In 1995, the Mater Misericordiae Hospital, run by the Sisters of Mercy in Kenya started a cardiac program to assist needy children with heart complications get surgery.  In 2002, the hospital introduced the ‘The Mater Heart Run’ an annual event that takes place every May to help raise funds for the cardiac program. The fundraising event has been embraced by thousands of Kenyans, corporates and schools, and has spread from the Capital city Nairobi to other counties in Kenya. Close to 4,000 children with heart complications have successfully gone through heart procedures, courtesy of the funds raised from the Mater Heart Run.

Unfortunately in 2020 and 2021, the Mater Heart Run did not take place because of the coronavirus pandemic.  The once happy footfalls of thousands of participants in the run have gone silent, the t-shirts that painted the major cities green have disappeared.   Covid-19 has taken away the hopes of hundreds of children who would benefit from the cardiac fund.

In this issue, Lourine Oluoch interviews Emily Wambugu, the Cardiac Programme Coordinator at the Mater Hospital, on why the Cardiac Programme still needs your support.

What is your role in the Mater Cardiac Program?

I mainly coordinate the cardiac care in the hospital i.e. vetting patients who are