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www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, July 23, 2010 · 28 Lions roar in to help with prosthetics in Haiti You may have seen them earlier this year at Hopedale Mall collecting funds for Haiti relief efforts. Now, the Oakville Lions Club is handing over the cash it raised to help in Haiti -- and it wants the community members who contributed to know what will happen to their generous gifts. The local service club held a two-day fundraiser at the westend shopping mall in conjunction with the EMS of Oakville and the Halton Canine and Oakville Trafalgar Lions Club in late February. Now that cash will go to help rebuild the Healing Hands for Haiti Kay Kapab Clinic, which, operates a prosthetics program in Haiti's capital city of Port-auPrince where the earthquake on Jan. 12, 2010 was centred. "The Oakville Lions Club is donating $5,000 to Team Canada Healing Hands to assist persons in Haiti who are in need of prosthetic care. Without the support of the citizens of Oakville this would not be possible," said Oakville resident and past district governor of the club Bill Allison. From the outset Oakville Lions Club members wanted the club's relief efforts in Haiti to support an area of great need. "Hence the choice of the delivery of prosthetic care," said Allison. The club's search began for a Canadian-based agency that delivers prosthetic services on the ground in Haiti. It discovered Team Canada Healing Hands and local volunteers with that program from the Halton Hills Speech Centre, owned and directed by Karen MacKenzieStepner and operating on Guelph Street in Georgetown. The clinic was originally opened in 2000 in a leased facility in Port-au-Prince. It included a physical therapy/occupational therapy gym, two medical exam rooms, a small pharmacy, administrative offices and two classrooms. The prosthetic and orthotic workshop is on the same premises. Over the past 10 years, more than 25,000 patients have been treated by volunteer health care professionals in the Port-auPrince clinic. The clinic's record shows more than 500 rehabilitation medicine teams supported more than 10,000 medical volunteers who served in many capacities. MICHAEL IVANIN / OAKVILLE BEAVER HELPING HAITI: Above, from left, Oakville Lions Club members Peter Olieook, Doug Flowers, and Lionel McAssey help at a two-day fundraiser at Hopedale Mall in February. Below, from left in back, Oakville Lions Bill Allison, Al Teliatnik, Fred Oliver, Jim Robinson and Don McGowan, and (in front) Paddy Townson, Karen MacKenzie-Stepner, Ron Gamble, Surinder Sharma, Olena Lytosh, Onkar Rai present a $5,000 cheque. The Oakville Lion's Club and its partners in the fundraising event, EMS of Oakville and Halton Canine and Oakville Trafalgar Lions Club, are donating the funds to Team Canada Healing Hands for prosthetic care in Haiti. Seen at right, Allison (top) and MacKenzie-Stepner (below) with prosthetic devices. PHOTOS BY MICHELLE SIU / OAKVILLE BEAVER At the clinic, more than 100 Haitian therapists were trained and employed and more than 25,000 patients were treated. More than 1,000 prostheses and orthoses were delivered and some 150 orthopedic and hydrocephalus surgeries were subsidized. The clinic has seen more than 300 children enrolled in school reintegration programs, more than 1,000 donated wheelchairs fitted and maintained and more than 45 orphanages aided with medical, therapy and education programs. With all of that under its belt in its first decade, the earthquake earlier this year came as more than a shock. But the clinic is digging out. Now, months later, demolition of infrastructure destroyed in the earthquake has been done. While the clinic is operating at a nearby rented space, it will be rebuilt on the original headquarters property. Plans include construction of "The Oakville Lions Club is donating $5,000 to Team Canada Healing Hands to assist persons in Haiti who are in need of prosthetic care. Without the support of the citizens of Oakville, this would not be possible." Bill Allison, past district governor, Oakville Lions Club a prosthetic and orthotic building for fabrication, fitting and physiotherapy; a medical and administration building to house clinics, pharmacy and offices; an education and conference building for teaching programs and meetings. An existing guesthouse remained in tact, but was renovated. Parking, warehousing and storage facilities will also be included. Pre-earthquake plans for Haiti's first physical medicine and rehabilitation institute are part of the redevelopment plan, but await further in-country needs analysis. As it prepares to mark its 75th anniversary this November, the Oakville Lions Club boasts a long history of fundraising for community causes and worldwide relief efforts. The club was one of the original fundraisers that helped bring a hospital to Oakville in 1945. In 1954, its fundraising efforts helped establish TOWARF (Town of Oakville Water Air Rescue Force). Over the years, the club has raised funds for community pools, a Home for the Deaf, outfitted the Oakville Fire Department with defibrillators and supported the Dog Guide school in Oakville, in addition to many other efforts. For more information, contact Allison at 905-827-7219 or MacKenzie-Stepner at 905-8738400, ext. 105 or www.halton-