This small project came out of the connections and network Aart Dronkers built in Nepal in 2015, as well as his friendship with Dr. Denis Brown (deceased), Dr. Janice Routledge and Dr. David Omand. Aart did his Himalaya Trek in 2015 with Janice & David. The larger medical program is coordinated by the McMaster Medical University and Dr. Janice Routledge and Dr. David Omand volunteer for this program. The program has been going on successfully for quite a while.
A large part of the rural areas in Nepal has been turned to rubble during the April 2015 earthquake. Consequently, there continues to be a strong need for just about everything in Nepal, but in particular medical services, infrastructure & equipment. The equipment that has been purchased from our Rotary Club $2000 donation are Medical Kits that consist of various treatment and teaching tools: Ophthalmoscope, otoscope, reflex hammer, measuring tape, syringe for Foreign Body removal, Blood Pressure cuff, Digital Thermometer, Flashlight, Peak flow meter, (Glucometer, Portable SPO2 machine are for future funding). One medical kit would stay at each site, and there is a new group of students each 6 months that live and work at each of those 4 sites.
The Kits were purchased on site in Kathmandu and donated to the PAHS (Patan Academy of Health Sciences), whose mandate is to train medical students to improve health care in the rural underserviced areas of Nepal.
Dr. Janice Routledge and Dr. David Omand met in medical school, and graduated from University of Calgary in 1983. Janice Routledge took residence in Newfoundland in a rural family practice and David Omand in Calgary and Newfoundland. In Newfoundland David spend an extra year in pediatrics. Subsequently Janice and David worked rural/remote for 30 years mainly in Cold Lake.
Both Janice and David semi-retired in 2009 to do remote medicine in Nunavut, and volunteer in central and South America, and Nepal.
They have been happily married for 32 years, their son is a journalist, their daughter is a nurse in Haida Gwai, and their youngest daughter is in 2nd year of med school. They love to travel, kayak, x-country and back country ski, and backpack (especially now that the kids carry all the heavy stuff!).
Recently, the Rotary Club of Summerland donated CAD2000 to a project in Nepal to supply crucial medical equipment for medical students who are studying to become doctors in the 4 rural hospitals in Nepal. Dr. Janice Routledge and Dr. David Omand volunteer in Nepal to teach these medical students and prepare them for their future duties.
This small project came out of the connections and network Aart Dronkers built in Nepal in 2015, as well as his friendship with Dr. Denis Brown (deceased), Dr. Janice Routledge and Dr. David Omand. Aart did his Himalaya Trek in 2015 with Janice & David. The larger medical program is coordinated by the McMaster Medical University and Dr. Janice Routledge and Dr. David Omand volunteer for this program. The program has been going on successfully for quite a while.
Thank you for the informative presentation, Dr. Routledge and Dr. Omand. We appreciate it!
