with Kunming Medical University and the Yunnan Province Department of Health, will create a school to train all rural doctors responsible for the care of newborns and infants to do proper examinations at birth and at six months of age. 

Check Out Our Chinese Blog. China Cal volunteer Fei Shu has been keeping up our Chinese blog, with several new posts. Feel free to check it out here.