November 19, 2020
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CONTACT: Rich Bamberger | rbamberger@kivvit.com | 917-662-8370

GEORGIA CLAIRE BOWEN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES ONE MILLION DOLLAR GRANT TO BOSTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL HEART CENTER

The Georgia Claire Bowen IMPACT Grant Will Support Cutting-Edge Pediatric Cardiac Research and Care

Grant is in Honor of Two-Year Old Georgia Bowen Who was Born in Cardiac Arrest and Saved by Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital

BOSTON, MA – The Georgia Claire Bowen Foundation announced today a one million-dollar grant to the Boston Children’s Hospital Heart Center.

The grant will establish the Georgia Claire Bowen IMPACT (Imagining More Possibilities in Advanced Cardiac Therapies) Initiative at Boston Children’s Hospital to support cutting-edge pediatric cardiac research and care. The initiative will formalize collaborations with pediatric heart networks around the world to pave the way for research and data sharing to improve pediatric cardiac care.

The foundation is named after Georgia Claire Bowen who was born in cardiac arrest in 2018. To save her life, doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital tried something that had never been done before on any human, especially a newborn, after a heart attack. The doctors took mitochondria from Georgia’s neck and infused it into the injured muscle of her heart. The procedure was followed by the placement of the Berlin artificial heart until a living heart was available for transplant.
Funding for the foundation comes from GCB Medical Supply, a company founded by Georgia’s mom Kate Bowen. After spending months in the hospital with Georgia and seeing first-hand how ill-fitting hospital gowns for pediatric patients were inconvenient for patients, doctors and nurses, Kate founded GCB Medical Supply and created the Georgie, a pediatric onesie made to accommodate tubes and machines that is now worn by babies in hospitals across the country. GCB Medical Supply also provides personal protective equipment (PPE) to frontline workers who are battling COVID-19.

“After establishing the Georgia Claire Bowen Foundation, we knew our first grant had to support pediatric cardiac research at Boston Children’s Hospital, where Georgia spent her first months after surviving cardiac arrest at birth. Georgia received the best care at BCH by some of the country’s leading doctors and nurses,” said Kate Bowen, President of the Georgia Claire Bowen Foundation and Georgia’s mom. “We know what Boston Children’s Hospital is capable of achieving and we are proud to make this donation to pave the way for more groundbreaking pediatric patient care. Through this grant, we hope to revolutionize pediatric cardiac research for babies like Georgia and many more.”

“Boston Children’s Hospital is honored to receive this grant from the Georgia Claire Bowen Foundation, especially at this time. This generous grant will help us continue to break barriers in pediatric cardiac care for patients around the world,” said Dr. Christina J. VanderPluym, MD, Medical Director, Cardiac Antithrombosis Management and Monitoring Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Learn more about Georgia: read her story in the New York Times and watch her story here.

For more information on the Georgia Claire Bowen Foundation, please visit: gcbmedicalsupply.com/gcb-foundation.