News Briefs 11-11-26

Return of MMS
wax museum

The annual 6th Grade Wax Museum will be on Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 16 and 17 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the MMS gym and cafeteria.

Students will dress up as their chosen historical figures and share their speeches with family, friends, and community members. Visitors will have the opportunity to travel through history as our students transform into some of the most interesting and influential people of the past! Please bring your quarters and join us for this annual event. Proceeds will be donated to the Brookings County Emergency Food Pantry.

We look forward to seeing our students' hard work pay off as they step into the shoes of the past and share what they have learned. We hope you can join us for this fun evening of history, creativity, and learning.

Aerialists set
to compete

BROOKINGS – This weekend, aerialists from Monarch Aerial Arts in Brookings will compete in the Dakota Aerial Championship, joining athletes from across the region to showcase their skills in aerial silks, lyra (aerial hoop), and other aerial disciplines.

Monarch Studio will be represented by 10 competitors performing 17 routines. Our athletes have dedicated countless hours to training, building strength, refining their choreography, and preparing for this opportunity. For many, this competition represents months of hard work, personal growth, and the chance to share their passion for aerial arts with a broader community.

Bringing eye care to Haiti

BROOKINGS – Rotary welcomed Dr. Anshu Chandra, an optometrist and fellow Rotarian, as its program speaker. Since the speaker was not present in the room, the club played videos of the presentation, with Dr. Chandra joining via Zoom afterward for a live question and answer session.

Dr. Chandra described starting this work 17 years ago after a mission trip to the Himalayan mountains where children didn't realize their vision was blurry until given glasses and an elderly population was losing independence due to untreated vision problems. A pivotal moment came when a blind monk asked if sunlight could be restored to his world, a case of glaucoma that could not be reversed, which pushed Dr. Chandra to reconsider turning down two full-time job offers in order to serve where "there was nobody" providing care.

In 2010, Dr. Chandra began traveling to Fonds-des-Blancs, a rural mountainous village in southern Haiti with no running water, electricity, or paved roads, where patients lined up overnight, sometimes sleeping on the floor so that they could receive her clinical care. Recognizing that mobile clinics weren't sufficient, Dr. Chandra downsized her life, paid off student loans, left New York City, and in 2015 moved to Haiti with just two suitcases of equipment to build a permanent clinic inside a local hospital space. She trained local staff from the ground up using whiteboards and hands-on mentorship since most new staff had no prior medical background.

Within two years, the clinic expanded from a few informal stations to 11 exam stations with advanced diagnostic equipment. Since then, it has performed more than 143,000 free eye exams and thousands of sight-saving procedures. The program also pioneered Haiti's first Retinopathy of Prematurity screening initiative to examine premature babies and launched a school vision-screening program educating parents and high schoolers on eye health.

However, the hospital currently housing the clinic needs its space back by the end of 2027. The local community has helped secure donated land from a Haitian diaspora family, and the team now has land, equipment, and trained staff but must still raise funds to construct reliable utilities and a new building. 

A Rotary Arch Klumph Society member has offered to match contributions to the Global Eye Project (Niskayuna Rotary Club's Eye Project) dollar-for-dollar up to $250,000. Dr. Chandra emphasized this opportunity exceeds typical Rotary global grants, which do not offer dollar-for-dollar matching, and asked Rotarians to help spread awareness within their personal and professional networks.

During the live Zoom question and answer, Dr. Chandra explained that patients range from premature babies to 100-year-olds, with distinct needs across age groups: premature babies are screened over 1,500 times a year for retinopathy, while elderly patients are treated for glaucoma and diabetic and hypertensive eye diseases. Dr. Chandra noted that training local providers is the key to sustainability, since patients currently travel for days in order to receive care. Expanding training would let more primary care clinics open throughout Haiti so people don't have to travel as far.

City to inspect recycling bins

BROOKINGS – The City of Brookings Solid Waste Division will be conducting curbside recycling cart inspections November 19 and 20. The inspections are an effort to help reduce contamination and improve recycling quality.

"We've seen a significant increase in contamination in the City's single-stream recycling, particularly plastics and Styrofoam, and this contamination creates issues at the recycling facility," said Solid Waste Business Operations Manager Katie Stiegelmeier. 

The curbside recycling cart inspections are being conducted as an effort to help reduce contamination before it reaches the recycling facility, and also to help educate residents about what they put in their cart, said Solid Waste Manager Charlie Kuhn.

"The curbside inspections will check around 400 bins throughout the community," said Kuhn. During these inspections, a recycling cart will be opened, and if contamination is visible, the contamination will be documented and a notice will be placed on the cart. The notice will let the resident know what the contaminants were and provide additional information on proper recycling. Continued issues may result in non-service of the resident's recycling.

 "The only plastics that are accepted in our single-stream recycling are rinsed plastic bottles, tubs, jugs and jars," said Stiegelmeier. 

Grief classes

BROOKINGS – Brookings Health System's free six-week educational series, Understanding Grief, will begin on Tuesday, Dec. 1. 

The classes are designed to help those who have lost a loved one learn about the process of grief and how to navigate it. Topics include the symptoms and process of grief, coping strategies, caring for one's self, and the continuing bond that occurs.

Sessions will be held on Tuesdays through Jan. 5 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Brookings Health System's Conference Room A. Classes are open to everyone. To register, please visit brookingshealth.org/grief or call (605) 696-8089.