NEWS ARCHIVE

June 2006: Richard Todd, documentary maker, visits the Projects

Richard Todd, documentary maker from Aquarius Productions, based in Margaret River, Western Australia, made a further trip to Bali to film the Foundation’s work. Richard is making an hour-long documentary, which follows the lives of some of the patients undergoing cataract surgery, and recording their lives prior to and after the sight-restoring operations. Richard’s work for the Foundation is voluntary, and we are very excited about the prospect of having available such a detailed film record of our humanitarian work in Indonesia. He has also produced a short DVD on aspects of the work, which the Foundation is using for fundraising and promotion purposes.

24 June 2006: Children’s Cataract Operations

These operations were funded by Rotary District 9690, NSW Australia. Four young cataract blind girls were operated in the Foundation’s Sight Restoration and Blindness Prevention Program by Balinese ophthalmologist Dr Dharyata in the Puri Raharja Hospital in Denpasar. Three of the children had both eyes operated, and one had one eye operated. These children now have the chance of a normal life, and the opportunity to attend school.

21-23 June 2006: Field Screening and Cataract Operations, Tejakula

Yki’s screening team joined forces with the NBMEC team and screened 522 village people in Tejakula on the north-east coast of Bali. From this screening, 54 people were identified with operable cataracts and Dr Sekar operated these patients over the following five days. The YKI team visited four primary schools in the area and examined the eyesight of 451 children who were undergoing special holiday classes in making offerings and as a result were dressed up in their temple clothes, making the screenings a very colourful event. The YKI team issued 404 pairs of glasses to the villagers, and 18 prescriptions for the children were ordered.

14 June 2006: Medical equipment delivery to Amlapura Hospital

The Foundation delivered 14 good quality hydraulic hospital beds to the Amlapura Hospital in the east of Bali, to replace their existing beds in the wards which have been ‘adopted’ by the Foundation to re-equip. The beds were donated by the Hollywood Hospital in Perth, Western Australia and shipped to Bali.

14-15 June 2006: Cleft Operations

Four children were operated in the Foundation’s regular Children’s Facial Reconstruction Project – all with cleft lips. The children were all from poor Balinese families, and were operated by Dr Anom in the Rumah Sakit Puri Raharja, with anaesthetics by Dr Sukra. The operations were made possible with funding from Fremantle Hospital, Western Australia, and Poppies Asia.

26 May 2006: Eye Screening, Kodam Singaraja

YKI’s screening team traveled to Singaraja to work in conjunction with the local Kodam army unit (IX Udayana, Bali) to screen 264 village people from the village of Sumberkima near Singaraja, where the army unit has a base.

Eleven people were identified with mature cataracts, 27 with immature cataracts, and 128 pairs of glasses were issued on the day. Those with mature cataracts were operated on the day by the North Bali Mobile Eye Clinic team, and those with immature cataracts will be followed up at a later date by the Team.

20 May 2006: Eye Screening, Bukit Batu, Gianyar

YKI’s team screened 358 adults and two children in the village of Bukit Batu, Gianyar, east of Denpasar. Nineteen people were found with mature cataracts, and were referred to the Rumah Sakit Indera for free operations. 248 people were issued with corrective glasses.

This screening was jointly funded by Surya Inc and Jenggala Keramik.

8-12 May 2006: Village and School Screening, Tanggu Wisia, Buleleng

In conjunction with the North Bali Mobile Eye Clinic Team, YKI’s screening team went to the village of Tanggu Wisia, near Seririt in the north of Bali.

The teams screened 487 villagers and found 388 requiring glasses, which were issued at the time. The team also identified 24 people with mature cataracts, and these were operated by the North Bali Mobile Eye Clinic Team.

8-12 May 2006: Cleft Operations, Training by Dr Tim Cooper

Dr Tim Cooper, volunteer plastic surgeon from Perth, Western Australia, conducted a surgical training session in facial reconstruction work with local Balinese surgeon, Dr Anom, in the Puri Raharja Hospital in Denpasar, as part of the Foundation’s Children’s Facial Reconstruction. Sixteen children were operated – 8 with cleft lips, 4 with cleft palates,

3 requiring combined cleft lip and palate revision operations, and one with a complex bilateral cleft lip. One of the children traveled from West Timor for her lip operation, which she was unable to receive in her home province.

The operations were funded by Poppies Asia, the Rotary Club of Seminyak, the American Women’s Association in Jakarta, Fremantle Hospital, and private donors.

8 May 2006: Dr Tim examines burns victim, Azhar

While he was in Bali to assist with children’s facial reconstruction operations, Perth plastic surgeon Dr Tim Cooper, examined Azhar, a 5-year old boy from Yogyakarta, who had suffered severe burns to his face and chest in a kitchen accident several months previously. While he couldn’t help Azhar in Bali, Dr Tim offered to organize surgery in Perth. The Foundation made arrangements for Azhar and his mother, Yuni, to travel to Perth, the Mount Hospital in Perth offered free accommodation, theatre and pharmaceuticals, Garuda Indonesia assisted with flights. Azhar is to undergo his operation on Saturday 17 June. While they were waiting to go to Perth, Azhar and his family returned to Yogyakarta, where they were hit with a second tragedy, with their house being destroyed in the Yogyakarta earthquake at the end of May.

April-May 2006: Evisceration and prosthesis eye

Luh Sri Wiastini, a 13-year-old girl from Karangasam in eastern Bali, had a tumour in her right eye removed and prosthesis fitted when she was three years old. Ten years later, when she developed a severe infection in the eye socket, her plight came to the attention of our Foundation. In late April the Foundation organized for Luh to undergo a medical procedure in which her eye socket was prepared for a new prosthesis, which was fitted in May. The procedure was performed by ophthalmologist, Dr Dayu, in the Rumah Sakit Indera, Denpasar. The prosthesis eye was manufactured by Pak Tunas, prosthesis technician, who lives in Gianyar.

The operation and prosthesis were funded by Rotary District 9690, New South Wales, Australia.

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