Times-Advocate, 1986-07-23, Page 17E
Loses weight during trip
L.caI medical student gai
Kevin Glasgow returned last week
from a six-week stint in Haiti as part
of the newly formed University of
Western Ontario MedOutreach team.
The 23 -year-old medical student lost
11 pounds, but gained a whole new
perspective on the world, and his
place in it. ,
Kevin was one of nine volunteers
comprising the Med Outreach team
initiated by fellow medical student
Don Melady at Western. Melody had
worked with CUSO in Nigeria, and
returned with a determination to do
something about children in Third
World countries dying of whooping
cough, being crippled by polio, or be-
ing afflicted by other diseases which
were virtually eradicated years ago
in the western world by early
vaccination.
Inspired by a'group of McMaster
students who vaccinated 10,000
children in the Dominican Republic
two years ago, Melady enlisted the
help of medical students Andy
Brockway and Len Kelly an nursing
graduate Maureen Kel to in-
vestigate the feasib
if
of
establishing a similar program at
Western.
MedOutreach was established at
Western under the aegis of the Cana-
dian Foundation for World Develop-
ment, a decade -old development pro-
gram focusing on self-help programs
in Mexico, Jamaica and haiti.
Negotiations between CFWD and the
mayor and town council of St. Marc
100 km. north of Port au Prince on the
western coast of Haiti, resulted in a
25,000 -person immunization target, a
timetable and a $20,000 budget for
Med Outreach '86.
The team, comprised of Melody,
Glasgow, Andy Brockway, Anne
Mancekwell, Tracy Moriartity, Mike
Dunn and Dean Chittock, all in their
second year of medicine, first year
student Cathy Carron, and Nurse Kel-
ly, was actively supported by the
medical faculty and classmates.
Dean of Medicine Dr, Leslie
Valberg kicked off the fund-raising ef-
forts with a $1,000 contribution from
the faculty. A Vaccine -Aid concert
and many personal donations put the
campaign over the top.
Kevin is very grateful for the dona-
tions that came in from the Exeter
area.
The team arrived in Port au Prince
on June 1, and Kevin stepped into
another world. Kevin reports that
Haiti, ranked as one of the poorest
and least developed countries in the
western hemisphere, is a land of
contrasts.
A handsome, innovative, optimistic
people retaining deep pride in being
the first black republic live in pover-
ty and squalor such as he had never
imagined. In the capital, the contrast
between the palatial former Duvalier
residence protected by barricades
and armed men and the slums where
thousands defecate on the streets
wash their clothes in open sewers has
to be seen to be believed.
The poverty in the countryside is
not quite as oppressive, Kevin said.
For the first three weeks the team
was headquartered in St. Marc. The
group was subdivided into units of two
or three, and each unit was teamed
with two or three Haitian nurses. (The
only pay the nurses received from the
government for a full day's work was
a free lunch.)
Vaccines and equipment werd
prepared each evening. Early the
next morning eack team would head
off in four-wheel drive vehicles for
that day's assigned village. The roads
feeding off the one main highway
traversing Haiti are terrible, often re-
quiring an hour to go five kilometers.
As the team travelled to its daily
destination, they broadcast by
bullhorn the availability of free vac-
cinations. The response was
overwhelming.
Haiti has no health care program
comparable to our own. Most of the
10,000 doctors are concentrated in the
cities. There is only one medical
school. Most Haitians have never seen
a doctor, because they can't afford to
go. Kevin said he saw many am-
putees who had not sough medical at-
tention until too late.
The MedOutreach teams concen-
trated on vaccinating children
a:ainst di'theria whootin: cough
OLD AND MODERN TANKS — Fire chiefs Carmen Pickering, Ailsa Craig, Bob Merner, Zurich, Butch
Hoffman, Hensall, Gary Middleton, Exeter and Jim Hoffman, Dashwood, compare an old model canvas
and metal tank with one of the new self -inflating ones during a demonstration to members of Huron
County mutual aid hosted by the Dashwood department.
FIREFIGHTING - - Members of the Dashwood fire department demonstrate fire -fighting techniques during
a planned program they hosted for approximately 100 spectators from all Huron County fire depart-
ments, plus those in Lucan, Ailsa Craig, Granton and Grand Bend.
Area firemen try new equipment
in burning of old Dashwood house
Demonstration of a new -style por-
table tank and a chemical which
rapidly reduces heat and extinguishes
flames, climaxed by the controlled
burning of an old house, were the ma-
jor part of a program arranged by the
Dashwood volunteer fire department
when they hosted the ,July meeting of
Huron County Mutual Aid. Represen-
tatives of fire departments in Ailsa
Craig, Lucan, Granton and Grand
Bend joined fellow firemen from
every department in Huron County -
and some municipal politicians - on
the Jack Schade farm west of
Dashwood for the demonstration.
The portable rank, a product of
Stone Fire Equipment, Mississauga,
resembles a giant wading pool. It Lias
no sharp edges,to pinch a fireman's
fingers during assembly. In fact, the
action of the water pouring in triggers
a self -inflating mechanism.
The new tank holds 1,500 gallons,
fifty percent more than the ones cur-
rently being used by most area fire
departments, and packs away into n
much smaller space when not in use.
It will contain hazardous chemicals.
fiord Scarlett from Safety Supply,
London, set the old house ablaze and
waited until the structure was burn-
ing fiercely before signalling the
Dashwood department to go into ac
lion using water mixed with Fire -Out.
a product salol by his company.
The flames immediately subsided;
and the temperature dropped
noticeably Exeter Fire Chief Gary
Middleton said the Exeter depArt-
ment has been equipped with this frTe-
fighting tool for about a year, and
finds the chemical very useful for ex-
posure fires such as Karns. The non-
toxic material docs not harm clothes
or skin.
Ross Summers, deputy chief of the
Brussels fire department, said he was
very impressed with the demonstra-
tion. Ile noted that the fire raging in
the back shed was extinguished in 45
seconds by seven -second bursts of
spray into each of the three openings.
The house was allowed to burn
down after the demonstration.
The next hosts of Huron County
mutual aid will be hard pressed to
come up with an encore, after the
Dashwood demonstration.
Four persons fined
for suspended driving
Four persons were fined in Justice "mvehicle in question.
of thr Peace court in Exeter Tuesday Court was told the accused has
for driving vehicles while their never had a licence, even a
licences were suspended. JP Doug beginners'.
%'edlake presided. Wedlake fined Steve R. Gill, RR 2,
Ivan Robert Schell of McGillivray Ilderton$250 on a suspended driving
Township was fined 8500 and had his charge. A police check ,showed the
licence suspended for an additional suspension came about because of un -
six months. Ile was stopped in paid fines. 0
Stephen township on March 15, 1986 Two charges of operating a vehicle
during a spot check. He had no licence without proper insurance were dealt
with him and gave the name of his with. Victor Robert Taylor, Exeter
brother. Eventually he admitted to and Glen Munro Nixon, Hensall were
being Ivan Schell. each fined ;500.
Schell has had two prior suspend- In the only speeding charge, Ian
ed driving conditions, in 1984 for un- Tillson of Waterloo was fined $51.75.
paid fines and in 1985 for driving while He was clocked at 112 kilometres per
suspended. hour on Highway 83 on May 18, 1986.
John M. McLenon, RR 2, Mount James. R. Reid of Hensall was
Brydges was levied a fine of 8250 and found guilty of two Liquor Licence Act
his licence suspended for another six offences. Ile was fined $175 for hav-
months. His currenf,,,Jicence was ing open beer in his vehicle in Exeter
under suspension for accumulation of on June 14 and $275 on a charge of
demerit points. having liquor under the age of 19 on
Kevin Murray Newman of London June 16. He pleaded not guilty to a
was found guilty on two different June 20rharge of having open liquor
charges as the result of an incident in in a car.
the police village of Centralia on May Dennis Eisenchink, RR 1, Hay will
30, 1986. pay $125 for having open liquor in his
Newman will pay 8250 for driving vehicle on July 13, 1986. He has had
without a licence and $53.75 for the two previous convictions on similar
,ase of plates not authorized for the LLA charges.
l
a new world perspective
and polio. Women of child-bearing observed, adding "not everyone
years were given tetanus inoculations becomes a doctor to drive a Jaguar
or make bags of money, as Bob Rae
would have us believe."
The nine MedOutreach .team
members received no pay, just their
travel costs and expenses. Twenty-
five thousand people were vaccinated
at a cost of $1 per person.
Kevin is already thinking about
next year. The University of Western
to counter such primitive obstetrical
practices as cutting the umbilical
cord with a rusty knife and smearing
on cow dung.
The additional medicines brought
along to treat other ailments were all
gone by the end of the third week.
Kevin and his team spent some
time in the mountains near the
Dominican border, in country that
reminded Kevin of The Pinery. The
majority of their patients had never
seen a white person, and the Haitian
ministry of health said that area had
never before been serviced.
The Med Outreach team realized'
their goal during their six-week stay.
They administered 25,000
vaccinations.
Kevin returned home with a sense
of accomplishment. He had proven to
himself that he could stand up to the
physical and emotional stres's that
result when a middleclass Canadian
is plunged into a Third World milieu.
He also brought back a great ad-
miration for the Haitian people. He
recalls the friendly smiles, the
beautiful art, the displays of joy, and
said the Haitian nurses were wonder-
ful to work with. Despite the swollen
bellies and reddish hair which signal
malnourishment, "the children still
have fun." Kevin recalled the
pleasure they showed when given lit-
tle Canada pins or balloons - items
Canadian children would toss aside -
as rewards for being.vaccinated.
Kevin discovered that in Haiti the
most common toy is a birth control
device distributed by well-intentioned
organizations to help countrol popula-
tion growth. However, lack of educa-
tion and an age-old belief that many
children are the most reliable securi-
ty for old age have impeded family
planning.
Kevin related the story passed on
to him of the mayor of a fishing
village requesting another 40,000
shortly after an ample supply had
been distributed. It turned out the
fishermen were using the articles as
floats to hold up their fishing nets.
"These people make the most of
their meagre resources", Kevin said
with a smile. -
Kevin's only regret is that he was
unable to do more. He plans to retuin,
drawn by the great need he saw.
Haiti, with half itsmore than
6,000,000 population under 15 and 80
percent illiterate, with one child in
five not reaching age five, and an
average life expectancy of 45 years,
needs doctors, dentists, op-
thalmologists, nurses, teachers, nutri-
tional counsellors - the list goes on and
on:
"Canada is well serviced",ifpin
Ontario MedOutreach team plans to
drop its affiliation with CFWD and
become independently incorporated
as a charitable organization. Anyone
making a donation will receive an in-
come tax receipt before the next taxes
are due.
"Those vaccinations bought each
person a lifetime of health. Preven-
tion makes far more sense than
cure", Kevin concluded.
SOUVENIRS — Kevin Glasgow brought back from Haiti an oil pain-
ting and a carved mask.
mes -
Ser ring South Huron. North Middles.,
July 23, 1986
dvocate
L North t ,nblon Sime 1/171
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