Roding Rotary Club

by Club President, Bob Bishop

My daughter worked for a couple of years with her future husband running a hospital at Kunde, which is a small village 14,000 feet up in the mountains of Nepal. One of her proudest moments was when she successfully managed a breach delivery of a Nepalese baby. Without her assistance both mother and baby would probably have died. The Sherpas in that area live seven days walk from the nearest road and but for the hospital built with money raised by Sir Edmund Hillary and the Himalayan Trust, and the doctors who staff it for nothing except their keep, they would have no medical support at all. In time the hospital will be staffed by local doctors and health workers because one of the ancillary functions of the hospital is to be a training centre for local medical workers. However, things will always be difficult because of the remoteness of the location. Equipment which works perfectly well in a European hospital can be completely useless where there is no regular electricity supply, where the environment is hostile and where the staff simply do not have the training to use it. Much expensive equipment, often donated with the best of intentions, lies rotting in cupboards around the world because it is too fragile, too complex or because spare parts are beyond the budget of the local medical services.

When I agreed to take on the presidency of the Rotary Club of Roding at rather short notice, one of my first priorities was to decide on the charities our club might support during my year. I Emailed my son-in-law, Jim Litch, a distinguished mountaineer who now works for PATH, an American aid organisation which organises health programmes all over the world. He put me in touch with Professor John Wyatt . John is Professor of Ethics and Perinatology at University College London and Honorary Consultant Neonatologist at University College London Hospitals. He is currently researching ways of improving the outcome for premature babies. He is also involved in a programme in South Africa to provide appropriate medical technologies for remote communities. I met up with him for lunch one day and he talked very animatedly for an hour about his work. One particular story stuck in my mind. He was working at the time in an African hospital where, despite his expertise, he was often powerless to help because the equipment simply wasn't there. One day he watched a small baby die who in a European hospital would have had every chance of surviving. However, the baby needed a drip to provide tiny amounts of fluid. The hospital only had drips suitable for adults - the nurse did her best but she was called away and the excessive fluid killed the baby.

RI President D K Lee has urged us this year to Make Dreams Real by reducing infant mortality. Problems often begin well before birth. This applies as much in our own country where many babies die unnecessarily each year as in the countries of the developing world. As a club we have agreed to raise money this year to support John's research at UCLH. More importantly, however, the North-East Area of District 1130 and its Assistant Governor, Jeremy Jessel, have agreed to support my initiative and raise money to support the work of John and his colleagues in South Africa. They have many ideas for developing suitable equipment but the most important thing is to get it right. We have agreed to support a pilot project to introduce and evaluate a foetal heart monitor. This is a vital aid in picking up early signs of foetal distress. Without it problems are often spotted when it is too late to seek qualified help. A prototype has already been developed by Freeplay Energy, the company that makes Trevor Baylis's revolutionary wind-up radio. This monitor will run off mains electricity or other suitable source of electricity but in the absence of electricity it can generated its own power. Each one will cost about £200 which includes the cost of training and support. We aim to raise enough to supply 50 of these as a pilot. If they are successful more will follow and there have already been enquiries from other parts of the world. The next device to be developed will be a pulse oximeter, another vital tool in checking the health of new-born infants.

Our campaign was launched by Professor Wyatt at a meeting in Forest School on 1 September attended by members from all the clubs in the area. The Dagenham club has already donated £1500 and more has been promised by the other clubs from this year's fund-raising. We had a stand in the House of Friendship at the District Conference in Eastbourne and one visitor alone handed over a cheque for £200. I feel sure that if Rotarians can throw their weight behind this project we can make a real difference. Food, water, sanitation and education are vital for the world's children as our RI President has rightly pointed out, but first we must ensure that the babies come safely into the world.