Our CEO's visit to Gaza...

We cross the Erez checkpoint and enter the Gaza Strip. The scale of devastation is immediately visible.
To our left, an industrial estate has been brutally levelled to the ground. Further ahead, acres of fields - once cultivating vegetables for internal and export consumption - lay barren.
It has been more than a year since I was last able to enter Gaza. An ever deteriorating crisis - culminating in the kidnapping of BBC journalist, Alan Johnston - put a cruel ending to what were once regular visits.

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Interview with Dr Jom'a, from Gaza City

What is life like in Gaza at present?
The situation in the Gaza Strip is bad. People are finding it increasingly difficult to reach the clinic. The lack of fuel is affecting public transport and many of the patients on our surgical waiting lists are unable to make the journey. This morning, a patient living thirty kilometres out of the city was forced to cancel his appointment, couldn't get to us without transport. An urgent case had to be postponed, it's terrible.

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Baby Malak

Baby Malak, sixteen months old, lives in Gaza with her parents, two sisters and brother. Fortunately Malak's mother, Fatmeh, quickly realized that her baby daughter had problems with her vision and took her to see the doctors in our Gaza Clinic. The doctors recognized the severity of Malak's eye problems and promptly decided that she needed to be transferred to the Main Hospital in Jerusalem. Due to severe access restrictions imposed on Gazans, it took much time and effort to transfer her to Jerusalem. .

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An Emergency Appeal for our Work in Gaza!

St John Eye Hospital's annual fundraising appeal for 2008 is dedicated to our work in Gaza. The Gaza Strip is cut off almost entirely from the outside world and a major humanitarian crisis is escalating. To support our much needed work in Gaza we must raise at least £150,000.

This Appeal aims to:

• Raise the funds necessary to continue our desperately needed humanitarian efforts in Gaza.
• Purchase new medical equipment for the Gaza clinic - including a crucial Surgical Video System.
• Use our partnerships and lobbying power to provide an effective referral system, enabling Gaza patients to get to the Jerusalem hospital.
• Raise public awareness of our charity's important emergency relief activities.

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Farewell From our Hospitaller

I am privileged to have been entrusted by the Order of St John with the care of its Hospital for the last 6 years. In 2002 the hospital company and its newly formed board was only 3 years old. Many of the difficulties resulting from the establishment of the Hospital as a separate charity and as a wholly owned subsidiary company of the Order had been addressed by my predecessor Noel Rice. He established the platform upon which we were able to build..

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Farewell to our Chairman

In June 2008 Lord Vestey stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Directors of St John Eye Hospital, Jerusalem having served for 6 years. He was appointed Lord Prior of The Order of St John in 1990 and during his 12-year tenure of office, developed a special interest in Hospital affairs. On taking up appointment as Board Chairman, he took a personal interest in fund raising, calling on his many contacts to generate support from new donors and additional support from those already giving.

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CONGRATULATIONS!!!

We take great pleasure in advising that the demand for services at one of our static clinics, The Hebron Clinic, proved to be so great that it has been awarded the status of a Hospital in its own right. It is now to be known as St. John Eye Hospital - Hebron.

Thank you to..

Thank you to all of the visiting supporters we have had the pleasure of receiving so far this year. We would like to give a special thanks to the Lord Mayor of London and his companions, and to Miss Brenda Billington, the President of the Royal College of Ophthalmology.

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Keep in touch

Over the coming months we will be changing the design of the e-newsletter. If you have any suggestions for improvement, please email your thoughts to jen [dot] brown [at] stjohneyehospital [dot] org (Jen Brown)
We would be delighted to receive your comments and contributions.

jen [dot] brown [at] stjohneyehospital [dot] org

www.stjohneyehospital.org
Registered charity:1080185

Priory House, 25 St John's Lane, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M 4PP

Tel: 44 (0)20 7253 2582
Fax: 44 (0)20 7253 2612