The University of California Irvine’s medical club M.E.M.O. (Medical, Educational Missions & Outreach), a student run non profit, is planning to go to Vietnam and Laos this summer take donations for programs such as heart surgeries and school scholarships. Last year they were able to raise $100,000 and fund 12 heart surgeries due to their annual fundraising gala.
Memo is hosting their annual Open Our Hearts 2017 Gala this year on May 7, in order to raise the money for funding the heart surgeries and school scholarships in Vietnam and Laos. They also will conduct dental and pharmacy clinics in rural communities in Vietnam and Laos. Click here to donate to MEMO online.
About M.E.M.O.
Since 2007, M.E.M.O. has been sending volunteers, doctors, dentists, and other health-care professionals to offer medical relief, educational opportunities, heart surgeries, and other civil services to the underserved in multiple regions in Vietnam. We provide life-saving heart surgeries to children with congenital heart disease, donate surgical equipment to under-funded hospitals, and set up medical and dental clinics in rural communities. Additionally, we visit and provide monetary aid to orphanages and provide scholarships and school supplies to primary school students in hopes to give them an opportunity to remain in school and continue their education. On our tenth mission trip to Vietnam this past July, we were able to fund 12 life-saving heart surgeries, provide 70 scholarships, and see hundreds of patients during our medical and dental clinics.
M.E.M.O. continually strives to improve our organization so that more underprivileged people can be provided with the help they so greatly need. We have since collaborated with Lestonnac Free Clinic in order to open a free clinic in Garden Grove, CA to continue our goal of providing medical and dental care to local underserved communities. This past October 2016, we collaborated with the Vietnamese Physicians of Southern California (VPASC) in order to host a successful health fair in Orange County to provide health services locally. Our students strive to continue these advances with each of M.E.M.O.’s chapters providing educational symposiums and health fairs to continue our work in providing medical services to the communities within Southern California. Additionally, M.E.M.O. strives to provide educational support and assistance to local underserved communities. Our students volunteer at local soup
kitchens, boys’ and girls’ clubs, and schools in order to educate and give back to the community that we come from in hopes to improve the lives of others.