Ensenada Dental Clinic a milestone.

by Ray Sanford

Our club celebrated it's 11th international dental clinic this weekend by helping the children of Escuela Primaria "La Esperanza" in a remote section of Ensenada. This very poor neighborhood is comprised mostly of immigrants from the southern regions of Mexico and Central America who have moved north looking for work.

Each clinic is at a different school and is picked by the Ensenada Calafia Rotary Club in conjunction with the Ensenada Department of Education to pick the school most in need. This clinic was attended by almost 50 children, each sporting a Rotary sticker. Altogether, over $36,000 of free dental services was delivered in one long day.

The clinic also marked Dr. Tozzer's and Dental Care for Children's 90th clinic in Baja California over the last 18 years. In a ceremony during the clinic, dignitaries from Ensenada and Baja California arrived to present him with a plaque noting his continued giving to the citizens of Ensenada. To date, the amount of free dental services the organization has provided to the Ensenada region tops $2.5 million.

Notable were the volunteers from around the world. Besides dentists and specialists from Southern California, others came from Peru, Brazil, India, Lebanon, Egypt and Armenia. Joining them were more students from the USC Dental School and a visiting Rotarian from London, England.

While our club members have helped by painting, building and furnishing school supplies in the past, this clinic marked a transition to having most of the work done by the children and families who were receiving treatment. This way, the clinic isn't a "hand-out" as each person gives back something to support the school. Entire families, as well as club members from both Irvine Spectrum and Ensenada Calafia clubs pitched in to plant trees and do much needed repainting.

Saturday evening, while the USC students were busy visiting the attractions in downtown Ensenada, the Rotarians were treated to a fabulous dinner at the home of Fabiola and Miguel Valdez. Fabiola is an Ensenada dentist and a member of the Ensenada Calafia Rotary club.

More photos

Ensenada Dental Clinic

The school for our upcoming dental clinic has been selected. It's in the same general area as the last clinic but it's smaller and even poorer.

Lupita Creo, International chair for the Ensenada Calafia club is arranging discounted prices on rooms at the Hotel Coral, our 5-star home away from home.
http://hotelcoral.com/English/html/Hotel/Hotel.html

She's also passing the word to the school principal and teachers that we expect the families of the children treated to assist in any fix-up work we're doing. This is to keep the families involved and to help them take ownership of the school so our efforts to fix it up will remain.


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Myanmar Water Project

John Brainerd spoke about Rotary’s water program in Myanmar. Major activity in Myanmar is agriculture – even orphanages grown gardens. However, due to a lack of infrastructure, children had to walk to a river to fill buckets and carry them quite a distance back to the orphanage garden. Instead of attending school and socializing children were carrying buckets of water back and forth to take care of the garden.

Two and a half billion people lack access to clean water. Each year 1.8 million people die from diarrhea, much of it cause from severe diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Eighty-eight percent of deaths are due to unsafe water or inadequate sanitation or hygiene, and 1.4 million are children ages five and younger, according to the World Health Organization. Malnutrition- related deaths of children five and under caused by unsafe water, inadequate sanitation, and insufficient hygiene total 860,000 a year.

When Rotary inquired further as to what Myanmar needed most – physicians in Myanmar stated they needed permanent water projects. Though a daunting project, Rotary agreed and has already designed and built 15 of the 60 requested systems. Working with Save the Children and the Myanmar Compassion Project, the project is serving 200 orphanages. Seventy to eighty percent of the water is used for agriculture, ten percent is used for kitchen use, and ten percent is used for laundry. The children now have time for school and social activities. Newport continues to work with Maesai Rotary to keep the project alive.

To find out more about the Myanmar Water Project, including the project’s entire history and how to make donations go to: http://www.myanmarwater.org/

What Matters Now

Click below for some thoughts about the coming year.

Ensenada Dental Clinic

By Pat Rodgers

Good morning, friends, from beautiful Ensenada, Mexico. Have been here since Friday evening, as part of our Rotary Club Dental Clinic and work day at a local school. The hotel is a great one, overlooking the marina and Pacific ocean and light years ahead of Motel 6.

Our Rotary Club does a Dental Clinic and work project several times a year down here and this is the first one I have attended. I must say, it was a worthwhile experience.

The Dental Care for Children van and it's group of volunteer dentists, along with students from the USC dental school, were well organized and treated over 50 kids from a local elementary school. There was over $24,000 worth of dental services delivered.

Then the rest of us, the common laborers, undertook the work project of repainting the block walls of the school buildings which were adorned with graffiti. After a quick trip to Home Depot, to pick up the paint and supplies, we embarked on the project. It took about six hours of manual labor and true to the Rodgers painting form, I got as much paint on me as I did the school. Fortunately, it was water based paint and cleaned up easily.

The parents and kids from the school were great and many pitched in and helped. I had forgotten the joys of manual labor, especially painting with rollers and brushes. At the end of the day, I remembered why I have such great respect for people who do painting for a living. Stepping back and looking at the finished project however, we did a pretty god job for amateurs.

The kids got their teeth fixed and a clean new looking school building. In viewing their basketball court, I also noted that neither of the two backboards had baskets, so while we were getting paint, I also dropped into the local Wal-Mart and picked up two baskets and two new basketballs for them. The school principal was most appreciative and the kids will enjoy their basketball court again.

All in all it was a successful trip. The folks I am riding with have to leave early this morning to get to a funeral back home this afternoon. Hopefully, there will not be a long line at the border, since we are leaving early. Hope that each of you has an enjoyable Sunday and my best wishes to all.

Paul Harris Awards

Harry Gabriel is now a Paul Harris Fellow +1


Sean McDowell becomes a Paul Harris Fellow


Janet Wang receives her latest Paul Harris Award

Don Kennedy

Donald R. Kennedy is the newest member of the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club.

Ensenada Dental Clinic

by Austin Wall

Dr. Tozzer and I, along with Dr. Dave Levitt and his wife, and Drs. Stephanie and Peter Dolas drove down to Maneadero to the orphanage on Friday to finish up cases that were started several weeks before at our February clinic. We were helped out  by Dave Cerrie, Dave Wills, Cindy Levitt and John Carlson. We spent about six hours at the orphanage including set up and take down and provided a great deal of dentistry in that period. Ray Sanford and Barbara Foster from the Laguna Niguel Rotary Club came by about halfway through to cheer us on. We then stopped at the (justifiably) famous "Tacos el Poblano" taco stand for a late dinner, then back to the hotel and some sleep.

Up early, we headed for the school selected for us by the Rotary Club of Ensenada Calafia where we set up the clinic in the classrooms. The roof project for the school's new library was already underway. We were joined there by Rotarians Barbara Foster, Ray Sanford, Bob Yaap, Kummar, Marla Noel and Rick Topping, along with Bharati Kummar and Marla’s friend, Joe. 

Everyone pitched in and helped where they could and things went pretty smoothly except for a couple of the younger kids (ages 3 and 4) who made things tough for some of us. Joining us in the clinic were Tristan and Megan Galloway (USC Dental and PA student at Loma Linda) who worked together well and helped carry the load along with Fabiola, a dentist from the local Ensenada club. 

Ofelia and several other members of the Ensenada club helped with translation and keeping the kids (and parents) under control. Take down went very smoothly with everyone pitching in, making it as easy as it gets. We then went to dinner at a very nice seafood restaurant named Haliotsis where everyone seemed to have a good time. We were joined there by past RI Director Paco Creo and his wife Lupita who is a PDG, a real Rotary family.

The border crossings went smoothly both ways as the Mexican customs people liked our paperwork.

Dr. Tozzer and I thank everyone who participated in the clinic and hope it was a satisfying experience for all and hope to have more participation next time, later this year.

Ambassadorial Scholar

February18th was our President's Day meeting. We were honored to have Dale Ford (1993-94), Toni Kay Fenton (1994-95), Mary Mar (1995-1996), Warren Willard (1996-97), Ed Hardenburgh (1997-98),  Woody Jones (1999-2000), Rick Topping (2000-01), Kris Khurana (2002-03), Richard Milo (2003-04), Dr, Bob Larsen (2004-05),  John Alcorn (2005-06), and Ray Sanford (2006-07). That is 12 of the 18 Presidents since the club was formed. Most are still active in the club, but some are unable to be involved. It was a real treat to have them with us and to share many stories of fun times. The tradition continues. This week we are gaining a new member, Gregory Lambourne. He will be our 59th active member.

Our speaker was Drew Curiel, one of Rotary's Ambassadorial Scholars, who studied in South Africa and will be starting his new career as a foreign service officer with the State Deparment next week. Drew applied, and was accepted, to study in South Africa as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

His graduate work was to study the causes and effects of poverty. He spoke of his experiences in Africa and how he and a fellow student lived for 3 months on the average income of a poor person in Africa. He shared how the experience had changed his outlook on what you really needed in your life; the difference in 'wants' and 'needs'. These differ. In America, we want a cell phone, but also have land lines. In Africa, cell phones are needed since there is no telephone infrastructure.

Engineers Without Borders

At the February 11th meeting our speaker was Peter Do. He talked about Engineers Without Borders and how they help people around the world. They frequently partner with Rotary in their projects around the world.  The Irvine EWB group is working on a project through Rotary International at this time. They are constructing a bridge for a village in Africa, in order to supply clean drinking water to the village. Mr. Do ask us to consider our participation with him in other EWB efforts. He would like us to be a local partner with him in his future efforts.

Joan Sarver / Dental Equipment

On February 4th a newer member, Joan Sarver, gave a craft talk about her background and business. She works in money management and had some interesting ideas and thoughts of what to do in these difficult and challenging times. She urged investors to take a more active role with their investments and to invest more cautiously. We also learned she had been president of the Saddleback Rotary club before joining our club.

Austin Wall and his assistant, Al from Dental Care for Children were also at the meeting and showed us how to set up the portable dental equipment we are taking on the Ensenada dental trip in March. Its compactness is remarkable. The design was taken from earlier military set ups. Many members of our club look forward to another successful trip to Mexico with Doctor Tozzer and his staff.

ISRC Ensenada Dental Clinic #8

Almost 50 children were treated to free dental care at the eighth Ensenada Dental Clinic, co-sponsored the Rotary clubs of Irvine Spectrum and Ensenada Calafia. The event, held November 8th, took place at the Emiliano Zapata primary school, located in the rural San Carlos neighborhood of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico.

The Irvine Rotarians responsible for this year’s dental clinic are Ray Sanford, Rick Topping, and Austin Wall. In Ensenada, the project was run by Ofelia Diaz Perea, her club’s International Service Director.

The Ensenada Dental Clinic, proposed four years ago by Ray Sanford, is an event that club members look forward to attending each year. The project’s dental portion is run by Dr. Charles Tozzer, founder of Dental Care for Children, an Irvine-based non-profit organization which coordinates dental clinics for children in Southern California, Mexico, Haiti, Africa and El Salvador. The Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club has been working with Dental Care for Children and Dr. Tozzer for the past 12 years, providing dental checkups and clinics for children in Irvine schools.

Dr. Tozzer and other dental volunteers, including Rotarian Barbara Foster from the Laguna Niguel club, drove to Ensenada on Friday to get an early start on the project and to perform follow-up services for a clinic held a few weeks prior. It also gave them a chance to visit the school and preview where the clinic would be held.

Most of the Irvine area volunteers left home around 5:00am, caravanning to arrive at the school at 9:30am where they were immediately put to work They were met by members of the Club Rotario Ensenada Calafia, who were by that time busy at work attending to those parents and children who had been gathering in the schoolyard since early morning.

Dr. Tozzer and his team of volunteer dentists had already converted two of the school’s classrooms into a dental clinic. The Smiles Dental Clinic van, provided with the help of a Rotary Foundation matching grant, was carefully unloaded and the equipment and supplies were set up in the classrooms. Soon, the dental team was ready to perform much needed dental services on the little children, who were lined up and waiting in nervous anticipation for their turn in the dental chair.

Children soon filled all the dental chairs, and dentists Chuck Tozzer, Xerxez Calilung, David Levitt, and Austin Wall, with the able assistance of dental students from USC began their day’s work. Allan Schechtman, an Orange County contractor, has been helping on Dental Care for Children clinics for over 10 years, making as many as 4 trips a year to assist Dr. Tozzer.

The scene became like a busy beehive. Dentists were practicing their craft, Rotarians were giving children gifts and hugs; and, those who were bi-lingual were assisting with translations between dentists and patients.

But, dentistry was not all that was on the work schedule for that day. Rotarians also got their hands dirty by helping to paint the little school. Rotarians with paint brushes and rollers in hand, were intent on the success of their school beautification project. Parents of the waiting children helped as well by painting or sprucing up the little garden in the schoolyard.

ISRC Rotarian Diane Braasch and others brought school supplies and gifts for the children while Rick Topping gave out 20 assorted soccer and volley balls donated by coach Shelly Noble of Loara High School in Anaheim.

During that Saturday’s dental clinic, 49 children received dental attention amounting to $16,825 of free services. And the approximately 30 Rotarians, from both sides of the border had the satisfaction of knowing they made all this possible.

That evening the Club Rotario Ensenada Calafia hosted their club’s twelfth anniversary dinner in the Spanish style courtyard and garden of the home of Elsa Cortes a Past President of the Ensenada Califa club. The guest list included such luminaries as past and present Rotary International dignitaries, District Governors and Club Presidents. The Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club volunteers were honored guests at the evening’s festivities, and ISRC President Pannkaj Kummar presented the Ensenada club with a beautiful framed picture collage of past Ensenada dental clinics in honor of their club’s anniversary. It was a magical evening, filled with emotion and the satisfaction that humanity had once again been served through Rotary.

District Governor Visits ISRC

Rotary District 5320 Governor Roger McGonegal was the speaker at the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club on Wednesday. Before he spoke, however, he helped promote Mody Gorsky to a "blue badge" status and welcomed the return of Janet Wang to the club after a year long absence. (from left, Pannkaj Kummar, Mody Gorsky, Toni Thomas, Janet Wang, Roger McGonegal)

Roger spoke about the coming changes within Rotary and The Rotary Foundation as well as this year's theme of "Make Dreams Real." The theme, set by Rotary International President D.K. Lee, focuses on helping children around the world.

Thousands of children die each day from a lack of access to basic needs such as clean water, health care or food. Children also don't thrive because they don't get an education, which gives them a way out of the poverty. Rotary's mission this year is to concentrate on programs and projects which can keep their dreams alive and give them hope for a better future.

The Rotary Foundation

Dr. Mike Abdalla spoke to the club about the current status of The Rotary Foundation and the upcoming changes for the administration of matching grants. Mike has been a member of the Orange Club since 1971. He has been a club President, District Governor and recently served as a Trustee of The Rotary Foundation.

He explained about Rotary's efforts and results in combatting polio around the world. Each week we pass a pig around the room to collect funds for the Bill and Melinda Gates challenge grant for Polio Eradication. This is a great example how, by working together, we can change the world. 

StoveTeam International

Nancy Hughes, founder of StoveTeam International was the speaker at today’s meeting. Nancy had just returned from a month long trip to Central America where she’s overseeing the expansion of the StoveTeam project to include El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. With the help of an International Matching Grant sponsored by the Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club and the Rotary Club of Santa Ana Heroica, El Salvador, the factory in Sonsonate, El Salvador will produce over 1,400 stoves.

While working with the Cascade Medical Team in Guatemala, Nancy Hughes was moved after hearing an 18-year old indigenous woman's story. The woman had fallen into a kitchen fire at age two and was burned so badly she lost the use of her hands. For 16 years she prayed for a miracle. The medical team provided that miracle and restored the use of her hands.

The Problem

In the late 1980’s, medical teams reported an alarming number of children being treated for burns and respiratory problems.  A number of concerned volunteers found the problem emanated from the way people cooked.

Most of the poor continue to cook over indoor fires located on the floors of unventilated homes. These fires cause debilitating burns, skin and eye problems. 

Excessive smoke in homes results in respiratory problems that, according to the World Health Organization, are the leading cause of death in Central American children under the age of five. Testing of carbon monoxide, a deadly toxin, found readings in the homes to be as much as twice the level considered dangerous.

These inefficient open fires also result in massive deforestation.

The Solution

After an exhaustive investigation of the cultural and technological factors surrounding open fires, the new, fuel-efficient Ecocina stove was developed by StoveTeam International. It is economical to build and operate, saving up to 60% of the wood currently used while also reducing particulate matter and carbon output by 70%.

India Avoidable Blindness Update

I am Dr. Neeraja Rateria, an Ophthalmologist as well as a Rotarian. For the last 9 yrs I am doing IOL project for my Club Rotary Club of Calcutta Metropolitan, Dist 3291. I am at present working with the MG #62155 in collaboration with your Club Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club. Here are some of the interesting cases that I have operated upon.

A young patient, 18 yrs old came to me with a traumatic cataract in one eye. He had sustained the injury about 8 yrs back and due to lack of funds could not get it operated.

On examination I found that he had a traumatic cataract in one eye with only light projection present. I was a bit reluctant as I felt he may not get very good vision but he insisted that whatever he gets he is willing to accept that.

I did his surgery and implanted an IOL in his eye. Post operatively for the first two days his vision was only 6/60 which improved to 6/9 in 10 days. He was very happy as he had as good a vision in this eye as his normal eye.

A lady, 40 yrs old was brought to my clinic, two people holding her and guiding her through to me.

On examination I found she had lost one eye to small pox and the other one had a large corneal opacity. There was a mature cataract behind the corneal opacity. She insisted that she had enough vision to carry out her normal activities before the onset of cataract.

As a last measure I agreed to operate on her but with a guarded prognosis. Surgery was a bit tough due to the corneal opacity and other complications. But to my surprise after the surgery when the bandage was taken off, she was walking on her own avoiding the furniture in my office and could recognize articles on my table. She was very happy and so was I. It is these patients who make my day.

An old man about 90 yrs old was brought by a local club boys for surgery as they found him sitting outside their club and crying his heart out that he cannot see and does not have enough money to get himself operated. On examination I found he was a frail old man with mature cataracts in both eyes.

On the operation table the man started talking to me in good English. He told me that he was an affluent man earlier and his relatives, taking advantage of his failing vision, made him sign away all his property to them. After this they threw him out of his house. For the last 2 yrs he is literally living on other people’s mercy. When I opened his bandage, he was overjoyed and said Oh! I can see everything now. Now I am capable of fighting a legal battle with my relatives and get back my property from them.

The last I heard from the club members is that he is well on his way to getting back his property and business which is enough to maintain him for the rest of his life.

These are some of the interesting anecdotes but all patients have some story or the other. Most of them cannot afford surgery in private hospitals and have to wait for a long time in Government Hospitals. Through the work that is being done by Rotary Clubs in doing these IOL projects, some of the blind people belonging to the underprivileged section of Society get relief from their suffering.

We "Saw the Stars"

in LA at the Rotary International Convention, June 15-18
by Gillian Bradshaw

The stars, of course, were the 20,000 Rotarians from all over the world who attended the Convention this year! Wow, what an experience! The huge Rotary sign over the entrance of the LA Convention Center could be seen from quite a distance, and there were also flags on several of the hotels, so people definitely knew there was something important going on in town!

When I entered, I was overwhelmed by the huge stack of children's' books for the Wide World of Books project - the 242,624 books collected put us in the Guinness Book of Records, which was our goal!

House of Friendship
Taking Ed Hardenburgh's advice to get a real flavor for the convention by visiting the House of Friendship - and, as high as my expectations were, this exceeded them! First was the colorful "Birmingham, UK" booth promoting the 100th RI Convention to be held there next year - complete with a Yeoman of the Guard and Town Crier.

Then I "traveled" from "continent to continent" visiting the booths of the many countries represented (many wearing their national costume), and learning about the many "Service above Self" projects that our fellow Rotarians are doing all over the world, making a difference in the life of hundreds of thousands of people. I was particularly interested in the African exhibits, as I will be participating in the Humanitarian visit to Uganda with Outreach To Africa in October. There were choirs from far and wide performing most of the time, so it was indeed a jolly place! Thanks to Ed for making this so successful!

Rotary Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Each day focused on a different era in Rotary - I attended the Plenary Sessions for "Today" and "Tomorrow". "Today" focused on our challenge to finally eradicate polio throughout the world, and our partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to accomplish this. For the first time ever, the President of Rotary and the Executive Directors of UNICEF, CDC, and WHO were together in the same room, all of whom gave compelling speeches on this topic.

"Tomorrow" focused on the Rotary Foundation and our focus on Africa, particularly the devastating consequences of AIDS and the need for Rotary to lead the charge to educate, medicate, and ultimately eradicate this disease - if we can do it with polio, surely we can do it with AIDS! Finally, a "Birmingham Bound" presentation, featuring a Town Crier, Yeomen of the Guard, encouraged us to mark our calendars for Rotary's 100th International Convention to be held 21-24 June, 2009.

Hollywood Bowl Concert Under the Stars
Imagine the Hollywood Bowl completely full…now imagine it completely full of Rotarians from all over the world! What an amazing feeling! It was a gloriously warm night and we were treated to a performance by Burt Bacharach, followed by Hollywood movie music from films, the highlight being a fireworks finale lighting up a huge sign above the stage "Rotary International End Polio."

Best of All
Feeling the pulse of Rotary, meeting wonderful people who share the same passion to improve lives throughout the world via "Service Above Self." Many memories and great excitement about next years’ event - please try and share this experience also!

Host Hospitality Night a Huge Success

The Irvine Spectrum Rotary Club has always maintained active relationships with clubs and Rotary leaders from other countries. This is a reflection of the diverse membership of our club where more than 30% of the membership was born in a country other than the USA.

On June 16, during the Rotary International Convention in Los Angeles we had an evening of sharing with more than 30 Rotarians from around the world. A bus load was brought from the Convention Center, while the Japanese contingency came by van and the Indian group was brought by Pannkaj Kummar, our new club president. Almost 100% of our club membership along with spouses and the guests all met at the ranch of outgoing club president, Cisca Stellhorn. We had guests from five continents who immediately discovered how much we all have in common.

Southern California was in a heat wave, so it was a warm evening which required more than average liquid consumption prior to dinner. The advantage was this helped everybody to loosen up and explore the lives of each other. Dinner was a huge spread of meat, chicken and salmon prepared by our own club member, Diane Braasch.

The highlight of the evening followed dinner. While we were all sitting around tables on the front patio, enjoying the fragrance of the rose garden, Cisca stood on the steps of her home expressing our appreciation for our guests in taking the evening to share with us. Then one by one guests from Japan, Sweden, Kenya, Nigeria, Vermont, India, etc. each arose and stood on the steps of Cisca’s home and spoke about what a wonderful evening they had and their respect for our hospitality. Small hospitality gifts and club banners were exchanged.

It was late with the sky alight with stars when they begin to embark on the trip back to Los Angeles. The hugs and tears revealed how great an experience the evening had been. Ed Hardenburgh, who accompanied the group on the bus, said that he expected them to all fall asleep during the hour-long drive back to Los Angeles, but they continued to express how much the evening meant to them. It was an opportunity for each of them as well as for our club members to discover how much we have in common in spite of our diversity.