GFLSCI NEWS
Greater Fort Lauderdale Sister Cities International Monthly Newsletter
For more info visit our website at www.gflsci.org
June 2008 Edition
Top Stories
GFLSCI representative travels to Argentina
Contributed by Sara Feder, Strategic Planning Chair
During the end of April, I had the opportunity to visit one of our Sister Cities, Mar de Plata, Argentina. I was on a young professional's exchange through a scholarship I received from Rotary International.
While there, I took advantage of the opportunity to meet with people from Sister Cities. Thanks to Cris Boehler, our Argentina chair, I had many contacts upon my arrival. They reported to me that it is a very good moment to re-energize the relationship between our two cities. They are interested in fostering many new types of exchanges, most importantly, commercial.
They would like us to work with them towards planning to receive a group from Mar de Plata in Fort Lauderdale in 2009 and then a reciprocal trip with a group from Fort Lauderdale back to Mar de Plata, perhaps with our new mayor. The also hope to continue cultural exchanges that took place with our libraries in the past.
I also had the opportunity to meet the mayor, representatives of their local export foundation and local business people. Mar de Plata and Fort Lauderdale have so much in common and many opportunities for continued exchange.
Mar de Plata was a fabulous city to visit. I encourage all of you to go if you have the chance!
Sara Feder
Chair, Strategic Planning
Medical Tourism : International Community Health Opportunities
Contributed by Shobha Gupta, Ph.D., GFLSCI Medical Chair
Medical tourism, sometimes referred to as medical travel, health tourism, or health travel, is a rapidly growing phenomenon. More people are learning that countries such as Mexico, Singapore, Brazil, Costa Rica, Thailand and India provide a very high standard of medical care at significant savings over typical U.S. prices.
Medical tourism has grown substantially in the last 10 years as highly trained surgeons abroad provide the same quality care at substantially discounted savings. The safety and affordability of health travel is well-documented, with Forbes reporting cost of operations at 10% to 30% of the cost in the U.S.
But I'm insured, you might be thinking, so medical travel is not something I need to think about. The New York Times says, think again, citing that many of the 158 million people covered by employer health insurance are struggling to meet medical expenses that are much higher than they used to be, and that "the coverage many people have may not adequately protect them from the financial shock of major surgery."
Each year thousands of Americans travel to Mexico, Costa Rica, Brazil, Thailand, India and other destinations to receive cosmetic dentistry procedures, hip replacement, weight loss surgery, cataract surgery, angioplasty, spinal surgery and all kinds of cosmetic surgery at prices 30 - 70% lower than U.S. prices. According to the National Coalition on Health Care, more than 500,000 Americans traveled abroad to receive medical and dental work in 2006. And this is not an isolated trend. Every year, millions of patients from around the globe flock to some of the hottest medical tourism destinations in order to receive good treatment at unbelievable prices.
Mexico - Mexico is widely recognized for the number of leading gastroenterology (weight loss) surgeons. It is also a popular destination for dental tourism and cosmetic surgery.
Brazil - Brazil has long been known worldwide for its expertise and innovations in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery as well as Cosmetic (Aesthetic) procedures. Surgeons from all over the world go to Brazil to learn the newest and most successful techniques. Brazil is second only to the USA in number of plastic surgeries performed.
Thailand - Thailand is home to two of the top 5 medical travel destination hospitals in the world. More than one million people travel to Thailand for medical procedures per year.
India - Hip resurfacing surgery, which dramatically shortens recovery time over traditional hip replacement surgery has been practiced in India for longer than in the US. The first instance of a U.S. national traveling to India to receive this surgery was in 2005; since then, thousands of people have made the journey.
Costa Rica - Since 1995, more than 15% of visitors to Costa Rica travel to receive some type of medical treatment; the country boasts highly-competent specialists in plastic surgery and dentistry, which are two areas of treatment most in demand.
Medical committee aims to explore opportunities relating to Community health and international collaboration between Sister cities participating countries and work on them.
If you would like to learn more and participate in this program please e-mail: info@gflsci.org
GFLSCI focuses on education
Greater Fort Lauderdale Sister Cities International education chair Dr. Jorge Guerra held a very promising meeting regarding strategies for future educational programs.
Dr. Jorge Guerra writes:
Education Committee Meeting Summary
June 3, 2008
The education committee met to discuss some initial plans and strategies for the various country and social chairs. Present were the following:
Jorge Guerra
Marianne Winfield
Dr. Shobha Gupta
Mark Moorman
Elan Moas
Ken Rourke
Dr. Lissa Jean-Pierre
The purpose was to identify the current or existing projects and any future projects involving the support or involvement of the education committee. Also, to prioritize these projects and develop a strategic plan to meet their objectives.
Dr. Gupta presented two objectives for the Medical department. The first concerns nursing and the demand to both train nurses in Broward from international cities that can either remain in the United States or return to their home countries and to bring nurses from abroad to work in Broward hospitals and receive certification. Both of these objectives can be supported through the education committee by connecting the educational personnel from the college and universities along with the hospital administrators to discuss this matter and how sister cities can assist with the shortage of nurses.
The second area discussed by Dr. Gupta was the area of medical tourism, a growing industry both domestically and internationally. The purpose is to create more awareness of this industry and to create a process that will benefit Broward and the sister cities.
This may be accomplished by developing a round table discussion on the subject and invite industry professionals to speak on the matter. The medical community will be invited to listen and participate in a question and answer period and also a networking opportunity.
Mark Moorman and later Dr. Jean-Pierre discussed the current activities for Haiti. There are several ongoing environmental and humanitarian activities. The First Lego League project has developed teams to participate in two regional competitions, one in Port Au Prince and another in Cap-Haitien in 2009. The top 12 teams will participate in Haiti’s first ever National tournament for an opportunity to represent Haiti in the 2009 World Festival. This project helps develop innovative solutions for problems by using models in math, engineering and science. With the assistance of Mayor Jim Naugle, the project would like to expand by providing remote distance learning satellites to Haiti so that professors from Broward can provide lessons, lectures or symposiums for the students. Moreover, engineering teachers may be provided to visit Haiti on a rotation basis to provide assistance and instruction of engineering students.
Another project in Haiti is the reforestation environmental project headed by the One Village Plan and Dan Warren. This is a topic of great interest and concern and may also be the subject of a round table discussion.
Jorge Guerra provided some goals for the educational committee and some ideas to be developed with the assistance of the economic development chair.
Goals:
- Support the educational projects from our sister city’s chairs.
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- Coordinate with K-12 programs, colleges and universities to provide expertise and assistance.
- Coordinate with business and industry professionals to support projects that affect their businesses.
- Prioritize the projects and develop a strategic plan to implement the objectives.
- Develop and expand student exchange opportunities for high school and college students with sister cities.
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- Raise funds for exchange student scholarships – Thomas W. McCormick Scholarship
- Engage exchange recipients in presentations, ambassadorship and serve on GFLSCI committees.
- Develop a mentorship program for future scholarship exchange recipients.
- Expand the program to include high school, college and university students.
- Coordinate a monthly round table session with the economic development chair to discuss relevant issues in the various international business industries.
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- Identify local international businesses to become members of the GFLSCI.
- Coordinate a monthly round table discussion about international business opportunities that will lead to a theme for the annual symposium event.
i. Establish a monthly calendar identifying the industry focus.
ii. Identify guest panelist that will discuss current events, issues and trends in the industry.
iii. Secure venues throughout the county that will support the events.
iv. Secure sponsorships for the monthly events to cover the cost of refreshments and venue.
v. Include the results in our monthly newsletter to members.
An update of this discussion will be presented to the Executive Board at their next meeting.
Interested in learning how to write grants?
Contributed by Marina Pavlov
Writing a good grant can be a challenge. By joining the Fund Development and Grants Committee you can attain valuable experience in writing grants that will stand out from the rest. So why not participate today? The Committee is now seeking 10 new members. If you are interested, please email Marina Pavlov at marina.fano@gmail.com
Country Chairs News
A GFLSCI Success - The Principal Exchange Program with the Gold Coast Australia
Contributed by Nabeel Youakim, Chair GFLSCI/Gold Coast Australia
As part of a joint effort between Greater Fort Lauderdale Sister Cities International (GFLSCI) and Gold Coast Australia, the winner of the 2008 Broward Schools Principal of the Year Award, Principal Scott Fiske of Western High School, will be leaving in June for a week's visit to a school in Gold Coast City. The experiences that he will encounter will allow the development of an ongoing principal shadowing program. In September, this experience will be replicated, when Mr. Bill Bondfield, Principal of Palm Beach Currumbin (PBC) High School, one of Gold Coast's Australia premier schools, visits Broward.
Scott Fiske-looking forward to a trip down under
The Broward Schools district invited Nabeel Youakim GFLSCI/Gold Coast Chair and Vicki Pearsons (the previous Gold Coast chair) to attend the ceremony today and present the winner with this prize as part of the Principal of the Year Award.
This concept was developed over the last two years as the Gold Coast delegation visited Fort Lauderdale as part of The Annual Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show activities and met various government and community organizations. It is always very pleasing to see these activities bear fruit. We look forward to continuing our activities with the Gold Coast and to more successful principal exchange programs
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