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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-03-26, Page 17,.`, , Lio •�+ - Port of MedOutreach Kevin Glasgow heading for Haig Given the current political situation cautstt. Three bands have donated The program will be carried on from in Haiti, Jim and Jean Glasgow of Ex- their services for the event. year to year by first year students as eter may have had some second thoughts when their son, Kevin, an- nounced he was heading to that coun- try to do some "shooting". However, the SHDHS graduate won't be enjoining any political movements in the country. He's part of an eight member medical student team from the University of Western Ontario heading to Haiti in June to launch a summer immunization program. The second year medical student from Exeter will be doing his shooting with a needle, as part of the Univer- sity's "MedOutreach" which hopes to immunize 25,000 Haitian children and adults. The group leaves June 1 and will be returning on July 18. The program was initiated by second -year medical student Don Melady of Dublin, who spent two years teaching English in Nigeria with CUSO. It bothered him that children were dying from whooping cough, a disease rarely, -if ever, seen in Canada. He also found it strange that so many students in the high school where he taught were crippl- ed with polio and couldn't write or walk as a result. in Canada, the disease has been virtually eradicated. Melady now has a chance to do something about it as part of the eight -student group who will set up shop in St. Marc about 100 kilometres north of Port-au-Prince on the west coast of Haiti. The town has never had a vaccination program. In addition to arranging the pro- gram, the students are attempting to raise the $20,000 needed to pay for the trip and the required vaccines. Dona- tions have been coming in and the greup plans a "Vaccine -Aid" concert on April 4 in the Canada Building at the Western Fair grounds to aid their In addition, Glasgow notes that anyone wanting to donate to the pro- ject can• make a tax-deductible con- tribution by sending a cheque to CFWD-MedOutreach, c/o Meds '88, Office of the Dean, Health Science Ad- dition, The University of Western On- tario, London, N6A 5C1. Inspired by a group of McMaster University students who vaccinated 10,000 children in the Dominican Republic two years ago, medical stu- dent Don Melady, Andy Brockway, and Len Kelly along with nursing graduate Maureen Kelly began last summer to research the idea of establishing a similar program at Western. After several months of resear- ching government and private development agencies, the four MedOutreach organizers came upon CFWD, a decade -old development organization focusing on "self-help" programs in Mexico, Jamaica and Haiti. CFWD staff are currently in Haiti distributing 20,000 pairs of used eyeglasses collected by Lions Clubs, church groups and Girl Guides across Canada. The foundation, established by Ken Davis, a 66 -year-old retired Toronto businessman, has ad- ministered several vaccination pro- grams in Jamaica and Haiti. Fortuitously, when Western's medical student group made contact, CFWD was looking for skilled assistance to start an immunization program in St. Marc. And MedOutreach was born. Melady said the MedOutreach organizers are being careful to plant the seeds of "an ongoing link between medical students at Western and the island o(,Haiti under the auspices of CFWD." "It was important that the first year students have involvement in the fund-raising and on-site work." they advance into second year medicine and take over primal*r responsibility for MedOutreach. .0 An underlying but important goal 4f the program, Melady said, is "t'o educate ourselves and the comtnuni- ty at home about the health situation and health care in developing coun- treis." They've already studied some important aspects of the caantry they'll be working in this summer. The United Nations ranks Haiti as the least developed or poorest coun- try in the Western Hemisphere. One in five Haitian newborns does not see a first birthday; many of those deaths are due to easily prevented infectious diseases. Meanwhile, infant mortali- ty in Canada is about one in -100. Life expectancy in Haiti is 45 years while the average Canadian male lives 69 On summer Years and Canadian women average 76 years ' About doctors serve a popula- tion of 5• Million in Haiti. Here in Canada, . city of London (popula- tion 275,0140) alone has close to evil doc- tors. Haitians suffer from poor nutri- tionwill as very little preventive medlcctnesand active medical care. With {aminating that want of preventive, immunization as their task, thef"i3tudent organizers *began working through CFWD in negotia- tions wit the mayor and town coun- cil of St. Marc. Their efforts produc- ed an immunization target, a timetable and a budget for MedOutreach '86. Pep talks in the medical faculty have won the support of professors and classmates and the MedOutreach organizers have turned their energies to raising $20,000. That amount will cover everything in their budget from airfare, local transportation and ac- commodation to the necessary vac- cines for their on-site work. Dr. Leslie Valberg, Dean of Medicine, announced a $1,000 Dean, from the faculty to kick off the fund-raising efforts. "The pro- gram will provide Western medical students with the health care ex- perience of dealing with illnesses in developing countries, with the oppor- tunity to work with health care pro- fessionals in the Third World, and to make an invaluable contribution over the years to the prevention of illness in the communities in which they carry out their work," said the Dean. Dr. John McKim, Chairman of Western's Committee on Medical Education and Services for Foreign Countries, lauds the students' in- itiative. "Every one of our medicine graduates needs to know where Canada stands in relation to world poverty and health care. Anything that Western students do which gives them a better understanding of the problems of world health care is very much endorsed and fostered by the medical faculty," he said. In St. Marc, the Western team will be using a `Med-e-jet' vaccinator which is capable of immunizing about 1,000 people per hour. The airgun-like device, endorsed by the World Health Organization, uses pressurized car- bon dioxide to vaccinate in a painless, fast, hygienic and inexpensive man- ner. The Med-e-jet is so fast it doesn't even puncture the skin. In mass im- munization programs, it cuts costs by about 75 percent by eliminating the heed for'needles and syringes. To allow for ongoing evaluation of Med Outreach's effectiveness, the students will begin an ioldgical study in Haiti. It will comparative profiles of disease in the populace, before •s$ealdatreachatxkr auocessiveyears epi immunization project of immunization. Before the program can become a reality, however, .the necessary monies must be raised. "We're hop- ing people will be interested in mak- ing a small donation that will go a long way toward saving a life," said Brockway. "The price for a lifetime of improv- ed health is a very low 80 cents for each child vaccinated," added Melandy. SKATE IN CONCERT — Appearing in Thursday's Pop Concert presented by the Exeter figure skating club were Mikala MacDougall, Stephanie Baptist, Kelly Hern and Michelle Moore. T -A photo imes - Serving south Huron North M,ddk.e• March 26, 1986 d...yosa PagelA s Wide variety of Canadian and im- ported cheeses, Marble Cheddar lb. .3.29 6 For Easter! Onion and Serve our deluxe soft dinner Parsley Cheeselb. '2.99 rolls and... hot cross buns, Tasty -Nu Bread, old fashioned Cheese plates made to order I coffee cakes. T Chocolate ,Easter bunnies, etc., Easter candiesand cookies. • Try our delicious chocolate chip cookies, date squares and chocolate brownies! Good selection of delicious donuts astyNu • Berry & Chasse House /i1603o ZURICH 2$412 . A PLAYFUL POSE — Showing plenty of _enthusiasm prior to going on stage for Thursday's Dashwood Business Association fashion show were Miranda Hayter, Julie Genttner, Melissa Hayter and Laura Tiernan. T -A photo Farewell fall for Granton Indy By MRS. E. SUMMERS A farewell party for Dorothy Pecko and her son, Joe, was held at the Granton Masonic Hall on March 21. Dorothy and Joe are leaving Canada and Granton to return to England and make their home there. Many of their friends and neighbours met at the Masonic Hail to say goodbye and wish them well. Unfortunately, shortly after the guests of honor arrived, Dorothy slip- ped on the stone steps going down to the basement; this resulted in a dislocated shoulder and meant they had to go to St. Joseph's Hospital in London to have it set. Later on they came back to the Hall for lunch and were honored with a presentation of a wristwatch each from the commurrj�t,y as a parting gift. Special thanl iS`exbended to all who helped to make this a success. Church news At the Granton United Church the Rev. Bruce Pierce was in charge of the morning service and entitled his message "The Road Less Travelled By", There are two roads we can follow, the one that was followed by . Jesus and the one less travelled by Him. If you take the first road, you will stand for something in life, but if you take the road less travelled by Jesus, you will stand for nothing and you will fall for anything, In the children's story, the Rev. Pierce explained to them the mean- ing of revenge or "Two wrongs don't make a right". Music guests were Michael and Anne Pierce. Michael is the son of the Rev. Pierce and is the pastor of the Blind River Pentescostal Church. Anne favored with a vocal solo "Man of Glory". There will be services held at the United Church on Good Friday even- ing, Easter Sunday Sunrise Service 7 a.m. followed by breakfast at 8 a.m. and the regular morning service at 11:15 a.m. 1-11 News The fifth meeting of the Granton 4-1I Club was held March 20 at Prince Andrew School. President Becky Bryan opened with the 4-11 pledge. We then discussed as a group the roll call "A Situation where you felt uncomfor- table and did not know what to do". During the meeting we discussed how to treat someone who had a pro- blem and how to act around other peo- ple. miter we had our snack which was brought by Pam Waters and Col- leen Rollings, after that we played a short game of Teen Trivia. We would like to thank Deanna Beatson for leading us. • Church news The Rev. Peter Derrick was in charge of the morning prayer service at St. Thomas Anglican Church. The music was supplied by Lois Herbert. It being Palm Sunday the children were given palm branches by the rec- tor and were invited to come to the front of -the church where Rev. Der- rick explained to them the story of the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The two lessons were read by Ken- neth Beatson and Muriel Lewis. The Rev. Derrick preached his sermon from Philippians 2:5-11 on Christ's humility and greatness. Maunday Thursday there will be a Seder Meal at 6:30 p.m. in the Church Hall. Next Suhday the Easter Communion Ser- vice will be at 11 a.m. Sharing for schools Once hooked up and using passwords, the program is fairly sim- ple and, says Bieman, can be adapted to any computer system. People in- volved in the pilot program use IBM's, Icons as well as Commodores. Ile uses the school board's watts line to reach a data pack line in either London, Kitchener or Guelph. What makes the information intelligible is an $80 modem. This equipment piece translates computer languages to make them all sound alike. What Bieman would like to see is that each school in Huron be linked to a main computer at the board office. This would enable information to be shared across the country. However, that is down the road a bit, admits Bieman. Ile says that for now, he will await the verdict of this province -wide pilot project. Sharing information between schools via computers could soon become commonplace. And Dave Bieman; computer co- ordinator for the Iluron County board of education, would like to see that happen as he has been "sharing infor- mation" with educators across Ontario. Since last fall, the co-ordinator has beer) involved in COSY, a computer pilot program funded by TV Ontario. Ile and 35 other organizations, in- cluding the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OiSE), some universities and school boards, have participated in this program. Rieman describes COSY as a visual "Indiction board" which stretches across the computer system, he says. Questions and answers also zip across the screen from one user to the other. Infine clothing the rewards which justify the purchase of quality are valid today. Perhaps even more than ever before! Today it makes even more sense to insist on a garment that will give you the shape you want and keep it that way from the first time you wear it until the last time you'll want to, be it a 'suit, sweater or shirt. Drop in and see our spring kaleidoscope of colours from Gant, Ingo, or Arrow shirts Our 1st ever custom fit suit sale in pure virgin wool, wool and mohair blends, in plain colours, stripes or Glenn checks. Two weeks only begI n/ng March 26 - Choose from over 100 fabrics - Single or double breasted - Choice of plain or pleated pants - From Country Squire, Cambridge and Haspel - Hospel makers of the (1 lb) suit 7 ST ' ' • ' ' ' A" - S own participating in Odds Day at Stephen Central School Thursday ore Kenneth Desjardine and Julie Weber. ti r