FOUNDATION MINUTE: SEPTEMBER 21, 2020
Olabisi Gwamna, PhD Mount Pleasant Iowa Rotary - Editor, Foundation Minute
The greatest Global Grant by TRF for any project in Africa happened recently.
Mercy Ships is an international charity that uses hospital ships to respond to global humanitarian emergencies by providing humanitarian aid like free health care, community development projects, community health education, mental health programs, agriculture projects, and palliative care for terminally ill patients. Mercy Ships provide surgical services during crisis by reducing the surgical backlog in developing countries while providing training and mentoring to increase local medical skills and renovating local facilities in each of the countries the ships visit.
The Global Mercy is the world’s largest purpose-built charitable hospital ship and is the latest beneficiary of one of the largest Global Grants sponsored by TRF. The Liberian Observer, the national newspaper of Liberia, published in Monrovia, reports that the Rotary Club of Monrovia is the host club in charge of this super grant of The Rotary Foundation Global Grant program totaling $1,125,000 (USD).
This impressive RF grant, which has involved the participation of over 300 clubs from around the globe, has enabled Rotary and Mercy Ship to equip The Global Mercy with a new, state of the art CT scanner and other vital equipment. Not only that, the extraordinary grant will provide a range of sophisticated medical equipment for Decks 3 & 4: the ship’s hospital decks with six operating theatres, three infection isolation rooms, 147 ward beds, six post-operative recovery beds and four intensive care beds.
The grant also provides training and education for local healthcare workers. The TRF sponsored hospital ship, The Global Mercy, is undergoing the final stages of construction with the aim of sailing by the end of 2021. The ship’s first port of call will be Monrovia, Liberia’s capital where it will stay for over nine months. Over 150,000 lives will be transformed through free surgery over the ship’s expected lifespan of 50 years.
Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects. With your help, we can make lives better in your community and around the world.
Story Submitted by:
Josh Mansee
La Crosse Rotary - After Hours, President-Elect 2020-2021
District 6250 Foundation Chair
608-386-2641