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Rotary Club of Windsor (1918)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – March 27, 2013
ROTARY CONTINUES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN GHANA
(Windsor, Ontario) – Communities in the Upper West Region of Ghana, Africa continue to be the focus of humanitarian efforts of local Rotary Clubs and Rotary District 6400. Most recently, a $35,000 grant from Rotary International will enable a team of medical professionals, including five from Windsor/Essex, to travel to Ghana for three weeks departing on April 6, 2013. They will travel as a Vocational Training Team (VTT) to share their knowledge and expertise with local hospital and clinic staff.
A Rotary sponsored vocational training team (VTT) is a group of professionals who travel to another country to work with other professionals and use their skills to help others. Rotary District 6400 Governor Mary Kehoe has facilitated these arrangements.
“I am very excited for our District 6400 Vocation Training Team travelling to Jirapa. The dedicated men and women of this six member medical/dental team will spend several weeks teaching and training staff and health care students at the local hospital and seven other Health centers. Their work will not only change the lives of those they are working with but it will also change many thousands of lives after they leave. They truly are living the Rotary motto - Service Above Self,” said DG Kehoe.
The team is composed of:
- Team Leader, Dr. Godfrey Bacheyie, Rotarian and Director of Newborn Services, Windsor Regional Hospital
- Dr. Ann Chiu, Ophthalmologist, private practice as well as serving at Hotel Dieu and Windsor Regional Hospitals
- Helen Wagner, Perioperative Nurse, Windsor Regional Hospital
- Grace Kelly, LabourDelivery and Specialized Mental Health, Windsor Regional HospitalToldo Neurobehavioral Institute
- Ian Foote, Registered Respiratory Therapist, Windsor Regional Hospital
- Erin Major, Administrator-School Dental Health programs, Summit County, Colorado.
“This project will broaden the knowledge base of medical practitioners and allied health professionals as well as provide direct care to patients and individuals in a rural, resource poor area where one doctor serves 85,000 people,” said Dr. Bacheyie, Team Leader.
Dr. Chiu will be focusing on cataract surgeries and eye diseases endemic to the area. Over 1200 individuals were identified last year as requiring cataract surgery and only 21 were completed.
Other team members will be providing hands on training and lectures for the medical staff at the Jirapa Health Alliance and outlying rural clinics in the immediate area as well as supportive patient care and modeling of medical techniques and procedures. The team also plans to distribute used eye glasses in the communities they visit. They are taking extra medical supplies and other donations from generous organizations and individuals in the Windsor-Essex community.
Rotary International is a volunteer organization of business, professional and community leaders who provide humanitarian service and help to build good will and peace in the world. There are approximately 1.2 million Rotary Club members belonging to 33, 000 Rotary Clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. Learn more at www.rotary.org.
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