3H Journey to Dominican Republic
A Chance to Collaborate
By: Patty Byers, Portland RC
Three Rotary Clubs joined together, and eleven volunteers from the Portland, Brunswick, and Exeter Clubs traveled to the Dominican Republic in early January to continue work on their signature international project: 3H – Hearing, Hands, and H20.
What’s Hearing, Hands, and H2O all about? A picture is worth a great many words. Here are some compelling photos:
Hearing: Hearing aids
A little girl’s expression of joy and amazement when she was able to hear her mother’s voice for the first time.
Hands: Prosthetic devices
A young boy’s prosthetic hand made with a 3D printer enables him to grab life with both hands and do things the rest of us take for granted – brush his teeth, eat dinner easily, and grab both handlebars of his scooter. The impact is profound.
H20: Potable drinking water
After taking a hearty gulp of clean water for the first time from the newly installed water filter, the boys smacked their lips and let out a satisfied ‘ahhhhhhhh’.
In a week’s time, members of the team fitted hearing aids, dispensed water filters and solar lighting, and helped out in the building of the new prosthetics clinic.
This was the 25th mission for the hearing team. During this trip, we fitted 136 adults and children with hearing aids at the Good Samaritan Hospital in La Romana. Since we started this work, 4,500 hearing aids have been fitted. At a retail cost of $1,000 for each hearing aid in the DR, that equates to some $4.5 million worth of benefit to the hearing impaired on the island.
Team member Paula Vicenzi, who spoke fluent Spanish and served as our interpreter in the hearing clinic, is seen here with PDG Claudia Frost, and Dr. Roger Fagan, Audiologist and Portland Rotarian, on the way to work at Good Samaritan Hospital.
The team met with Moises Sifren, Executive Director of Good Samaritan Hospital, and with the President and the President-elect of the Rotary Club of La Romana Flor Del Este to discuss collaborating on future projects.
It was the 11th mission for the water team. It has helped thousands of the poorest of the poor have access to clean drinking water. The team assembled, installed, and trained all 90 household residences on the use and maintenance of both the water filters and solar rechargeable lanterns in Batey Juaquincito and Barrio Puerto Rico. We are grateful for District Grant funding for this aspect of our work.
We had a chance to inspect the progress on the construction of the long-awaited rehabilitation center to help amputees, and we put in some long hours rust-proofing rebar for the prosthetics clinic. Later this year, Centro De Protesis will be operational and able to provide prosthetic legs and arms to amputees, with counseling support and physical therapy, at no cost.
There is still much work to be done, but there are beautiful signs of hope in these smiling faces.
We welcome collaboration with other clubs. Will you join us?
- If your club would like to hear more about our 3-H project, please contact us to arrange a program presentation at your Club.
- Or perhaps there are unallocated dollars in your club’s international service bucket? We welcome financial contributions. Here’s what they buy: $65 for a water filter (and $13 per spare cartridge), $10 for a solar lantern, and $125 goes toward hearing aids and hearing aid supplies, like solar re-chargeable batteries and battery chargers that will change a villager’s life.
- Clubs can also collect used hearing aids which will be refurbished for our next trip.
- The team plans to return to the Dominican Republic next year, so why not think about traveling to a warmer climate in February 2025, and join us?
Reach out to Roger Fagan at drrogerfagan@gmail.com or Erik Greven at egrev95@gmail.com for more information.
The Team: Paula Vicenzi, Jim Vicenzi, Liz Fagan, Amy Chipman, David Small, Roger Fagan, Patty Byers, Claudia Frost, Erik Greven, Kathy Flygare, and Carolyn Bulliner.