Joe Ann McGowan

Joe Ann McGowan, the citizen of America from California worked in show business. In 1985 Joe Ann has got on a film festival to St. Petersburg (at that time Leningrad). There she had learnt that her translator’s child of had a congenital heart disease. In Russia treatment of the child was impossible. Joe Ann could place the girl (whose name was Masha) on free treatment in one of the best clinics of the USA. After the operation, performed on heart, the child has recovered.
There was a question why operation of this kind was impossible in Leningrad.
This question appeared so interesting that further, there was an idea to create cardio surgical medical centers in St.-Petersburg as well, which would work on treatment of congenital heart diseases, and the project was named "Mashas model".
For the realization of this idea in Russia, the charitable organization - Heart to Heart (from heart to heart) has been based in the USA. Further for Georgia - Global Healing. Later, in 1987 in Sankt - Petersburg the children's cardiological centre was opened. Irakli Metreveli met Joe Ann in 1992 year in the USA, she stated readiness to open cardio surgical centre in Georgia, in case of program expansion.
And this happened. In 1993 cardio surgeons Irakli Metreveli, Avto Tsintsadze, anaesthesiologist Merab Tevzadze, cardiologist Tamta Botsvadze went to Leningrad, for training in branch created by Joe Ann. For the exchange of experience there came American experts. Later, the creation of similar project became possible in Georgia as well.
On September, 16th, 1996 the Joe Ann medical centre opened in Georgia. In some weeks Joe Ann Mac Govan died in St.-Petersburg, in the cardio surgical centre which she had created. According to her will her organs were intended for transplantation, and the ashes divided into three parts should be buried in California, St.-Petersburg, and Tbilisi.

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