Health

Poor health goes hand in hand with poverty. The poor people living in the remote hill villages around Kalimpong in West Bengal suffer from a variety of diseases, many of  which are the result of their way of life. Cold, wet seasons and inadequate shelter can lead to tuberculosis and other chest complaints, while eye diseases such as cataracts and infections are all too often the norm.

Medical Camps

The Glenn Family Foundation, in partnership with the Rotary Clubs in Darjeeling and Kalimpong, has sponsored four Medical Camps each year. Many are of these are held in remote areas in order to make it easier for people in the outlying areas to attend. The Rotarians supply the medical staff, both Government and Private, with four or five doctors leading the camps, assisted by Rotary volunteers and local people. The GFF's financial support, paying for medicines, transport and food, makes these camps possible. They are held over a day and several hundred people may be seen, with patients who need cataract operations and other medication and medical attention being identified for follow-up treatment.  

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS has become a widespread disease in the Darjeeling District, but there were no homes or hospices to address the problem. At the request of the Cluny Sisters, the GFF provided funds to buy a bungalow and adjoining land, along with medical equipment to care for these patients. 

Seminars and Rallies

The GFF conducts Health Seminars in many villages and encourages the villagers to support causes such as the abolishment of Child Labour, Substance Abuse, as well as support for HIV/AIDS and Diabetes awareness.

The GFF has also provided funds for the purchase of a fully-equipped ambulance with a digital X-ray machine, a binocular microscope, an oxygen cylinder and cold box to cater for the medical centres scattered around the distant villages.     

In this way, health services are being made available to the people who live in the remote hill areas.