Tulane Medical for Tibetan Refugees
Donation protected
Hey everybody,
Our group of 12 Tulane Medical Students have just spent 3 weeks in the foothills of the Himalayas of Northern India which is main location for the Tibetan exiled refugee community and home of the Dalai Lama. We have been providing medical evaluations for Tibetan refugees under the guidance of Dr. Rebekah Byrne. We're asking for your help to raise the funds needed to pay for the urgent and non-urgent care needs we have discovered. We completed 182 screenings and of those, 149 needed a dental referral, 69 needed an optometry referral, and 115 needed further medical follow up.
Those found to need further assistance, be it eye care, glasses, dental work or further medical treatment are being taken by volunteers to local clinics and hospitals. Members of our team have personally escorted those with urgent/emergent needs. We escorted over 15 Tibetans to local hospitals for emergent care and 5 others for emergency dental work. Five children needed to be taken for TB evaluation/testing to make sure they did not have active tuberculosis. We are doing our best to assure that everyone we screened receives the care they need. Our group is paying for as many of the treatments as possible with the donations we are receiving from you. Most of those we screened do not have the financial resources to pay for their own care. Your donations are much appreciated and will make a huge difference no matter how large or small.
On average, cost of care in Northern India is as follows;
-Medical Referrals average $15 each which includes medication when needed
-Dental Referrals average $35 each and includes cleaning and dental work
-Referrals for eye care & glasses average $25 each and includes glasses
-Emergency care and less routine dental work can vary greatly in cost.
We are also in the process of supporting the set up of a medical filing system in one of the of monasteries where we did screenings. One of the public health related discoveries we've made is the lack of a medical filing system in many of monasteries and nunneries, thus causing confusion and a lack of organized continuation of care. We are hopeful that the medical filing system we help to set up will be used as a model for other locations.
Our group has learned so much and realize that what we are doing here is having both immediate and long term benefits.
TB and other infectious disease, if left untreated, can be devastating in these monasteries and boarding schools where many of these exiles are living. Being in such close quarters creates an environment where TB can easily be transmitted. To get an idea of how prevalent TB is in India here's an article written last fall about TB in India: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/11/09/561834263/why-does-india-lead-the-world-in-deaths-from-tb
Besides the difficulties to to the individual, lack of eye care is a major world health problem: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/health/glasses-developing-world-global-health.html
The opportunity to work hand in hand with the Tibetan people has been an incredible experience. Those that we screened often lack financial resources, have very few personal possessions and as a people continue to face cultural genocide and large scale human rights violations in their homeland. Despite all this they are some of the most joyful and compassionate people we have ever met. The world has so much to learn from the Tibetan people, their ancient culture, and profound wisdom for working with the mind. Please help to bring awareness to their struggle. For more info on Tibet and the Tibetan people please go to the website of our host organization here in India www.lhasocialwork.org or the New Orleans based Tibet Aid organization - Louisiana Himalaya Association (LHA) www.lhainfo.org
We assure you that 100% of donations made will go directly to the payment of our patients' treatments, there are absolutely no managerial or overhead costs. We appreciate your donation immensely and promise you that your donation will make a huge difference for those who have faced so much opposition. Every dollar goes a long way in India!
If you're interested in making a donation directly to the LHA organization for a tax deduction we can help you arrange that. Please contact me at [email redacted] for more information.
Thank you from all of us for your generosity.
The Tulane Medical Student Team
Adin Reisner
Andrew Crawford
Fiona Kalecia
Jackson Roos
Julie Chu
Kayla Iuliucci
Michelle Crowley
Prisha Patel
Quinn MacDougald
Rosemary Matossian
Sonora Gennarelli
Tim E. Gressett
Rebekah Byrne MD
Our group of 12 Tulane Medical Students have just spent 3 weeks in the foothills of the Himalayas of Northern India which is main location for the Tibetan exiled refugee community and home of the Dalai Lama. We have been providing medical evaluations for Tibetan refugees under the guidance of Dr. Rebekah Byrne. We're asking for your help to raise the funds needed to pay for the urgent and non-urgent care needs we have discovered. We completed 182 screenings and of those, 149 needed a dental referral, 69 needed an optometry referral, and 115 needed further medical follow up.
Those found to need further assistance, be it eye care, glasses, dental work or further medical treatment are being taken by volunteers to local clinics and hospitals. Members of our team have personally escorted those with urgent/emergent needs. We escorted over 15 Tibetans to local hospitals for emergent care and 5 others for emergency dental work. Five children needed to be taken for TB evaluation/testing to make sure they did not have active tuberculosis. We are doing our best to assure that everyone we screened receives the care they need. Our group is paying for as many of the treatments as possible with the donations we are receiving from you. Most of those we screened do not have the financial resources to pay for their own care. Your donations are much appreciated and will make a huge difference no matter how large or small.
On average, cost of care in Northern India is as follows;
-Medical Referrals average $15 each which includes medication when needed
-Dental Referrals average $35 each and includes cleaning and dental work
-Referrals for eye care & glasses average $25 each and includes glasses
-Emergency care and less routine dental work can vary greatly in cost.
We are also in the process of supporting the set up of a medical filing system in one of the of monasteries where we did screenings. One of the public health related discoveries we've made is the lack of a medical filing system in many of monasteries and nunneries, thus causing confusion and a lack of organized continuation of care. We are hopeful that the medical filing system we help to set up will be used as a model for other locations.
Our group has learned so much and realize that what we are doing here is having both immediate and long term benefits.
TB and other infectious disease, if left untreated, can be devastating in these monasteries and boarding schools where many of these exiles are living. Being in such close quarters creates an environment where TB can easily be transmitted. To get an idea of how prevalent TB is in India here's an article written last fall about TB in India: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/11/09/561834263/why-does-india-lead-the-world-in-deaths-from-tb
Besides the difficulties to to the individual, lack of eye care is a major world health problem: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/health/glasses-developing-world-global-health.html
The opportunity to work hand in hand with the Tibetan people has been an incredible experience. Those that we screened often lack financial resources, have very few personal possessions and as a people continue to face cultural genocide and large scale human rights violations in their homeland. Despite all this they are some of the most joyful and compassionate people we have ever met. The world has so much to learn from the Tibetan people, their ancient culture, and profound wisdom for working with the mind. Please help to bring awareness to their struggle. For more info on Tibet and the Tibetan people please go to the website of our host organization here in India www.lhasocialwork.org or the New Orleans based Tibet Aid organization - Louisiana Himalaya Association (LHA) www.lhainfo.org
We assure you that 100% of donations made will go directly to the payment of our patients' treatments, there are absolutely no managerial or overhead costs. We appreciate your donation immensely and promise you that your donation will make a huge difference for those who have faced so much opposition. Every dollar goes a long way in India!
If you're interested in making a donation directly to the LHA organization for a tax deduction we can help you arrange that. Please contact me at [email redacted] for more information.
Thank you from all of us for your generosity.
The Tulane Medical Student Team
Adin Reisner
Andrew Crawford
Fiona Kalecia
Jackson Roos
Julie Chu
Kayla Iuliucci
Michelle Crowley
Prisha Patel
Quinn MacDougald
Rosemary Matossian
Sonora Gennarelli
Tim E. Gressett
Rebekah Byrne MD
Fundraising team: TUSOM Medical Students (2)
Jackson Roos
Organizer
New Orleans, LA
Adin Reisner
Team member
