2024: Missions

1. Dwivedi-Sareen surgical mission (Fevrier 2024)
2. Subhash Khanna dental mission (Fevrier 2024)
3. Sanmukh and Narinder Singh mission (Mars 2024)
4. La fondation familiale Vinesh Saxena (Octobre 2024)

The first mission of 2024 took place this past Februrary. It was a surgical mission that took place at the Julia Hospital in Jamkhed.

Over the past year, we have medically assessed hundreds of people, from which 150 received surgical intervention. Last November, our benefit dinner was held to sponsor these patients.

Februrary 2023: Suyagya Vasishta Arya Mission

After the spread of the Covid-19 disease, which started in early 2021, three surgical missions had to be cancelled. The funds that had been earmarked for these missions were used to provide the village of Jamkhed with materials for the prevention and treatment of Covid-19: oxygen, intravenous drugs, masks, and facilities for quarantine. The houses in the rural villages are very small and have only one room, so isolation is impossible.

Thanks to the funds the Freedom from Poverty Foundation raised during the November 2022 fundraising dinner, 3 humanitarian surgery missions have been carried out. Indeed, our surgical camps resumed this year after a 2-year break following the Covid. In February, the 11 professionals from the greater Montreal area listed on the right went to Jamkhed, India.

All our camps are held at Julia’s Hospital in Jamkhed, Maharashtra. Several hundred people have undergone surgery. The surgeries we do (perform or execute) help change the future of these people. For example, they can walk or regain the use of a hand lost in an accident.

In addition, our pharmacists have worked with village pharmacists to improve the management of high-risk medicines to create algorithms and carts for using medicines in emergencies. We performed mostly orthopedic surgeries with the aim of restoring a person’s functionality to break the cycle of poverty.

Februrary 2020: Orthopedic Surgery Mission

In February 2020, we sent Sixteen professionals from Montreal, Quebec, and a team from Australia consisted of an orthopedist and a communications officer, which allowed us to perform 64 surgeries. Our team focused on orthopedic surgeries, restoring people's functionality and breaking the cycle of poverty.

Unfortunately, the covid-19 pandemic forced us to cancel three missions. We redirected funds initially earmarked for these missions towards covid-19 prevention and treatment equipment for the village of Jamkhed: oxygen, intravenous medication, mask, and quarantine facilities. In rural villages, homes are small and have only one room, so isolation is impossible.

The list below denotes the members who participated in the February 2020 mission.

2017

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation donated specialized medical equipment to the Julia Hospital in Jamkhed for procedures specific to the needs of the population. For example, a Dermatome was donated so that skin grafts can be performed on people who have suffered from large burns. The sterilization room was also updated thanks to donations of equipment from the Foundation.

The community of Jamkhed demonstrated their immense gratitude to the Freedom from Poverty Foundation. Many of the patients who received operations in 2016 were waiting for us at the Julia Hospital to express their thanks for the major change we have made in their lives.

A total of 3 surgical missions took place in 2017 and 224 patients received operations. The Freedom from Poverty Foundation funded the Italian, Australian and Quebec surgical missions.

2016

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation performed its first surgical mission. A team of specialists from Montreal provided care to 77 patients, performing mainly orthopedic operations and scar contracture release with skin grafts. The operations were performed on people with one or more handicaps, from birth or the result of an accident, that have kept them dependent or unable to work. A team of medical students provided the postoperative care. They worked by video conference with an occupational therapist in Montreal, Ms. Brisebois.

Patients receiving operations: 77

A total of 2 surgical missions took place in 2016.

2015

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation donated medicine and medical supplies to prepare the operating rooms for future surgical missions. It also organized the logistics for the surgical missions with surgeons and healthcare professionals from different countries: Montreal, Canada; Milan, Italy; and Canberra, Australia.

2014

Many healthcare professionals (surgeons, anaesthesiologists and nurses) approached the Freedom from Poverty Foundation to provide their expertise for the creation of surgical missions. We began to prepare for the first surgical missions: financial planning, logistics, medication and operating equipment.

2013

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation provided funding for a program that trained workers in the community in the construction cement houses. The formwork technology introduced in 2011 is still used today.

2012

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation provided funds for the production of artificial legs. The Jaipur Foot is a prosthesis made locally and adapted to rural life. In 2014, 400 artificial legs were produced.

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation sent a team for a cataract surgeries mission. The mission was led by Dr. Fortin, an ophthalmologist from Montreal.

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation provided funding for a pre and post-natal education program to provide information to women in the community of Jamkhed in pregnancy monitoring. The program was led by the nurse, Marie-Josée Lévesque and the videographer, Brigitte Breault. This program helped improve the education program.

2009-2011

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation, in partnership with companies from Quebec, Canada, donated formwork panels and passed on their expertise in sustainability. A team from Quebec provided training to members of the Jamkhed community in the construction of new homes. The Jamkhed community now possesses the knowledge and technology needed for the construction of new homes.

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation provided the funding to train social workers in the village. Women and newborn health was one of the key themes of this mission. The social workers are essential for the accessibility of health care as they provide primary care.

1988-2008

The Freedom from Poverty Foundation built a school that provides primary and secondary education from which over 10,000 students have since graduated. The Foundation also introduced technology into its programs, making computers are available to the students. Mobile clinics were created and have treated over 60,000 patients. Many medicals missions have taken place including cataract surgery in partnership with the Eye Foundation of America.