Hearts4Kids Trust
We are planning two missions to Fiji - July and October 2025 - so twice as many children can benefit from life-changing heart surgery!
Auckland
The Hearts4Kids Trust is a volunteer New Zealand medical team who travel to Fiji to perform life-saving congenital heart surgery on babies and children of the Pacific.
There are 350 children born each year in the Pacific Islands who do not have immediate access to this surgery without traveling to NZ or receiving medical missions from other countries.
Repairing simple congenital heart defects is an extremely effective medical intervention. Children who would not expect to survive their childhood and who live with crippling fatigue and breathlessness are cured with one operation. They can carry on living life without the need for long term medication or follow-up.
With your help these children have the opportunity to lead an active and fulfilling life.
The Hearts4Kids Trust team completed missions to Fiji in 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2024. This year, for this first time, we are planning for two missions - July and October - so we have invited some Australian team members to join us.
More about us
Led by surgeon Kirsten Finucane, former Head of Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery at Starship Hospital, Hearts4Kids is a dedicated volunteer medical team who give their time and use their specialist expertise to provide life saving heart surgery to Pacific Island children. It is better for families if children are able to receive treatment in the Pacific Islands, rather than having to travel far away for a longer period of time, and we give them the opportunity to lead active and fulfilling lives. Our organisation is completely pro bono, with no overheads and all money going directly to addressing the needs of the children.
The Hearts4Kids Trust is a registered charity (#CC52875) based in Auckland.
See our website https://www.hearts4kids.org.nz for additional information.
Use of funds
All of the funds donated will be used specifically to operate and care for the children in Fiji. Priority will be given to purchase equipment, disposables and drugs and the balance of funds will be used to pay for economy travel and house the medical team.
Other page links
Latest update
Hearts4Kids - planning TWO missions to Fiji this year - July & October 2025 22 February 2025
Dear Supporter
Our Hearts4Kids trip to Fiji last year was so successful that we have been invited to do two trips this year - July and October. However, to achieve this doubling of our service, we need your help!
Last year Pasifika Medical Association supported us strategically and financially, bringing children from five Pacific islands to Suva for heart surgery. Having recognised that this is a more cost-efficient and family-friendly way to provide cardiac surgery in the Pacific, PMA will again collaborate with us. However, two trips increases our costs - we need to raise another $50,000, which will enable us to do twice as many operations - 30 children.
We have recruited two teams by including colleagues from Australia and we believe this will make us stronger and create a more sustainable workforce for the future, as we gradually train medical and nursing professionals in the Pacific in the complexities of cardiac surgical care.
All 15 children from 2024 are doing well. Starship Cardiologists are already referring children in need of surgery from the Outreach Clinics they have done. We hope to offer more of our young Pacific neighbours with simple heart defects a timely repair, a safe recovery, and a good quality of life afterwards.
We hope you will again be able to support us.
With heartfelt thanks
Bula Vinaka
Kirsten Finucane
Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgeon
Latest donations
Who's involved?
