Vineela joined our family in August 2018, after working for two years as a clinical optometrist at the L V Prasad Eye Institute. “My time there motivated me to join an organization that provides quality care for the people who need it most,” she says.

Vineela’s day at the office begins at 9:30 a.m. She starts by going through her weekly plans, preparing her to-do list and tackling her most urgent tasks. These often include following up on the progress of our partner hospitals and coordinating training for vision technicians, optometrists and ophthalmic assistants. Lunch is at 1 p.m., after which she’s busy with project and training reports. She wraps up at 5:30 p.m. with a final report to her manager and discussion about tomorrow’s important tasks.

But that’s not all. With her expertise in clinical optometry, Vineela trains optometrists, technicians and final-year optometry students, visiting one or two of our partner hospitals every month.

During these trips, she also monitors our Hospital-Based Community Eye Health Projects. She visits vision centres, talks with the staff and patients, checks patient records and addresses any areas for improvement. “I get to see the changes we bring into people’s lives. That’s what I like about my job the most!” says Vineela.

“My interests are in clinics and teaching,” she continues. “Operation Eyesight’s unique approach in reaching the underprivileged motivated me to apply for this position. Now I am very happy to be a part of this family and to serve the neediest!”

Your big-hearted gifts are making it possible to transform communities through people like Vineela. By donating today, you can help provide vulnerable communities in Africa and Asia with the quality eye care they need – For All The World To See!

The post A day in the life of a program officer appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

LVPEI has been our partner for the last 17 years. Together we’ve made eye care possible in some of the poorest communities in India. Over coffee and donuts (from the very Canadian Tim Hortons, of course), our Calgary staff heard more about Dr. Rao’s and Dr. Das’s professional experiences, values and hopes for the future. Naturally, the quality of eye care was a recurring point in our discussion.

When Dr. Rao left the United States after 12 years of studies and practice as an ophthalmologist, he returned to India with the dream of making quality eye care a reality for the common people. In 1987, his efforts gave way to the renowned LVPEI, situated in the city of Hyderabad. During the organization’s first five years, Dr. Rao noticed an increasing number of economically underprivileged people suffering from avoidable blindness – mostly cataract. This led to the development of the community eye care model in which vision centres were established in rural or economically disadvantaged communities and quality eye care was made accessible for everyone regardless of their financial status.

“It has been a glorious journey,” says Dr. Rao. “The hospital thus far has touched millions of lives through quality eye care and careers, and continues to have dedicated partners, donors and volunteers. It gives me immense satisfaction to witness the transformations in the lives of our patients and employees, and the contributions from people around the world in terms of their time, talent and treasure.”

In addition to making quality eye care accessible for rural communities in India, with the help of a generous donor family, we opened the Operation Eyesight Universal Institute for Eye Cancer at LVPEI’s Hyderabad campus in 2015. To combat the growing number of eye cancer incidences in India, the facility provides cancer treatment for children and adults, all at low or no cost.

“It is the insistence on quality that sets Operation Eyesight apart from other organizations,” says Dr. Rao.

Thank you, Dr. Rao and Dr. Das, for spending time in Calgary and sharing your experiences with us! It was an honor to host you both. We’re proud to call LVPEI our partner, and we look forward to transforming many more lives together in the years to come – For All The World To See!

The post Quality above all: Our partnership with L V Prasad Eye Institute, India appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Can you imagine what it would be like to be a young man in a remote village, watching your parents struggle to bring food to the table, and realizing that you’re losing your sight?

And imagine what it would be like to be a mother living in poverty and watching your son go blind?

When Shivsagar started to lose his sight as a child, his mother didn’t have any other option but to take him to a healer in the village. Their village did not have a healthcare centre, and Shivsagar’s mother couldn’t afford the bus fare to the nearest hospital, let alone the expensive sight-saving treatments. Besides, taking Shivsagar to the hospital would cost her a day’s work and cost her family a day’s meal. So, she did all she could – placing all her hopes on the village healer and praying for her son’s remaining sight.

Sadly, the folk healer’s medicines had no effect. Shivsagar’s mother helplessly watched her son’s world go dark around him. He became alienated and eventually he was forced to drop out of school.

In many communities in India, men are expected to look after their parents when they grow old. However, instead of growing up to become a breadwinner for the family, Shivsagar depended more and more on his mother for his daily needs. But one day everything changed!

Years after Shivsagar lost his sight, his sister got married and moved to the city of Bangalore with her husband.

Operation Eyesight established a vision centre in Bangalore and Jyoti, one of our community health workers, went door-to-door in the area screening households for their eye health. As luck would have it, Jyoti met Shivsagar’s sister. When Jyoti heard about Shivsagar, she urged his sister to bring him to Bangalore.

So 20-year-old Shivsagar travelled 700 kilometers to his sister’s place in Bangalore and met with Jyoti. Jyoti referred him to the vision centre and the hospital, where the doctors identified the damage to his cornea and offered a cornea transplantation surgery at an affordable, subsidized cost of less than 100 Canadian dollars.

Cornea transplants need eye donors. After being referred for the surgery, Shivsagar returned to his village and waited for a donor. The long-awaited call came a year later!

Two weeks after the surgery, he could see his surroundings again, and his sight would keep improving for the next three months.

Shivsagar is at his sister’s recovering from his surgery, ready to head home to take on his new life. Once he returns to his village, he hopes to find a job to support his mother.

It’s a new beginning! Not just for Shivsagar, but also for his mom. Now she can rest easy knowing that her son can provide for their little family, and she knows that his future is bright and full of hope – all thanks to the support of incredible people like you!

Thank you so much for your incredible gifts that are helping to restore sight and hope for people like Shivsagar! There are still thousands like him who need your help. Please consider donating today and give the gift of sight to more people in need – For All The World To See!

The post Hope comes in the form of a community health worker appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

As her vision faded more and more, Rathnamma was forced to cut back at work, putting extra financial strain on her household.

Rathnamma knew she needed help. She wanted to go to one of the nearby hospitals to seek treatment, but she kept quiet for two years, worried she wouldn’t be able to afford the cost.  

Rathnamma was on the verge of losing her sight, and her hope for the future was running out.

But one day everything changed! Operation Eyesight-trained community health workers visited the family during a community outreach program. When they reached the couple’s home, they told Rathnamma they were there to screen the family for eye health issues. They immediately recognized that Rathnamma ‘s sight was fading, and they referred her to a vision centre where she was diagnosed with cataracts. From there, she was referred to our partner hospital for cataract surgeries – free of charge!

Soon after, Rathnamma underwent sight-restoring eye surgery. Today she is able to see clearly. Now she’s back at work and earning more to support her little family!

And that’s not all. Although Vankitaraman had incurable blindness, the community health workers taught him mobility skills to get around. They trained him to walk around with a long cane to navigate his surroundings. As a result, Venkitaraman no longer needs to sit idle at home. Today he takes care of the household chores while Rathnamma works outside.

And the health workers didn’t stop there. Knowing the couple was struggling financially, they helped them apply for disability pensions from the government. Now they have an additional income each month that takes the edge off their financial stress!

The couple remembers the community health workers fondly. Thanks to all the help they received, Venkitaraman and Rathnamma were able to escape a terrible fate, and they have hope for a brighter future. 

And it’s all because to people like you! Through the support of donors like you, we are able to bring sustainable changes to the lives of so many across South Asia and Africa. Thanks to you, thousands of families have access to the quality eye care services they need! There are still so many who need your help. Please make a donation and give the gift of hope to more families today.

The post Together from Darkness to Light appeared first on Operation Eyesight.