Tibet project
Rotary meeting March 12, 2015
Announcements, Reminders and Updates
Rich reminded us about Rotary day at the Warriors, which is Friday March 20th. Extra tickets and extra shirts are available at $25 a ticket.
Sunshine Rotary is having a family beach party on Saturday April 25th at Cowell’s Beach Santa Cruz. Dinner will be at the Marine Sanctuary. Cost is $65 for adults and $35 for those under 21. 5 and under are free. Check website for more details SurfingRotarians @SantaCruzSunriseRotary.org
Richard announced Beach Cleanup is coming up on March 28th at 9:00 .
Tim did a quick scoreboard update. Discussions on dollar amount are currently underway. We have been approved to add a plaque for the community center.
Laura spoke about 50th anniversary celebration (see invitation by clicking on on event calendar).She encouraged us to think about who to invite as this is an opportunity to show others what Rotary is all about.
Sandra has signups available for the American Music festival May 23rd and May 24th. Volunteers are still needed for the event on both Saturday and Sunday.
Dr. Art reminded us he will be asking for contributions for the Human Race.
The speaker today was our own Becky Loy who spoke about Saving newborn lives in Tibet. She began by announcing that our proposal was accepted by the Rotary Project in Beijing. There are only two Rotary clubs in mainland China so this is our only opportunity for ‘local’ sponsorship (although Tibet is 4000 miles away!)
The budget for the project is $30,000, some of which has already been allocated from other funding sources. We still need DDF funds of $4,890 or other club donations of $6,520 !! IF you wish to make a donation for this much needed intervention, talk to Becky Loy or any member of the international committee!
The speaker today was our own Becky Loy who spoke about Saving newborn lives in Tibet. She began by announcing that our proposal was accepted by the Rotary Project in Beijing. There are only two Rotary clubs in mainland China so this is our only opportunity for ‘local’ sponsorship (although Tibet is 4000 miles away!)
Becky’s powerpoint presentation showed that over half a million women die in childbirth each year worldwide. Women die from hemorrhage, infection, obstructed labor and eclampsia. Becky’s baseline data collected from 202 families revealed no maternal deaths in this Tibetian village over a two year period, but 14 of the infants died. This is a very high infant mortality rate when compared to say the US where there are five infant deaths for every 1000 live births. “Breathlessness” has been identified as a possible cause.
Becky described some of the major health issues confronting people in Tibet. The attitude is very high over, 14,000 feet. In this village there are no health care providers, no medicines, no hospitals. There is no central area, although the PRC is moving nomads off pasture land and moving them into townships. Ninety percent ( 90%) of mothers give birth at home and the original needs assessment showed that people wanted a clinic. Rotary does not fund buildings but through other funding sources a small clinic was erected. It has electricity finally but not indoor running water.
The project works with members of the community to get them to have a birth plan and use a childbirth kit that we provide. Local health care providers, including the pharmacist, help distribute clean birthing kits and explain how to use them. In the kit are medicines that reduce infection and the chance of hemorrhage. Both men and women are trained as community health educators in order for men to buy into the birthing process. This is a challenge, as from their perspective childbirth is a polluted environment.
The new grant will be to purchase resuscitation masks, train local providers, provide inservice training on proper prenatal exams and perinatal care of neonates and measure birth outcomes. A big challenge will be getting masks to the families.
The budget for the project is $30,000, some of which has already been allocated from other funding sources. We still need DDF funds of $4,890 or other club donations of $6,520 !! IF you wish to make a donation for this much needed intervention, talk to Becky Loy or any member of the international committee!