Brian Shaw, interim chief executive officer, World Pediatric Project (Photo courtesy World Pediatric Project)
As much of everyday life came to a standstill across the globe with the spread of COVID-19, many medical missions found themselves grounded, including the World Pediatric Project.
The Richmond-based nonprofit, which provides critical medical care and preventive programs to children across the Caribbean and in Central America, suspended its medical missions on March 13 because of the growing pandemic.
Hospitals facing inundation by COVID-19 patients and stoppage of nonessential therapies and surgeries also forced the nonprofit to stop bringing children into the United States for treatment.
“We decided to suspend patients coming in and going out,” says Brian Shaw, interim chief executive officer. Shaw assumed duties in late April after the retirement of Susan Rickman, the organization's first employee and longtime CEO.
World Pediatric Project, which was founded in Richmond in 2001 and also has offices in St. Louis, helped 2,656 children in fiscal year 2018-19. The project has 23 partner hospitals, including VCU Health, its biggest medical provider. About 50 children are helped each year in Richmond. The WPP schedule was marked with 65 trips scheduled for this year, which would have been a record. Thirteen were slated through the end of the fiscal year, which is the end of June.
While missions are on hold, WPP has helped in the pandemic response through donations of supplies, including N95 respirators, surgical masks and gowns, and gloves to Richmond and St. Louis hospitals. It also donated medical gear to hospitals in Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.
Some children with acute conditions are in the queue for treatment in the fall when restrictions ease, but there is an array of variables that have to be navigated, Shaw says. Six of the children are set for treatment in Richmond, but it's dependent on how the pandemic affects national and local guidelines on nonessential medical procedures, business and travel; the workload in hospitals; what airlines are doing; and what's happening in the children's home countries. WPP is also considering the use of telemedicine for clinics and diagnostic work.
“It's all up in the air,” Shaw says. “There's a lot of variables; you can't control all of them, but you want to try.”
The pandemic has also squeezed World Pediatric Project's finances. The nonprofit took a government loan to sustain staffing until mid-June and may have to reassess at that point. They also had about a dozen children in the United States in various stages of treatment at the onset of the pandemic that that they had to take care of and try to return home as they could.
“We took a pretty good hit,” says Shaw.
He joined the nonprofit in July 2019 as executive vice president after stints as president of the George C. Marshal Foundation in Lexington from 2000 to 2013, and serving from 2014 to 2019 at Virginia Commonwealth University as senior executive director of the office of the president and as senior executive director of special projects.
WPP's annual fundraisers in Richmond and St. Louis account for about half its budget, but the St. Louis event was changed to an online-only effort. Its major fundraiser in Richmond, the Rock 'n' Heal, was set for May 1, but was postponed. The 11th annual event will be held at 6 p.m. on Aug. 29. See rocknheal.org or call 804-282-8830. You can also donate to the nonprofit online.