Lee Thorn - Jhai Message - detailed progress report

Dear friends and board,

I hope this finds you and your families well.

I am feeling pretty good. We worked through the weekend and made quite a bit of progress. In brief here is where we have landed today and a little about our coming work in VietNam tomorrow and Wednesday:

1. Laos telemedicine test:
1. Now: (This bit is a bit technical.) We have complete community buy-in of telemedicine at the village and 18 village catchment levels. We have excellent support from the Health Ministry at the local, district and provincial hospital and provincial headquarters level and strong indication of support at the national level. We have tested technology and connectivity on bench in Vientiane, on bench in Provincial Hospital (Luxembourg funded), and through internet between Phon Kham village clinic and the provincial hospital. However, between the hospital and village we are experiencing drops in the connection signals. We have traced these drops to both ends, that is, at the hospital dsl end and at the village where we tested two kinds of cellular connection (not 3G which is not yet available) - a 'winphone' and a dongle connected with a sim card (tested with cards from two different providers) through a usb port on the JhaiPC connected to the telemedicine appliance . The problem is serious because a dropped connection means that patient data - including data from medical sensors - must be resent after each drop - increasing the time of use and the number of packets sent dramatically. This makes sustainability for the project very difficult. We next test this solution:
1. at the hospital end: increase speed to 512Kbps for the whole hospital and
2. at the village end switch to satellite at cost similar to what we have paid in the past for school implementations. This connection would be owned by the parent association and shared (including costs) with the health side in order to secure the low price.
3. This is NOT our recommended solution on connectivity. We do not have a recommended solution on connectivity. No one size fits all. We imagine in Vietnam, for example, the proper solution is probably 3G. We think connectivity MUST be decided on the local level as you very carefully balance sustainability, speed, reliability and ease of use parameters. In our case solutions of all kind happen through careful deliberation - especially WITH people as close to the ground as possible.
2. We will be using 2 JhaiPC high end models (3.3Ghtz, 4G RAM, 320Gbts storage) at the hospital end. We will be using one JhaiPC low end model (3.3Ghtz, 1G RAM, 60Gbts storage) at the clinic end. We also will provide a printer at the clinic site. All this is in addition to the ReMeDi appliance and software. We will allow no other software on these machines but ReMeDi software, our Jhai Networks software and security software. We provide no built-in CD/DVD drive nor do we provide empty usb ports. We will put security software at the network and on each machine. The JhaiPCs come with headsets and new video cameras attached to the LCD monitors.
3. Gourav Laddha from Neurosynaptic in Bangalore and World Health Partners in Delhi, has begun both installation and user training with people at both ends of the connection here. Continued training will be done remotely via Jhai Networks communication suite and through software that allows Gourav to see the workings of the system wherever it is and wherever he is, even if in a remote village in India.
2. Laos school progress:
1. We have communities' (18 villages) buy-in through their joint parents association and the leadership of the village where the school is, Phon Kham. We are providing equipment (9 low-end and 1 high-end computers and requisite peripherals, usp's, connectivity, networking, software) for an implementation in the middle school. This school is located in Phon Kham village, but is owned by 18 villages along the road (which, by the way, will wash out in next couple of weeks unless repairs are made during this rainy season). The JhaiPCs will be assembled locally. Phon Kham and nearby villages are remote villages in rainy season and rural villages in the dry season. Permissions from various levels of the Education Ministry will be run once we are assured of connectivity.
2. We received an implementation plan from the parent association and administration at the middle school.
3. We will send on contract our colleague John Hawker of Sat-Ed.com and a translator to do the initial set up and training. John is familiar with Lao culture and has worked successfully in three countries in both education and community center projects. He lives in a Thai village not far away with his translator wife and two children. John and I are looking at collaboration opportunities in several other countries - including yours? ;D Believe it or not, John and I met in Ethiopia.
4. Next step is testing and decision-making on connectivity. Once those two items are done villagers will begin the buy-in process at the various levels of government. The parent association will 'hold the money' and be our prime point of contact. The middle school will house the equipment in a renovated, secure room. We expect to train 200 kids in the first semester and run the project at night, weekends, holidays, and vacation period for the communities. This project is meant to be sustainable for everyone, including Jhai. We expect that the parents will buy the equipment over a considerable time period, for example. The business plan will cover income for all expenses including supplemental income to the teachers and entrepreneur(s). The process we will take on this is well-tested in Laos through a principal we taught some time ago. We are putting this gentleman on retainer. This sustainability solution has gone viral in Laos and once we feel comfortable, we will share it with everyone on our lists and elsewhere.
3. Gourav Laddha from Neurosynaptic and I go to Hanoi tomorrow for meetings with the Ministry of Health and the Center for Disease Control (US) in regard to telemedicine testing and implementation perhaps throughout Viet Nam, one step at a time. Preliminary to that meeting we are meeting with representations of Luxembourg Development, the Hue Learning Center, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, and VietTel in Hanoi as well. In these meetings we are particularly grateful for the leadership of Dr. Huynh Dinh Chien of the Hue Learning Center. We follow his lead with gratitude.

In Laos I am grateful for the untiring work of Raja Chowdhry who got me here again through his faith in us and love for Laos, my long-time colleague, Vorasone Dengkayaphicith, Gourav Laddha from Neurosynaptic, Dr. Virak, an old friend, director of Luxembourg Hospital, Dr. Souphathai, an old friend and now head of Provincial Dept of Health in Vientiane Province, the people of Phon Kham village, the administration of the middle school in Phon Kham, and our whole team here, in India, Thailand and the US, for their kindness and patience with me. I am particularly appreciative of their deep concern for poor people which they teach me through their very professional work.

I am also very grateful to you, Jhai's friends, donors and allies. Here is a gift to you from the Hindu tradition as translated by Yeats:

"Self is the wall which keeps the creatures from breaking in. Day and night do not go near Him, nor age, nor death, nor grief, nor good, nor evil. Sin turns away from Him; for Spirit knows no sin.

Self is the bridge. When man crosses that bridge, if blind, he shall see; if sick, he shall be well; if unhappy, he shall be happy. When he crosses that bridge, though it be night, it shall be day; for heaven is shining always.

"Heaven is for those that are masters of themselves. They can move anywhere in this world at their pleasure."

The Ten Upanishads (Yeats and Shree Puroheet)

Please know I am not claiming mastery of any sort. If you do not believe, ask my wife. ;D

My point is at Jhai we look at ourselves first and continually. What is our part? What are we not hearing? What is this other's perspective and what is she bringing to the table? How do I slow down to make a difference? Am I willing to slow down? Do I understand the utility of doing nothing and respecting the pace and beauty and progress of this other?

Donations to Jhai are easily made through the 'donate' button on the front page of Jhai Foundation. If you wish us to consult with you or you wish to partner with us or would like to look at investing in our forthcoming Jhai Enterprises, please let me know and I will hook you up.

yours, in Peace,

Lee
--
Lee Thorn
chair, Jhai Foundation
I tweet @leethorn_jhai
Way cool .... see 30 sec video of
2003 JhaiPC bicycle-powered set up at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiZa_A0QrtQ

350 Townsend St., Ste. 309
San Francisco, CA 94107 USA
+1 415 344 0360 (office)
+1 415 420 2870 (mobile)
lee@jhai.org
www.jhai.org


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