The Roy A. Kite Memorial Clinic & Health Center

Leh, Ladakh – India

The Roy A. Kite Jr Memorial Clinic

• Plans for the Roy A. Kite Jr memorial clinic and ward are well under way
•  Funds that were donated by family members and admirers of Roy Kite Jr have been utilized to purchase building materials so that we could proceed with actual construction during the summer of 2011
•  Working floor plan lay-outs are now finalized after taking into account advice from doctors, dentists and surgeons who have come to Ladakh as volunteers in previous years
•  The objective is build a functional, self-sufficient facility utilizing a hybrid of local, traditional materials and state-of-the-art medical and dental and vision health care equipment
•  Countless people will benefit from the medical/dental care that will be offered to all patients free of charge upon completion in August 2012

Roy A. Kite Jr. Memorial Clinic & Ward location
Lamdon School-Leh, Ladakh

 Currently the only dental / medical facility on campus is a small first-aid and dental clinic staffed by the dedicated nurse Yangchan Dolma. The new clinic and ward facility will greatly enhance her ability to offer dental & medical care to the 1,800 students of the school.

Ground Breaking and Blessing ceremony

Rituals complete
Beginning of construction

South Facing Design

Natural light/warmth & spectacular view

RAK memorial clinic and student ward – June 2011

Clinic Construction Progress – September 23, 2011

Clinic construction progress – Nov. 19, 2011

Clinic construction progress - Feb. 6, 2011. Work will resume on March 15 2012

Many of the dedicated volunteer doctors and dentists that have contributed their time to The Himalayan Dental Project are also sharing their advice on the clinic lay-out.

Here Dr Dyer, Dr Williams, Dr Delong and Dr Hollander discuss the clinic design & floor-plan with our nurse and dental technician Mrs Yangchan Dolma.

Himalayan Dental & Vision Project

• The Himalayan Dental Project has now formed an alliance with the world renown Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology located in Kathmandu, Nepal
• This excellent educational and treatment facility will enable us to send students from Ladakh to TIO for vision health care training and also our patients that require complex surgical care for their vision maladies
• Our Lamdon School nurse and dental technician, Mrs Yangchan Dolma is currently enrolled in TIO and will return to Leh to take over her duties in the new clinic/ward complex with greatly enhanced capabilities
• We have now amended the plans for the clinic facility to also include a fully equipped vision health care center

Dr Dyer and Dr Williams are returning to Ladakh in May 2012 with a team of 30 dentists from Oregon. They will be one of the first teams to work out of the new clinic facility while they treat the 1,800 students of Lamdon School.

Please watch a 90 second documentary of a previous mission that Dr Dyer and Dr Williams mobilized in Guatemala through their organization “Wide Open Humanitarian”.  You can learn more about their efforts to bring basic dental care to people living in some of the remotest regions of the world here:

Visit Wide Open Humanitarian website here

Construction resumed in March, 2012 after a long 5 month winter.  Progress is now accelerating and the columns of the second floor ward are complete.  We are targeting an August completion date of the structural work and can then begin furnishing the clinics .

The main ground floor clinic room is an spacious 34’ x 34’ which will allow for one permanent dental work station and up to 4 additional stations when we host visiting international dental teams and hygienists .

The clinic location at Lamdon School, Leh was purposefully positioned to maximize the natural sunlight and stunning panoramic view of the Himalayas, Lamdon School as well as the ancient royal palace.

The main clinic will have an door to the left where patients enter, a middle door leading to the vision clinic, a third door to the store-room and a back entry where the compressor will be housed and provide access to the ramp to the upstairs ward.

The complex will also have a fully dedicated and equipped vision health care clinic.  We are planning to send a local Ladakhi student to the Tilganga Institute in Kathmandu, Nepal for a year-long training course in basic optometry and vision diagnosis and treatment skills and they will then return to serve at the clinic.

Both the main clinic and the upstairs ward will have stunning views and direct south facing alignment for maximum natural solar heating.  We are installing floor to ceiling double glazed glass to maximize the view and natural heating opportunity.

The “soul” of the clinic is Mrs Yangchan Dolma, the dedicated nurse and dental technician of Lamdon School. She will have a staff of 3>4 to assist with running the clinic & ward. We are also sending a graduate student to attend a one year course in vision health care offered by the Tilganga Institute in Kathmandu, Nepal. Upon graduation, they will return to Leh and staff the vision clinic.

In addition to the energy efficient design of the clinic building, all electrical power will be provided by solar energy generated by a bank of panels located 100m from the clinic building.  The clinic will be self-sufficient and environmentally passive on every level.