While the world has certainly changed over the past several weeks, our commitment to serving children with clubfoot has not. We continue to share our message and with respect to social distancing, we will be developing new and better tools including a revamped website and video in the coming months to help with this effort. We also expect to get feedback in May on our Programs of Scale Grant submitted to Rotary International and should we get selected for the final round we will aggressively expand our connectivity with Districts and Clubs throughout South America. If COVID-19 has taught us anything, it's that a persons health and wellness should not be taken for granted and working together we can overcome most anything. Thank you for your continued support of RAG4Clubfoot and we look forward to seeing you in the near future...even if it's from a distance.
Dennis Jordan & John Ockenfels
RAG4Clubfoot Co-Chairs
RAG4Clubfoot Co-Chairs Dennis Jordan and Johnn Ockenfels at the booth at the NCPETS Conference, March 2020.
North Central Presidents-Elect Training Seminar in Rochester, MN
RAG4Clubfoot was present at the NCPETS training in Rochester, MN, in March 2020 to network with attendees. Thanks to the generosity of RAG4Clubfoot board member John Buchanan, Tom Cook's new book, "Clubfoot: The Quest for a Better Life for Millions of Children" was given freely to over 100 participants of the conference. In addition, between 35-40 clubs requested more information about having a presentation about clubfoot and the work of RAG4Clubfoot. We look forward to connecting again when clubs are actively meeting!
A Special THANK YOU!
As the RAG4Clubfoot prepared for the House of Friendship display for the Rotary International Convention in Hamburg in 2019, we were in need of graphic design expertise. The goal was to clarify our messages to booth visitors and create more impactful visuals. But who could help with RAG4Clubfoot to develop three banners, easily transported yet professional in appearance?
Adam Moore, a member of the Rotary Club of Cedar Rapids, came to the rescue! He rallied his club's communications team of designers and writers to tackle our display project creating three banner designs as well as a brochure revision and website refresh. What commitment, enthusiasm and professional resources they brought to the effort! Not only did they meet our expectations but exceeded them!!
This year, a fourth banner was added by Adam's team to the display completing the messages of the prevalence of clubfoot, the steps of the Ponseti casting method, its use globally in the treatment of clubfoot and the active role Rotarians can take to address it. Another revision of the RAG4Clubfoot brochure was readied for the RI Convention by Adam's team.
Many thanks to Adam and this group of talented and dedicated Rotarians for their amazing efforts on behalf of the RAG4Clubfoot! We can't thank this group enough and we are sincerely grateful!
Did you know Dr. Ponseti was born on June 3,1914 on the Spanish Island of Menorca.
Dr. Tom Cook, RAG4Clubfoot Board Member, authors a book about Dr. Ponseti's quest to provide children born with clubfoot a life free of pain and disability.
All proceeds go to Ponseti International Association at the University of Iowa.
Looking for an informative club program? Invite RAG4Clubfoot to share with your members how Rotarians are impacting the lives of children born with clubfoot.
To schedule a RAG4Clubfoot presentation, contact:
Patty Roberts
ph: 502 494-0402
email: patriciaroberts7@icloud.com
We can't wait to see you in Taipei!
June 12 - 16, 2021
Mexico Global Grant Update
Every year in Mexico, over 3,000 children are born with clubfoot. Clubfoot is treatable with Ponseti Method, a non-surgical technique using gentle manipulations of the foot, followed by the application of 4 to 6 weekly casts. The Rotary Foundation sponsors a global grant to support Ponseti Method training of 29 orthopedists throughout Mexico.
This Project began with a connection between D-5970 (then) DGE Jozif Gitta and a Cedar Valley (Iowa) Rotary Club member with familial ties to Mexico along with the Ponseti International Association (PIA) based at the University of Iowa. For the Cedar Valley Rotary Club, writing a grant proposal was a new experience and so it was through the mentorship of PIA that Global Grant GG1638227 was written.
One goal of the grant is to train 29 orthopedists affiliated with public hospitals from various cities/states of Mexico, in the Ponseti Method, and then the newly trained orthopedist establishes a Ponseti clubfoot treatment clinic at their hospital. Challenges included establishing a base in Mexico, changing leadership both in the Iowa and Mexican Rotary Clubs/Districts, and fluctuating monetary exchange rates. The grant, originally approved in 2017 is now scheduled to conclude in April 2020 .
The proposal outlined a train-the-trainer model enlisting orthopedic professors previously trained in Ponseti Method, who would serve as trainers/mentors to 2-3 trained orthopedists. These “trainers” would support, guide, and provide feedback regarding how to establish a clinic and how to upload data of treated patients into the International Clubfoot Registry (ICR), as well as make observations and suggestions about the manipulation technique and casting.
Dates and locations of trainings:
November 2017 Maternal and Child Regional Hospital in Monterrey, Nuevo León (15 trainers trained)
December 2017 Maternal and Child Regional Hospital in Monterrey, Nuevo León (11 orthopedists trained)
September 2019 The Shriners Hospital for Children, Mexico City (10 orthopedists trained)
January 2020 Hospital Regional Marterno Infantil in Monterrey, Nuevo León (14 professors trained)
A planned April 2020 training has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The end result of this Project is the expansion of the number of orthopedists, across Mexico properly applying the Ponseti Method to treat clubfoot in their clinics. Already over 200 children have received this life changing treatment. This is just the beginning of a sustainable plan to make the Ponseti Method the main treatment in this region. Global grant GG1638227 has proven to be a good investment in the well-being of the children of Mexico.
The Rotarian Action Group, RAG4Clubfoot, is a group of Rotarians whose purpose is to mobilize Rotarians and provide global leadership to support timely Ponseti Method treatment and appropriate care for all children born with clubfoot. This Rotarian Action Group operates in accordance with Rotary International policy, but is not an agency of, or controlled by, Rotary International.
