WTTM
The Troxells, center, help members of the Karachi Sunset Millennium Rotary Club plant a tree to commemorate the joint project.
A new polio vaccination clinic was recently opened in Karachi, Pakistan.
The outreach clinic and training center was developed by the Rotary Club of Karachi Sunset Millennium and funded in partnership with the Rotary Club of Jamestown. Rotarian David Troxell and his wife Marissa were in attendance for the dedication and representative of the Rotary Club of Jamestown. They were greeted by members of the local Karachi club.
For more than 35 years and in 120 countries, Rotary clubs around the world have led the fight to end polio. The last two countries still reporting polio cases are Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Jamestown Rotary Club has donated over $ 300,000 to the global cause over the past 35 years and has decided to take an active role in the fight against polio in Pakistan.
Troxell proposed the project to the Vision Committee of the Rotary Club of Jamestown, which is considering ideas for local and international projects to be undertaken by the club. Proposals can be submitted to the Vision Committee by anyone. The ideas are then reviewed by the committee members and, if possible, are offered to the members for execution.
The Troxells personally oversaw this joint project to rehabilitate and improve an abandoned and unsanitary vaccine dispensary. The Rotary Club of Jamestown donated $ 4,600 for materials while the Karachi Sunset Millennium Club provided workers and supervision.
Melissa Troxell, center, poses with a group of medical interns who will administer vaccines and provide outreach services to women.
The recently renovated Karachi clinic includes health professionals trained in polio vaccine distribution and offers outreach services generally focused on women’s issues. What makes this clinic unique is the formation of a group of women who travel to the surrounding community to identify unvaccinated children in the area.
Troxell was included in the clinic’s opening ceremony where he was asked to administer the polio vaccine to a local child.
“We can now see the light at the end of the tunnel” David Troxell said in his remarks at the inauguration. “From now on, this battle will be won from house to house and door to door. We don’t dare to relax. We know that if we stop our work, within five years more than 200,000 children around the world will once again suffer from the crippling effects of polio. So let’s dedicate ourselves again today, here in this clinic, to carrying this effort to the end. Let’s all cross the victory line together. “
The new outreach clinic includes new clean toilets and toilets; a freshwater well for clean water; an advice area; and a large outdoor training room for outreach workers.
Together, Rotary clubs around the world have donated more than $ 2 billion to the fight against polio, which was matched dollar for dollar by the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation.
Jamestown Rotarian David Troxell addresses honorary guests and Pakistani Rotarians at the opening ceremonies for the new immunization clinic.
For more information on the Rotary Club of Jamestown and its local and international outreach projects, visit www.jamestownnyrotary.org.
Rotarian David Troxell administers the polio vaccine to a young Pakistani child at the new clinic in Karachi.