January 2, 2020:
On the occasion of the association's Bureau meeting held at the headquarters on January 2, 2020, the results and prospects of the ophthalmological unit and the Pobè optical center were discussed as follows:
1) Return from mission of C. LENOUVEL, F. PENTAGROSSA and B. ARNOUX
An administrative report and another medical report were written. Upon reading it, we see that the new optical center is operational on a material and technical level. Marguerite and Elvire attend training as diligently as possible. Pierre manages the ophthalmology part as well as possible. The transfer to cover the incentive bonuses has arrived. Even though there are still plenty of things to accomplish, the lights are green.
2) Missions 2020
Fabienne PENTAGROSSA remains more motivated than ever. She renews her interest in participating in an upcoming mission in 2020 and suggests that we mobilize a sister interested in our action. Amandine LEPAGE is “historically” involved with us since she participated in the drafting of the training protocol and led, with Lionel, the very first training mission. She is obviously up for it and suggests we be accompanied by her boss, Marie MOISON, who was positively “contaminated” by the enthusiasm of her employee.
It is around Amandine and Fabienne that we will build the 2020 program.
5 missions which will follow one another from March until December. The precise dates of the missions have not yet been defined, depending on the availability of the participants. However, a preferable period was indicated to be able to best distribute staff training sessions.
The training sessions for the second semester can be provided by our partner, the KRYS Group Foundation, whose president, Pierre GERINI, has agreed to our proposal to recruit volunteers from among the members of his network. The foundation plans to publish a message on its intranet account at the beginning of 2020 to inform its members of possible participation in our training missions in Benin.
FEBRUARY MISSION
Led by Lionel, Amandine and Marie
Goal: review the operation of the missions with local staff, train Marguerite, Elvire and Pierre in refraction, prepare annual training for the following missions (led by Amandine).
JULY MISSION
Led by Fabienne and her friend
Goal: train Marguerite, Elvire and Pierre in refraction.
SEPTEMBER MISSION
Led by 1 representative of VLV, Pierre GERINI and 2 volunteers from the KRYS Group Foundation
Goal: train Marguerite and Elvire in refraction
They will be accompanied by Pierre GERINI who wishes to take part in an action. The president of the Krys Foundation must necessarily be led and supervised by a member of VLV. Lionel is expected subject to his availability (Nicolas accompanying Mathieur GUEGUIN from the Foundation on the end-of-year mission).
OCTOBER MISSION
Led by 2 volunteers from the KRYS Group Foundation
Goal: train Marguerite and Elvire in refraction
Possibility of having them accompanied by Bertrand ARNOUX, Laurent LEGOFF or Luc SALFATI (all ophthalmologists), to spend time with Pierre on the ophthalmic aspect (to be explored with the person concerned). It is obvious that the presence of Bertrand to supervise the 2 KRYS volunteers is a plus compared to Legoff and Salfati who are novices.
DECEMBER MISSION
Led by 2 volunteers from the KRYS Group Foundation
Goal: train Marguerite and Elvire in refraction
They will be accompanied by Nicolas GERAKIS who will lead Mathieu GUEGUIN, secretary of the Krys Foundation and who, like its president Pierre, is eager to go into the field. This mission will also have the aim of developing our activities with AHI and Sothiou (see below).
3) Joint venture between the associations “International Humanitarian Assistance” (AHI) and VLV
When the Au Cœur des Hommes association stopped, François JACQUEMIN, the general secretary, decided to continue his humanitarian actions in Benin within the Le Southiou association, based in Kétou. He met Christian DELAGRANGE, founding president of another association called International Humanitarian Assistance (AHI). Christian plans to set up an ophthalmological unit in the Kétou clinic that he built a few years ago (he is collecting equipment for this).
As a reminder, the city of Kétou is co-financing the Pobè ophthalmological unit project since it is one of the 3 municipalities of the Plateau which have joined forces to co-finance our structure. It is therefore logical that we maintain our initial commitment, namely not to reside only in Pobè but to extend our actions to the populations of the Plateau.
To do this, we imagined a “joint venture” between AHI and VLV to carry out joint actions between our unit and that of Kétou. This rapprochement also generated the visit of a double delegation from the Kétou clinic and the Town Hall last October during our mission to Pobè to visit our facilities. The idea is to take advantage of our block to start cataract surgery sessions and launch that of Kétou (already operational). We have a TSO in the person of Pierre NANOUKON. It would be essential to have the support of an opthalologist.
During the visit of the Kétou delegation to our Pobè center, there was Dr Florient DJOSSOU, a young diabetologist. Florient told our Vice-President, Dr Bertrand ARNOUX, ophthalmologist, that he was finishing training in ophthalmology in Cotonou. The idea would be to offer him the opportunity to take advantage of our two medical and surgical facilities to be able to start his professional experience after having defended his final thesis. Florient could be an effective and quality support in the performance of cataract surgical interventions and in the maintenance of advanced strategies. He could count on the help of our TSO, Pierre and his optician team (Marguerite and Elvire).
Finally, the union of these two centers of expertise could also allow the population to have access to a supply of corrective glasses since we have the Make It Easy protocol from our partner the KRYS Group Foundation which provides us with frames.
A meeting to set up this cooperation between our associations will be scheduled for the end of 2020. Christian DELAGRANGE and François JACQUEMIN will be invited to this meeting (who will travel with Nicolas GERAKIS) and, on site, the Mayors of Kétou and Pobè, the director of Southiou , the Director of the Kétou Clinic, Professor ALAMOU (Focal Point), Pierre NANOUKON and Dr Florient DJOSSOU.
This will allow Christian Delagrange to ship his container to Kétou within the year (in which will be the material he has collected and which we will install in his clinic), to give young Florient time to complete his course.
Nicolas GERAKIS contacted Professor Soulé ALAMOU, focal point of the Ministry of Health, to discuss this project together and discuss the possible assignment of Florient DJOSSOU to the Plateau. Alamou responded that he is very favorable and intends to support our project.
4) Material and partnership
During the next mission to Pobè, it will be necessary to bring the following equipment:
1 pupillometer
1 gouache pen and a grease pencil
1 pen lamp,
chair leg caps for square tubes,
some extra mirrors,
1 small tool for the workshop.
It will also be necessary to follow the estimate for repairing the equipment which had been entrusted to the Cotonou technician, Luc AZANDJEME (229 97 18 18 71 – 97 87 19 59 – 95 84 81 23). For your information, a first screw of 700 euros was presented to us but rejected by Lionel who notes a “slight” breach of trust in our attention! He was asked to revise his performance downwards and above all to justify his intervention.
Finally, we will have to meet the OHO opticians, Giraud PADONOU and his assistant director, to finalize the partnership that he is proposing to us by giving us a stake in each glasses sold in their store.
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