The Rotary Club RC Bergamo CITT’ Altaof Bergamo, Italy under the leadership of Dr. Giacomo Bertacchi has organized a collaborative effort with five other Rotary Clubs and District 2040 to install a WHIS-RAD unit in Gumry Armenia. The five other clubs are RC Bergamo, RC Bergamo Nord, RC Bergamo Sud, RC Bergamo Ovest, and RC Sarnico e Val Cavallina. They received a $24,000 matching fund grant from Rotary International to fund the project. Installation of an I.M.S. Wizard unit was completed in July 2003. Dr. Bertacchi is also promoting interest in the WHIS-RAD project with the Rotary club of Villingen-Schwennigen-Mitte in Germany

The Asheville South Rotary Club of Asheville, North Carolina has partnered with the Lusaka Rotary Club and installed an I.M.S. Wizard WHIS-RAD X-ray unit in a Salvation Army Hospital two hours from Lusaka, Zambia. Rotary International has provided matching funds for the project.

The Rotary Club of Winnetka, Illinois has installed an X-ray unit in Armenia based on WHIS-RAD specifications provided by Health Care Manufacturing which is currently exploring the feasibility of WHO approval.

The Rotary Club of Elk Grove Village, Illinois is partnering with the Rotary Club of Gros Islet, St. Lucia in the Caribbean to install a WHIS-RAD unit in a local hospital. St. Lucia has a large indigent population which will be helped by the availability of X-ray services. Installation is expected in the summer or fall of 2005.

A letter of commitment suitable for matching fund application has been received from the Rotary club of Tbilisi, Georgia who is looking for donor clubs to partner with. The Rotary Club of Crystal Lake (noon) has pledged funds to partially support the project and are looking for other clubs with whom to partner.

The World Council of Hellenes Abroad (a Greek-based charity) has committed in writing to provide funds for shipping, all consumables and maintenance, training and physicians and technologists as well as arrange for duty free entry for the Georgia installation which is planned for Tsulka.

The citizens of Georgia experience extreme deprivation created by a collapse of economic and social programs. The World Council of Hellenes has made a multi-year, multi-million dollar commitment with support from USAID to help the people of Georgia with medical assistance and is offering to partner with Rotary.

WHO is exploring the feasibility of developing a digital WHIS-RAD system which will enable low cost hard copy images, electronic archiving and transmission and remote over reading to assist locations where no radiologists are present.

A major new entry has been made by General Electric Medical Systems with their BRX WHIS-RAD system. This brings to three the suppliers including Philips Medical Systems and IMS.

The Rotary WHIS-RAD Project was exhibited in the General Projects section of the Rotary International Convention in Chicago, June 18-22, 2005 at booth #556. Twenty sponsor clubs and sixty-five beneficiary clubs registered. Registrants will be found in the sponsor/beneficiary club section of the WHIS-RAD website. This provides a rich resource of contacts for those considering participation in this program.

This web site contains most of the information on WHIS-RAD and is the only web site dedicated to providing information on WHIS-RAD. Since its inception in October of 2002, the web site has received over 10,000 visits from 31 countries.

Further details of both donor and recipient clubs are profiled elsewhere on this web site.