Villagers get free eye tests

Villagers get free eye tests

GIANYAR: A team from the YKI and Rumah Sakit Indera recently
visited Pesraman Ida Pedanda Gunung, Blahbatuh, Gianyar in Bali
for the day as part of the YKI's outreach program.

Over the course of the day, the team examined 273 people with
eye problems. Some of the problems were solved easily with
standard prescription glasses, which the team issued on the spot.

For those who needed non-standard lens prescriptions, the team
recorded the specifications to make up the glasses at its
optometry base in Rumah Sakit Indera, Denpasar.

But what the team was most interested in was finding people
who had been blinded by cataracts.

Thirteen people were identified as having cataracts during the
screening.

The team members were delighted, as they were able to offer to
the thirteen, some of whom had been blind for years, free surgery
to remove the cataracts. The surgery will be carried out in the
near future in a mobile eye clinic, complete with operating
theater, which is based at Rumah Sakit Indera.

The YKI's Sight Restoration and Blindness Prevention Project
has been running in Bali since 1991, and has, to date, performed
sight-restoring operations on approximately 19,000 people. Since
2002, a similar project has been operating in South Kalimantan,
funded by coal mine, PT Adaro.

In addition to the project, the YKI assists children with
cleft lip and palate surgery, and those who are desperately ill
and cannot afford medical treatment.

It also has an education assistance project that helps poor
families keep their children in primary school.

All services from the YKI, including the cataract surgery, are
offered free-of-charge to people in the lower socio-economic
group. The organization works closely with the government
departments of health, education and social affairs. Funds to
cover the costs of the YKI's operations come from donations, and
the organization is constantly looking for sources of funding.

If you are able to help this organization, the website,
www.balieye.org, gives donation information on the "How You Can
Help" page. Donations to the organization can be made in
Indonesia. Donations are also tax deductible in the United States
and in Australia.

The YKI can be contacted via e-mail at yki@indo.net.id, tel:
0361 270 812, or fax: 0361 287 707. -- JP

Grand Hyatt Bali gets new GM

NUSA DUA: The Grand Hyatt Bali has been appointed a new general
manager, Detlev Truernit, in the middle of a major renovation
process for better service.

For Truernit who replaces Robbert van der Maas, the assignment
is the fourth in Indonesia and the second in Bali.

"I return to Bali at a very exciting time, when the Grand
Hyatt is going through a major renovation process. We will be
launching our brand new guest rooms later in the year and in
mid-2006 open an exciting new all Villa Spa and a new ballroom in
addition to our existing Grand Ballroom," Truernit said in a
statement made available to The Jakarta Post.

"Combined with the already refurbished pools and beautiful new
landscaping of the gardens, our hotel will truly be a new
state-of-the-art property on the island," he added. --JP