PBMCSP Update - March 2010.
The Peter Brock Memorial Child Sponsorship Program is critical.
As one of very few that give all donated funds to the designated children, we are looking for people who really want to make a difference, and who know that their dollars will do that to the maximum.
See the Your Way to Help page!
Picture at left: HRA Patron Dr Peter Stewart, HRA Director Chris O'Dempsey, and Vietnam HRA Director Mrs Tuyet.
NEW MEDICAL CLINIC
Tan Thach Primary School (Mekong Delta, Vietnam)
Phote: HRA Dir. Chris O’Dempsey; Mr Hue, School principal when Clinic was first proposed ; HRA Patron and Sponsor, Dr Peter Stewart.
The long awaited Medical Clinic in Tan Thach, Ben Tre, Vietnam, is finally completed. These delays that followed the initial sourcing of roof frames and trusses that were donated by Truss Rite, were further prolonged when the government decided to build five long overdue classrooms at the Tan Thach Primary School! The positive aspect, was 
that the construction company involved were able to follow on and build the Clinic to the plans and specifications we had supplied, and completed the facility to Western standards. The Clinic was opened on November 1 2010. We initially sought a full time Nurse to staff the Clinic, but have now employed 4 medical doctors on a rotation basis. They attend daily, and have in the first months, seen a great number of medical and accident patients, as well as many of the school students.
The builders chosen to provide the classrooms will also reconstruct the Medical Clinic, which is located in the School grounds. We need funding for cladding, internal fittings, and equipment.
This Clinic is to be a local health education centre, and we want, in time, to employ a full-time nurse. The clinic will have a special "Health Care" card system for poor families. This system will allow sponsored children and their families free access both to medical care and pharmaceuticals. The Health Education programs are aimed at teaching mainly poorer families the way to minimize health risks, gain good nutrition on a low budget, womens issues and general health care.
There are several major hotels in Ho Chi Minh City who have medical personnel on-staff who have volunteered to assist periodically at the Clinic, and in addition, HRA will have visiting medical personnel and specialists who will attend when in country. The HRA Director visits several times a year to oversee and check the Clinic program, budgets, needs and overall effectiveness. following its completion. These volunteers will liase with the full-time nurse, who will attend to consultations and health education programs in the Tan Thach region.
This Clinic is to be a local health education centre, and we want, in time, to also employ a full-time nurse who can do home visits. The clinic is setting up a special "Health Care" card system for poor families. This system will allow sponsored children and their families free access both to medical care and pharmaceuticals. The Health Education programs are aimed at teaching mainly poorer families the way to minimize health risks, gain good nutrition on a low budget, women’s issues and general health care.
There are several major hotels in Ho Chi Minh City who have medical personnel on-staff who have volunteered to assist periodically at the Clinic, and in addition, HRA will have visiting medical personnel and specialists who will attend when in country. The HRA Director visits several times a year to oversee and check the Clinic program, budgets, needs and overall effectiveness. following its completion. These volunteers will liase with the full-time nurse, who will attend to consultations and health education programs in the Tan Thach region.
Sponsors Needed.
We have 177 children listed in the sponsorship program at the beginning of 2011.
35 are in Tan Thach (Mekong Delta), 5 in Quang Tri (the old border between North and South), 1 in Hanoi, 5 in Dong Nai (North of HCMC), 1 in a school for the blind in HCMC, and 130 awaiting support in various regions. All are from very poor families who meet the criteria set for sponsorship.
As at April 2010, January 2011 20 children still need sponsors urgently! Another 130 children are in temporary support and will soon also require sponsors.
The $25 a month is 100% given to the cildren’s family or guardians and we check on each child during the three field trips HRA undertakes per year. Administration is covered by our major sponsors, Laser Sight Centres. (Dr Peter Stewart is himself involved in programs in HCMC, and visits some of these children when he is there.)
PLEASE SPONSOR A CHILD TODAY.!
SONSORED CHILDREN
SOME OF THE FACTS
The value of sponsorship can be seen in the results of those who have been assisted over the past three years since the program began. Of all the children sponsored, only one has not done well at school. This unfortunate situation has largely arisen because both parents are bed ridden, and the child has to work, help in the home, sell things to get money, and go to school in between. At present we are looking for a "best way" to help in this sad situation long-term.
Of the other children, 70% have have achieved marked grade improvements, and all others have done well. One in particular, Mai (see below), has become the top student in the Ben Tre Province, after maintaining that position through both Primary and Middle school. She has maintained that status into High School, despite having to study with limited lighting, in a home that is at best a shack. She is one of the poorest children, but PBMCSP sponsorship has allowed her family to ensure she can study fulltime. One wall of their humble shelter is covered in certificates and awards, and her future is bright due largely to the PBMCSP.
In the Quang Tri region, 12 yr old Quynh and her 16 year old sister look after their young mother, who has been increasingly bed-bound during the past 8 years. In 20210, we were able to give her a new wheelchair, and buy warm blankets for the family. When we visited the family on that occasion, the mother had a small charcoal fire burning under her bed to try to get warm! The blankets we brought changed their lives, and brought not just warmth, but safety! Such simple things... but then not simple if so poor as this.
In Dong Nai, the prospects of the seven children of a single Muslim lady have improved dramatically. Three of the girls who had eye operations to correct "turned" eyes are smiling and happy. At school, their grades have improved. One, who missed a full year at school because of her eye problem having complications, nevertheless is improving. They dress well and are always clean and happy despite their surroundings and their very basic housing. They are a special family and always a delight to visit. Sponsorship has given them a new life and a future to look forward to!
These are just some of the stories; but many are not yet told as we seek sponsors to help them go to school, or get medical assistance. We need you to sponsor a child, and help them re write their future!
Mai.
14 year old Mai, who has continued to top her school , is part of the 'Exceptional Student' sponsorship of HRA in Vietnam. This sponsorship allows for education beyond high school.
Mai rides her bicycle to and from school six, and often seven days a week. More about Mai...
Cho Ray Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City.
The engineer at HCMC Medical University Hospital welcomed the defibrillator donated by Laser Sight Australia, HRA's major sponsor.
In February 2009 Dr Peter Stewart (Laser Sight Australia) travelled to Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, for a week-long visit. During his visit he delivered lectures, examined patients, and discussed procedures and treatment with medical staff at Cho Ray Hospital, HCMC.
The humanitarian aid support of Dr Peter Stewart was repeated in late February 2010 when he returned to Vietnam’s Cho Ray hospital. During this visit Dr Stewart continued the training and assistance given to these top eye doctors in HCMC.
He observed, shared examination appointments, assisted in operations, and delivered lectures aimed specifically at the specialist ophthalmic issues he had observed during the examination and surgical sessions. His expertise is greatly appreciated by the Vietnamese surgeons, and his mentoring enables them to gain valuable insights into modern surgical techniques and knowledge.
SCHOLARSHIP:
As an ongoing assistance to the training programs, Dr Stewart will participate in a scholarship program, where Laser Sight Centres, and the Queensland Eye Institute will combine to invite promising young eye surgeons here from Ho Chi Minh City for a months intensive training. This full, all inclusive scholarship will see one of Cho Ray hospital’s developing surgeons visit Queensland in March or April 2011.
Dr Peter Stewart advised surgeons on procedures, and observed their techniques, in the operating theatre at Cho Ray Hospital.
Dr Stewart delivered lectures to medical staff, surgeons and personnel.
Dr Stewart examined patients and discussed procedures and treatment with medical staff.
The private blind school in Ho Chi Minh City.
This privately set up facility boards 25 students, and trains, teaches and encourages them in many areas of life and life skills. Most of the children have come from poverty, and a number from orphanages.
Little Hau is one whom HRA was able to bring from the North to live here, through the sponsorship program.
This bright 11 year old sings like an angel, reads braille, learns music and the computer. She is a long way removed from the shy and withdrawn child we first saw in the orphanage in Giao Thuy.