WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. - s4story -- Mending Kids is recruiting patients to receive zero-cost, outpatient surgeries serving children (ages 6 months - 21 years) from Southern California. The one-day surgical mission will benefit children who cannot afford certain medical procedures due to insurance coverage denials, documentation status, a family's loss of income or the inability to afford deductibles.

Memorial Care Outpatient Surgical Center Long Beach is providing the venue. Board-certified surgeons and medical teams are volunteering their time and expertise to help children in need of the following surgeries; ear, nose and throat (ENT), orthopedics, urology, strabismus, plastic and reconstructive and general pediatric surgeries.

According to Jose Trejo, father of Jorge Trejo and former Hometown Mission recipient, by the age of 6, his son stopped wanting to socialize with other children who bullied him because of a large birthmark on his face. With their insurance unwilling to cover the procedure, "Me and my wife were almost giving up," said Trejo.

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Although most insurance carriers consider these procedures to be non-life threatening and/or cosmetic, these surgeries are critical to the patient's well-being. Mending Kids wants to ensure that no deserving child is turned away and give them an equal opportunity to medical care so they can return home healthy and face the future with confidence.

When the Trejo family saw a commercial for Mending Kids on a Spanish-language TV channel, they were skeptical but called anyway. Within about a day, the organization said it could help. In 2017, the birthmark was finally removed. "Now he's a totally different boy," said Trejo, of his son, "I see him happy and making friends."

Mending Kids Hometown Mission is committed to addressing the expanding health disparity gap among disproportionately inequitable populations by providing a better quality of life to children in America who might experience bullying due to their physical appearance which can lead to depression, anxiety, isolation and self-harm.

Like many organizations, Mending Kids has also been affected by the global health and economic crisis due to the pandemic, but rather than close its doors, the nonprofit refocused and expanded its mission by becoming a resource for collecting, coordinating and distributing medical supplies and equipment to various clinics located in Downtown and East L.A.

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The 2021 Hometown Mission is scheduled to take place late winter. For parents or guardians who need to refer a child, or medical professionals interested in volunteer opportunities please call: 1-800-993-5680 or email Hometown@mendingkids.org.

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About Mending Kids

Mending Kids is a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization that provides free life-saving critical surgical care to children in the United States and around the world from over 66 countries by deploying volunteer medical teams and educating communities to become medically self-sustaining. Since 2005, Mending Kids has mended nearly 4,500 children. Our surgical teams donate their time and services to train and perform procedures that range from interventional cardiology, open-heart, neuro, otolaryngology, plastic, orthopedic or general surgeries.

To schedule an interview with Dorothy Lucey, Mending Kids board member, Isabelle Fox, Executive Director of Mending Kids, Jose Trejo, or Cristina Farrut for interviews in Spanish, please contact Adrienne Johnson.