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Date/Time
Date(s) - 06/05/2020
12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

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The Catalina Rotary Club’s Global Grant draws to a close in December. In 2019 we developed grant goals for training, equipment, and telemedicine. And then came the Coronavirus, literally turning our globe upside down! It also showed how critical the grant and all its planning efforts had been. So, what’s the latest on the grant, the virus in Mexico, and the challenges it has brought to our efforts? Hear from those who are confronting the realities of this virus. Just know it is NOT the telemedicine system you’ve been using with your doctor – not unless you live in a place without roads, electricity, cell towers and doctors.

Dr. Barbara J. Kiernan has been a Catalina Rotarian since 2001. Her professional affiliation throughout her time in Rotary (until she retired in January of 2017) has been as Director of the public-private non-profit Child Language Center at the University of Arizona, an organization dedicated to providing programs for children with speech and language disorders.

In 2009-10, Barbara was President of the Catalina Rotary Club. During that year, she took 23 Rotarians and their families down to the Lake Chapala area of Mexico (near Guadalajara) to begin an international collaboration with the Ajijic R.C. Over the years, Catalina Rotary has done 10 service projects with the R.C. of Ajijic as well as a very successful global grant ending in July of 2018 that addressed conflict resolution.

Since 2018, Barbara has served as Chair of the World Community Service Committee for the Club. In that capacity, she has been directing a global grant effort in conjunction with Navojoa Rotary in Sonora and medical partner, Clínica Almas, to improve rural healthcare for indigenous people in southern Sonora, near the town of Alamos. This two-year global grant has provided a very successful model for other efforts to improve healthcare in remote areas. Dr. Kiernan has been guiding Catalina Rotary’s efforts on this grant as the International Partner.

Joining Barbara in her presentation will be Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Pettit, the Director of the Clinica Almas in Alamos, and Sr. Vicente Hernández Méndez, contributing member of our Rotary Host Partner in Navojoa.