My friends and I (members of the Rotaract Club of Chicago) have dedicated countless hours working behind the scenes to improve access to medical care for the rural community of Itai, Brazil.

You can help by donating through this site. Your help would mean SO much to me, and will improve the quality and length of lives in Itai.

Members of our club will be travelling to Itai in June of 2010 for a service immersion trip and to meet the members of the community we are helping.  I hope to be travelling with them ( yay!).

You can read more about the project below:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rotaract Chicago, will be donating medical equipment to open an intensive care unit (ICU) in Itaí, a rural town near São Paulo, Brazil. We will be working in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Itaí to complete the opening of the ICU.

The ICU will open in Itaí's only hospital, which provides the vast majority of medical services for free. The hospital’s patients are primarily impoverished rural workers that cannot pay for medical care. Since the hospital does not have an ICU, critically ill patients currently must be transferred to other cities for care, which creates delays of 6 to 72 hours. This delay has proven deadly for some patients in the community of Itaí.

Our goal is to purchase $14,000 worth of medical equipment necessary for a fully operating ICU. I’ve pledged to personally raise $250 dollars.

Please consider making a donation to help us in our efforts to make intensive medical care available in the community of Itaí.

Additionally, all donations to this project are tax-deductible. Please let me know if you would like a receipt of donation for your tax filings.