Middle School Visitation: During spring break, 2007, Lester Lurie a teacher at Casey Middle School, led 20 students and four parents to Mante to participate in community service projects in that city. These projects included establishing community gardens, a water purification testing program and to some other minor building projects. In the summer of 2007, a group of similar aged youngsters from Mante visited Boulder for a two week period.
Tamaulipas Arts Festival: The city of Mante participates along with nine other cities in the state of Tamaulipas in an annual International Arts Festival in October each year. The representative of the arts council in Mante which sits on the state committee has encouraged Boulder to nominate an arts group to participate in this arts festival. The Boulder Mante Sister City committee has nominated Frequent Flyers, which offices and practices at the Dairy Arts Center to be part of the 2008 arts festival.
Special Transit Bus: Special Transit of Boulder has agreed to donate one of their aging smaller buses to a nursing school in Mante. This is a vehicle with a hydraulic lift for wheelchair bound clients. This vehicle will be used by nurses in training to visit schools in the Mante area for health screenings and to provide access to community activities for those who need assistance.
Community Support Program: The Community Support Program is a distinct function which will work in a variety of ways within the community and schools to develop the talents of children in a variety of ways. Chief among these programs will be an assessment program in the schools to identify children who have clinical and special needs, including speech, hearing and attention deficit functions. Pam Hyink has been instrumental in initiating and coordinating this program.
Hearing Screening Program - 4 audiometers sent to Mante, 14 people trained in procedures to conduct a hearing screening program, hearing screenings done in some of the schools in the villages, those people found to potentially have a hearing problem were sent for proper medical and/or audiological follow up. The current plan is that more public school personnel will be trained to conduct hearing screening programs and a model program will be developed.
Computerized Learning Program - Scientific Learning Corp. has agreed to supply students in Mante with identified learning problems with up to 40 learning programs in exchange for pre and post program test data to determine the effectiveness of this type of learning program for the native Spanish speaking population. Five computers have been prepared and transported to Mante. To date, one Mante person has been trained to conduct the pre and post program testing. A location for conducting the program has been established and one student has been identified to participate in the program.
Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) Program - Teachers in various schools have been trained to identify students that need to be assessed for potential ADHD problems. To date, one M.D. in Mante had been identified and trained to diagnosis and medically manage school age children who are experiencing ADHD. Teachers and Dr. have been trained to work together and with parents to provide appropriate support for students who have identified and placed on proper medication.
Future Programs:
Dairy Center Mural: In 2001 the city of Mante sent artist Florian Lopez to Mante to paint a mural (42’ X 24’) on the north side of the Dairy Center facility. This mural is an expression of thanks to the medical personnel who each year visit Mante with their life saving care for those in need. The city of Boulder prepared the north face of the Dairy Center for the application of the mural, which is recognized by many in this community as a true art treasure.
The mural overlooks a parking lot which is quite dark. With the assistance of Bill Boyes, an engineering report prepared by Clinton and Associates proposes lighting for the mural which meets city of Boulder regulations regarding light dispersal. One option for fluorescent lighting would cost $12,400, while a project with LED lighting would cost $15,000.
During the time of the medical campaign, a request of the new mayor of Mante was made to help fund the lighting of the Dairy Center mural. We await his response prior to initiating fundraising in this community for this project.
Ronald McDonald House: As mentioned earlier, a new civil hospital has recently been constructed and dedicated in Mante. At the new facility, family members loiter outdoors when not attending family members in the hospital. The Canoas Rotary club has proposed that a dormitory type building be built adjacent to the hospital, to be administered by the hospital staff, for family members attending their family member who is a patient. Canoas Rotary is requesting Boulder area Rotary clubs to join them in a matching grant to equip the facility with kitchen and bedroom items for this facility.
Arts Exchange: Florian Lopez, who painted the mural on the Dairy Center building, has expressed interest in seeing an arts show exchange develop between the two communities. We will look to find a champion for this project among the artists of the Boulder community
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