St John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital

The St. John of Jerusalem Eye Hospital is one of five orders linked to the original Knights Hospitallers of St. John whic began in the 7th. century as a Church Order to aid and assist pilgrims to the Holy Land. After the Christian Conquest of Jerusalem, the Order received property from Godfrey de Bouillon and began to accompany Crusading armies providing ambulance and field hspital services - in 1126 the Order was militarised and by 1530 they were based in Malta. In the UK the Order had a number of priories and land but they were closed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540. The Order was re-established in Queen Victoria's reign in 1877 and in 1882 they opened the Eye Hospital in Jerusalem.

From the very start the Order served all faiths, providing chicken as an alternative to pork and sugared water instead of wine.When founded it was the first and only eye hospital in the Middle East, their mission, to provide opthalmic care of high quality and relevance to the people of the Holy Land, irrespective of race, religion,socila class or ability to pay.

It provides :

• 49 in patient beds
• 212 staff
• over 100,000 outpatients treated annually
• over 4,000 serious operations every year
• permanent static clinics in Gaza and Anabta, plus a small hospital in Hebron
• An outreach programme to villages and refugee camps in the West Bank.

Ken has spent 25 years with the Order and is currently the Hospitaller  and Fundraiser for Durham County.

The organisation has a good website.  - www.stjohneyehospital.org