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2005-2006 Project Summary ReportThis summary of projects was generated after a call to all RAG members to provide a brief overview of any and all projects completed during the 2005-2006 Rotary Year. This report was attached to our Annual Report to Rotary International. Complete Reports on these projects will be posted when they have been submitted by the various project contacts. They are listed in the order received for inclusion in the annual report . . . unless they are not a completed project, in which case, they are listed at the end of the report. RC of Ferney Voltaire (District 1710 France) The club has a special role regarding Eye Care: being very close to Geneva, it is in a position to check effective needs with WHO in order to motivate many European Clubs to engage into Matching Grants and similar Actions. Moreover, in the spirit of Vision 2020 and of UN Millenium Development Goal No 8, these Actions are mostly launched in partnership not only with local Rotarians, but also with other organisations, governmental and non-govermental, international and regional. Thus, in 2005-06, this small Club could reach high leverages by contributed to launch: 1. 10 Eye Care Matching Grants (in addition to 9 in 2004-05) for hospital equipment and/or cataract operations in India, Ghana, Tanzania, Mexico (total 590 k$ incl. 22 from this Club) 2. 12 Joint Rotary-IFOS 3-month Scholarships for young eye surgeons from developing countries, in hospitals in Europe, India, Brazil and the USA (total 65k$ incl. 8 from this Club). In 2006-07, several new Club members are enthusiastically at work to continue this effort. RC Pijnacker-Nootdorp (District 1600 - The Netherlands) and RC Eastern Seaboard (D3340 Thailand) From May to October 2005, these two Rotary clubs arried out MG#55495 for $50,000 plus an additional contribution of $17,000 from the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Bangkok. In total this provided 708 patients with free cataract surgery during 4 weekend missions in North and Northeast Thailand by volunteer doctors and nurses of our cooperating medical partner, The Princess Mother's Medical Volunteer Foundation. As of March 2006, the same partners carried out MG# 59496 of $53,000 that help 600 patients in 4 missions in Northeast Thailand of which 2 have been completed. This second project will finish by December 2006. Missions are carried out on weekends and public holidays as all hospital facilities are needed to assist a large number of patients and as is common in Thailand- the family members that accompany them for a period of up to three days. They all stay at the hospital, hundreds of people per mission! A unique experience! THE MAYAN VISION PROJECTS Inspired by Frank Devlyn and the "Programa Regala Una Buena Vision (Gift of Better Vision)" clinic created by Devlyn Optical and the Rotary Clubs in Mexico City - are beginning their 4th year. They were initially created by Rockville (Maryland) Rotarian Bob Martin, executive director of the U.S. non-profit Tree-Land Foundation, prior to his joining Rotary, and have continued with support from the Foundation, Rotary Clubs and Lions Clubs. The Mayan Vision Projects consist of 3 primary component Programs: 1. Old Glasses for New Eyes" - An ongoing Program begun by Tree-Land Foundation in 2003, mentally and physically-handicapped 18 to 21 year old students enrolled in a Frederick County Maryland Board of Education-sponsored job and life skills program sort, count and pack Lions Club-donated used eyeglasses for shipping to supply a clinic in Yucatan, Mexico. In late spring 2006, nearly 80,000 eyeglasses processed by these students were delivered to Yucatan, Mexico to supply a new clinic there. An additional 15-20,000 have also been packed. (NOTE: The students in this program were part of a first-ever Rotaract Club for "special needs" students. It was sponsored by Rockville Rotary. 2. Regala Una Buena Vision" Will be a new permanent, charitable vision screening clinic in Merida, Yucatan, Mexico established by Tree-Land in cooperation with the health and social services governmental organization DIF Yucatan and Rotary Clubs in Merida. The clinic facility is now being renovated and prepared, the eyeglasses and computer were delivered to Yucatan in 2006, and final clinic set-up and worker training is planned for late autumn 2006. Clinic patients will be strictly pre-screened to ensure they cannot afford commercial care. (NOTE: Using electronic diagnostic equipment and a specially-developed computer program, this clinic can accurately fill patients' vision prescriptions using donated, RECYCLED eyeglasses. NO optometry professionals are required. This clinic will solve 95% of all the visual impairments afflicting people there, and help approximately 20,000 people each year. A "ripple-effect" has been the government creating a new Department of Visual Services to provide charitable medical services to indigent patients with problems that eyeglasses won't solve.) 3. ONE AMERICA Program" In 1998, Tree-Land started taking groups of U.S. students and adults to Yucatan to live in Mayan villages, work with residents on community-service projects, and to foster better international understanding between U.S. and Mexico. After the first, new "Regala" clinic is opened, this Program will sponsor trips for youth and adult volunteers to help provide vision care services in Mexico...AND, later, in other countries where these clinics are established. RC of Beaverton, OR (D5100 USA) We have a non-profit organization called Enfoque Ixcan. We are an eye care project in Guatemala. In 2005-2006 my Rotary Club in Beaverton Oregon provided funds, about $1500, for glasses and cataract surgeries. We also recieved non-monetary support from the Guatemala Oeste Club in Guatemala City. In addition to providing help with surgeries and glasses, we offer training in eye health treatment and prevention to health promoters in the Ixcan region of Guatemala. This project has been in operation since 1997 VOSH Eye Mission: I was invovled in a VOSH eye mission to Etzatlan, Mexico where we worked for 4 days seeing 860 patients and dispensed many glasses.
J. Eric Paulsen, O.D. RC of Milano International (Itals) My Rotary Club, Milano International, donated, through Dr Carlo Monticelli, about 50 pairs of prescription eye glasses. Letizia Mansutti. OD RC of Tri-Cities Sunrise (Pasco, WA, USA) From August 5-18, 2006, I led a team of four from the USA to the Volta region of Ghana, West Africa. The team included an optometrist, an ophthalmic assistant, a college student and me (an ophthalmologist). We had advertised our arrival on radio so hundreds came to be screened. We were mainly interested to find those who were blind from cataracts. We did surgery at our base hospital and at two remote hospitals, 104 surgeries in all, mostly cataract with intraocular lens implant. The patients at both remote sites clapped for our team the morning after surgery. They were so happy to be able to see. The youngest patient operated was a 3 year old girl who had undergone cataract surgery on her first eye some months prior with disastrous results. The cataract surgery on the second eye that we did went well, Thank God. She is doing well.
Jim Guzek RC Mysore West (District 3180)
Dr Ravishankar MD
FRCS (Edin) UK Rotary District 6970 · A mission to Ville El Salvador, a suburb of Lima, Peru on June 30-July 10, 2005. We worked with the Rotary Club of RiMac (D4450). We saw 1,477 patients and fitted 1009 pairs of glasses. · A mission to Esteli and Matagalpa, Nicaragua on March 18-26, 2006 with members of the RotaryClub of Kalamazoo (Michigan). We saw 1242 patients and fitted 900 pairs of glasses. Max R. Bruss Rotary Club of Maraval (D7030 Trinidad-Tobago)] The only eyecare project our Rotary Club is involved with is the provision of spectacles to the needy inmates of the prisons of Trinidad & Tobago. Marie Dalton-Brown RC of Avondale, Harare (D9210 Zimbabwe) Eyes for Africa: A project of our Rotary Club. Chaired by Rtn Dr Solomon Guramatunhu PHF, ophthalmologists in Zimbabwe go out the last weekend of every month for three days performing around 100 extracapsular cataract extractions and IOLs throughout Zimbabwe's district hospitals. The beneficiaries are the poor elderly rural folks who have often experienced "the double tragedy" of losing their offspring to AIDS [hence they have to look after their grandchildren] and losing their sight. The programme also invites colleagues from all over the world to participate in teaching ophthalmology residents, all specialities, and optometry. We have need for supplies to try and address the huge backlog. Eye Care Board Member Last year during the month of May of 2005, I had an opportunity to attend an eye care mission in San Salvador, El Salvador, C.A., sponsored by Vosh/International. I represented our International Eye Care Fellowship of Rotarians. I also had an opportunity to work at our I.E.C.F.R. booth at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) convention in Chicago, IL. I also did the same at the American Optometric Association Convention in Las Vegas, NV. Finally, I managed our fellowship booth at our R.I. Convention in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Patrick Devlyn Multiple Rotary Club and District Projects
Samar Das PP ROTARY DISTRICT 1970
Jorge Amaral VOSH PROJECT 1006 patients seen; 1200+pairs of eyeglasses distributed; 34 surgical procedures for retinopathy, cataract, pterygium; 2 successful prosthetic eye fittings. We had a team of 22 comprised of 4 optometrists, ophthalmologist Dr. William Dunn of Daytona Beach, FL, 3 Ferris 3rd year students, 2 certified opticians, and volunteers. Of our group, 13 were returning participants. 2 were student Rotaract members. We have been hosted in Grenada by our co-sponsor in this annual project, the Rotary Club of Grenada East, with the full support of their Ministry of Health. I should add that 4 clinic sites were served and we also treated several cases of anterior segment disease and glaucoma with a generous supply of topical pharmaceuticals donated by Alcon Humanitarian Services. We have also donated 4 Perkins tonometers on past trips and this year donated an Ascensia Breeze glucometer with supplies. Of the eyeglasses made available, 6 pairs were special orders completed here in the States and sent down afterward.
Mitch Dobrzelewski OD RC of Scottsdale Sunrise (D5510 USA) The Scottsdale (AZ) Sunrise Rotary Club Vision Care Foundation donated $45,000 of low vision equipment to the Scottsdale Unified School District. Our club asked the school district for a "wish list" of low vision equipment needed for the district. The equipment included CCTV systems, Braille writers, microscopic and telescopic aids, and various sizes of canes. Instead of the school district having to put this request out to bid, we shortcut the process and purchased the equipment ourselves, and donated it directly to the district office.
Stuart Bark, OD, FAAO RC of Reusstal (D1980 Switzerland) Of the 2000 IOL operations planned under Matching Grant 54812 in Moshi, Tanzania, 62 have already taken place in the first half of 2006. This is a great satisfaction for all Rotarians and partners involved, since the project was initially badly hit by the death of Dr. Marilyn Scudder, the very competent project leader in Moshi. The project involves : RC Reusstal (D.1980, Switzerland); RC Moshi; the initiating NGO Synesius, Switzerland; Aktionskreis Ostafrika, a German NGO; and the cost-effective Kibosho Hospital just outside Moshi, to be shortly assisted by Swiss and German specialized medical staff.
Dominique Faessler Rotary District 6060 (USA) Two matching grants were written during the 2005-2006 Rotary year to fund cataract surgeries. · Project one - funded 2,000 surgeries. Cataracts were removed and Intraocular lenses were placed. India District 3160 was the project sponsor with the Rotary Club of Monticello, Illinois, USA, D6490 as the International sponsor club. Funding came from India District 3160, Missouri Districts 6040 and 6060, Illinois District 6490 and Kentucky District 6710. Also, the Avoidable Blindness Donor Advised Fund contributed to this project. The project was approved and funded and all surgeries have been completed. · Project two - funded 200 surgeries in the Chainet province of Thailand. The Project Club was the RC of Bangrak, Thailand, D3350 and the international Sponsor Club was the RC of Kennett, Missouri, USA, D6060. Funding came from the Avoidable Blindness Donor Advised Fund, District 3350 in Thailand, D6060 in Missouri, and D6490 in Illinois. The project was approved and funded and the surgeries were completed in two weekends in March.
Todd Lindley DDS, FAGD Rotary Clu of Udhampur (D3070 India) The Rotary Club Udhampur is Working for Eye care Project in Jammu and Kashmir State of India. Almost eighty percent area of Jammu and Kashmir is Hilly and backward and the people living in the area are economically very weak. The progress report is as follows: 1. Number of Cataract screening camps organized 22 2. Number of patients examined 6850 3. Number of patients receiving cataract surgery 1060 4. Number of School children examined 5000 5. Number of School children who received glasses 350 6. Number of patients treated for retina detachment 5
Rtn .Dwarka.
Sharma Multiple US Rotary Districts Refractive Error Blindness and vision inefficiency were alleviated and minimized by a cooperative project between the Rotarians of District 6110 (KS, MO, AR & OK, USA) and those of Coyhaique (and vicinity) of District 4350 in Chile, South America. Six Optometrists and Ophthalmologists and sixteen auxiliary personal (mostly Rotarians) traveled in March 2006 from the USA to the Southern part of Chile to examine 1400 underprivileged patients, providing them with free eye exams, donated eye glasses, medical treatments and medicines. Dr. C. Ellis Potter, Optometrist and team leader from District 6110 stated: "We were amazed at the large numbers of people who had had no eye exams and as well lacked correction for high degrees of myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism". The financial efficiency of this project was maximum: the glasses were donated at no cost, the American team paid their own expenses, the host Rotarians provided local transportation, meals and lodging and the patients paid nothing. Along with helping people with vision efficiency, this project provided a one on one ambassadorial experience, where team members got know and appreciate the lifestyle and culture of their hosts. Additionally, it provided each team great insight of the brotherhood and fellowship of their Rotary counterparts.
Rtn. C. Ellis
Potter, OD Rotary District 3190 Detecting and treating Glaucoma in Bangalore, India: The Rotary Club of Bangalore West, supported by two French Clubs from D1710 (RC Bellegarde and RC Ferney-Voltaire), has now completed a 2005/06 (Matching Grant #58385) project to equip the Sharada Rotary Healthcare Centre, Bangalore, with an Auto Perimeter Analyser for the detection & treatment of Glaucoma, which was installed in June 2006. Thanks to a computer-connection to store and retrieve data, it now constitutes a valuable state-of-the art integrated medical system.
V.R. Ramesh -
PP Rotary Clubs of District 3030 NKP Salve Institute of Medical Sciences and Lata Mangeshkar Hospital situated 15 Kms from city center is the hospital of choice for the needy society of Nagpur and surrounding villages. The Rotary clubs of District 3030 are using this hospital for conducting surgical camps in ophthalmology for the past 4 years. Rtn. Dr Rekha Khandelwal is the professor and head of the Dept. of Ophthalmology. In the year 2005-2006, Dr Rekha was involved in conducting diagnostic camps for cataract detection and then surgical camps in NKP Salve Institute. The department staff consisting of a team of seven ophthalmologists conducted free surgeries for 225 needy patients and IOL was implanted in them. The diagnostic camps were conducted in surrounding villages and patients were brought to the institute in hospital vehicle. They were provided with all the medicines needed for the surgery along with free food for 3 days. The patients were transported back to their villages in the vehicle after 3 days when post-operative condition was found to be satisfactory. There were 29 one eyed patients who were extremely benefited by this project who were practically blind before surgery. There were 4 children who had congenital cataract, who were also operated in this project. Glaucoma surgery along with cataract surgery was done in 11 patients and 38 patients had hyper mature cataract, which needed immediate surgery so as to avoid blinding complications in them. The screening involved approximately 800-1000 patients in 3 villages around Nagpur in the periphery of 300 kms from the hospital. Patients who had other eye disorders apart from cataract were also transported to the hospital for further management and treatment. There were 450 patients who needed glasses and they were examined in the department and free glasses were prescribed.
Dr Rekha Khandelwal
Miscellaneous Eye Care Projects · MATCHING GRANT 52862 - Total amount $ 50,000; RC of Reigate. (D1250) and RC of Mahanagar (D3290) for the provision of finance to provide 2300 Cataract removal and lens replacement operations. · MATCHING GRANT 54711 - Total amount $ 20,000; RC of Redhill (D1250) and the RC of Moshe. Kilimanjaro (D9200) for the purchase of a split Lamp Ophthal-moscope and Teaching Lens. · MATCHING GRANT 55061 - Total amount $ 21,740; RC of Guildford. (D1250) and RC of Hooghly (D3290) for the provision of finance for 1000 Cataract and implant operations. · MATCHING GRANT 55322 - Total amount $ 18,250; RC of Reigate . (D1250) and the RC of Victoria (D3290) for the provision of 850 Cataract and Implant operations. · MATCHING GRANT 58590 - Total amount $39,800; RC of Guildford (D1250) and the RC of Milton Keynes (D1260); the RC of Famborough (D1140) and the RC of Whitstable (D1120); the RC of Southend on Sea, (D1240) and the RC of Corringham Thameside (D1260) and the RC of Hooghly (D3290) to purchase a bus to transport patients from remote villages to the Hooghly Eye Clinic and to equip the bus with medical equipment. · Collection of second hand spectacles for vision aid overseas: 10 Rotary clubs in Dist 1250 have collected 40,000 pairs of used spectacles which Vision Aid Overseas renovates and sends teams of Optometrists to developing countries to properly fit spectacles.
PDG Trevor Powell Rotary District 1990 in partnership with the Swiss Red Cross Quality eye care in 2005 for Janakpur, Nepal: District 1990 (Western Switzerland) donated $145,000 USD to acquire essential instruments, equipment and a patient-bus for the Nepal Red Crosss Shree Janaki eye hospital (SJEH) at Janakpur, East Nepal. Each year, SJEH restores the sight of over 6500 poor people by performing surgery made mainly necessary by poverty-induced Cataract and Trachoma. In addition, over 125000 people receive clinical and educational services, for which the bus has proven very important to reach remote populations. RC of Janakpur also assists SJEH in the frame of the joint eye care programs of the Swiss Red Cross and of the Nepal Red Cross.
Mrs. Beatrix Spring Rotary Club of Stevenage Grange (D1260 Great Britain) This project will provide a simple and cost effective way for Rotarians worldwide to help save sight by donating pen sized, lens free ophthalmoscopes to eye-care charities operating in less developed countries. The project is currently seeking funding and support and will pursue the Matching Grant process.
Stephen Sypula |
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