When I was at Kitale Eye Unit, I met Bernard Simiyu, a 61-year old local man who had been a community health worker for four years. He regularly walked great distances, covering a large district of about 50 rural homesteads and checking in with families to identify eye injuries, cataracts and refractive error (the need for prescription eyeglasses), among other medical conditions.

“Bernard and our other community health workers help identify patients for us. We hope to get bicycles to help them in their work,” said Dr. Hillary Rono, referring to the large districts the frontline workers canvass on foot.

Rono, the ophthalmologist at the eye unit, told me that Bernard was one of 32 community health workers in the Greater Trans-Nzoia District. The Ministry of Health trains the workers with support from Operation Eyesight and other NGOs.

If patients don’t live too far from the hospital, the frontline workers can literally lead them to the eye unit, or can use their hospital-sponsored mobile phones to call and arrange for a doctor or clinical officer to visit the rural area.

Bernard himself had been blind from cataracts, and was operated on five years earlier at another Operation Eyesight-supported eye unit at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. His son knew where the Kitale hospital was, and was able to escort him there, so Bernard appreciates the importance of having someone knowledgeable accompany a patient.

He told me, “When you are blind, it’s like being in a hole. You cannot see what’s going on. I was feeling painful when I wasn’t whole, so I decided to help other people to see. Eyes are so important.”

Would you like to help frontline workers like Janice and Bernard? Your gift can help train community health workers in Africa.

The post Frontline workers reach remote patients in Africa (Part 2 of 2) appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

Flash forward to 2011, and the concept of hospital-based community eye care employed by these women is now a major feature of Operation Eyesight’s approach in India, and is being applied in Africa as well. We now know that many people with eye problems never get the treatment they need, even if an eye clinic is not too far away.

For years Operation Eyesight has been helping our hospital partners in India to run efficient and sustainable operations in order to eliminate avoidable blindness in the districts served. But in many cases, these hospitals were only reaching 35 percent of the local population.

Before, the hospital would send medical teams to outlying districts three or four times a year – it wasn’t enough, and it was expensive. A steadier presence was required to get to know people and earn their trust.

A new approach of working more closely with the community, and sending workers deeper into the community, is really paying off.  Now, hospitals hire and coordinate community workers (many of them recruited from the very villages they serve) who move from place to place offering health education and basic diagnosis. They travel on bicycles or motorbikes, along roads and pathways that only a 4×4 truck could navigate.

But a $40,000 4×4 vehicle isn’t always necessary; if there’s no need to bring equipment or transport patients, sometimes a $1,500 motorbike or any ordinary bicycle will do. Two-wheeled transport is easy to maintain, and fuel for motorbikes costs peanuts. In this way, it is possible to reach just about everyone in the district served by the hospital, and problems with blindness and low vision are dropping exponentially.

Would you like to help? This year, for the first time, we’re featuring motorbikes and bicycles in our Gift Guide. Have a look – it’s the kind of gift that everyone can understand, and it helps these hospitals reach everyone possible.

The post When are two wheels better than four? appeared first on Operation Eyesight.

These are the words of Kashinath Bhoosnurmath, Operation Eyesight’s senior director for India, speaking about our donors. Kashinath is passionate about the poor and blind of India, and enthusiastic about the progress being made. “Dhanyawaad” means thank you in Hindi, one of a number of languages he speaks.

Kashinath’s work coordinating all of Operation Eyesight’s work in India brings him into contact with health experts and high-level officials, as well as the very poorest of the poor. While at our world headquarters in Calgary last week, we asked him what things make the biggest difference in the quest to eliminate avoidable blindness. He identified philanthropy – people outside of India willing to share their resources with people in serious need. It’s true that none of Operation Eyesight’s work in India or Africa could happen without the financial support of generous donors.

The needs in India are many, but here are some we can respond to right now: eyeglasses for children, surgery for cataract patients, or bicycles for traveling community workers. Our new Gift Guide is ready for the holiday season – you can request a printed copy or order online. Take a moment now to view the options and see how you can give a gift that gives twice.

The post Dhanyawaad! appeared first on Operation Eyesight.