IMPACT NEWS

Headlines:

IMPACT volunteer raises over £600
Gift of sight from Rayner Intraocular Lenses Ltd.
AMEC Plc. support really makes an IMPACT
Beacon Prize recognises IMPACT's Chief Executive and Founder
The Lifeline Express hospital train is re-launched in India

IMPACT Volunteer raises over £600

Helen Frost, a Sussex-based volunteer for the IMPACT Tasty Team raised over £600 after successfully completing the 2008 London Marathon. After many months of hard training and preparation Helen completed the strenuous 26.2 miles course in a time of just over 4 hours.

We must also say a big thank you to some of the parents at Gatton’s School, Burgess Hill who rallied around obtaining support and sponsorship for Helen.

This very much appreciated donation will go towards IMPACT’s overseas projects to prevent and alleviate needless disability.

Gift of sight from Rayner Intraocular Lenses Ltd.

Rayner Intraocular Lenses Ltd. based in Hove, East Sussex, has once again supported IMPACT's work to restore sight with a generous gift of over 2,000 intraocular lenses (IOLs), disposables and equipment. These IOLs will be sent to our local partner in Bangladesh where they will be used to replace the cloudy lens in the eyes of people with cataract thereby providing clear vision once again.

Many of the very poorest people in developing countries go blind for want of straightforward surgery such as this. It is IMPACT's policy to ensure that impoverished men, women and children receive the treatment they urgently need which can prevent a lifetime of needless disability.

AMEC Plc. support really makes an IMPACT

IMPACT is delighted that AMEC Plc. has chosen our international programme of action to prevent and treat needless disability to benefit from their special support and from their matched funding scheme for money raised by staff fundraising activities.

AMEC Plc.'s initial support is being invested in IMPACT Foundation Bangladesh's community healthcare programme in Chuadanga district and will make the world of difference to the most impoverished people living there by providing medical care and surgery and empowering them with skills, knowledge and facilities to improve their own wellbeing, for example by growing fresh vegetables to enhance their nutritional intake.

Beacon Prize recognises IMPACT's Chief Executive and Founder

IMPACT's late founder Sir John Wilson CBE, DCL and his daughter Claire Hicks, IMPACT's Chief Executive, have been awarded the Beacon Prize for Family Philanthropy 2007 in recognition of the contribution they have made to the prevention and treatment of avoidable disablement in helping to establish the global IMPACT movement. For more information about this prestigious award and the Beacon Fellowship Charitable Trust, please visit http://www.beaconfellowship.org.uk/index.asp

The Lifeline Express Hospital Train is re-launched in India

Following an extensive fundraising campaign and thanks to magnificent support from Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, Jersey Overseas Aid Commission and others, the Lifeline Express hospital train has been re-launched in India with an inaugural project in Andhra Pradesh.

The 'Magic Train' (as it is known locally) has been travelling the length and breadth of India since 1991, providing medical care and surgery to treat needlessly disabling conditions, however the old coaches had become unsafe to operate and were in urgent need of replacement if this vital service was to continue.

The Indian Ministry of Railways had originally pledged four second hand carriages but the pace of renovation was slow and delayed by flooding and bombings in Mumbai.

However, thanks to the intervention of Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, the Railway Minister made available five brand new carriages of a much higher specification which IMPACT has been able to renovate and equip. The additional carriage has been transformed into a stand alone clinic that can be sent to operate separately in times of emergency or disaster. It also provides an extra operating theatre thereby increasing the surgical capacity of the Lifeline Express by 60%.

The new carriages will have a much longer lifespan and require less maintenance than the second hand carriages we were originally promised while two of the Lifeline Express' old coaches and equipment will be relocated permanently to Maharashtra State to become a static hospital.

We now also hope to purchase a jeep to transport medical staff, patients and equipment and a bus to act as a screening clinic for outreach into the community.