Today, May 5th, is the seventh day of Clinic. Our International Clinic will last for 8 clinic days. The top story of they day had to Alexander. One of our team members actually recognized Alexander from our first full-day in El Salvador. Alexander and his mother actually approached him at the Opening Ceremony.
I recognized Alexander from yesterday. I remember that we dispensed a new pair of eyeglasses to him. He was - 5.50 in both eyes (essentially, he couldn't see much without his eyeglasses). By the way, Alexander is an 11 year old boy. I was a little confused when he came up to me because we had taken care of him the day before. Alexander was with his mother. He was the only one of the two who could speak any English. He approached me and said that he needed a stronger pair of eyeglasses. I checked with one of our Doctors and we re-checked Alexander. His original pair of eyeglasses were fine, but because of the complexity of his prescription, we decided to get Alexander a brand new pair of Chabella's. Chabella's actually look like the Harry Potter eyeglasses. The teamwork was amazing and we were able to make Alexander a pair of new glasses within minutes. Alexander was extremely proud of the Chabella's. He immediately opened his book bag and pulled out his Bible. Alexander smiled unbelievably as he could now read his Bible. The tears flowed from all of us...Alexander was great ambassador for his country. His new smile was contagious.
Bye for now, the tears are starting to flow again...
Saturday, May 8, 2010
05 04 2010
Today was the sixth day of Clinic. We helped 1,544 patients (Clinic to-date total of 7,915). Our silent auction last night raised almost $4,000 for OneSight. It really shows the commitment of our team - they not only contribute their time and talents, but their own money in support of the program to help the world to see better.
We had many interesting stories today. We had an 87 year old woman who previously was wearing bifocals. However, she was so excited with her new progressives that she threw the old eyeglasses away. She was a spunky lady and said that she had been praying for our arrival. Stores like that really touch your heart.
We also had a patient with a -23 prescription in one eye. We were able to dispense a pair of used eyeglasses with a -15 prescription, but more importantly, we arranged with one of our team members and the local Lions club to make a brand new pair of eyeglasses in the U.S. The patient will temporarily use the -15 eyeglasses until the new ones arrive. Wow! What a commitment to service.
Finally, we were able to fit a 3-year old girl with a pair of eyeglasses. they were a beautiful pink frame. We ultimately had to wrap them around her ears in order to make them fit. But they looked fantastic! Her mother was so excited that she asked us if they would last forever.
It was another fantastic day at Clinic. Your "roving reports" don't have enough tissue for all of the tears of joy.
We had many interesting stories today. We had an 87 year old woman who previously was wearing bifocals. However, she was so excited with her new progressives that she threw the old eyeglasses away. She was a spunky lady and said that she had been praying for our arrival. Stores like that really touch your heart.
We also had a patient with a -23 prescription in one eye. We were able to dispense a pair of used eyeglasses with a -15 prescription, but more importantly, we arranged with one of our team members and the local Lions club to make a brand new pair of eyeglasses in the U.S. The patient will temporarily use the -15 eyeglasses until the new ones arrive. Wow! What a commitment to service.
Finally, we were able to fit a 3-year old girl with a pair of eyeglasses. they were a beautiful pink frame. We ultimately had to wrap them around her ears in order to make them fit. But they looked fantastic! Her mother was so excited that she asked us if they would last forever.
It was another fantastic day at Clinic. Your "roving reports" don't have enough tissue for all of the tears of joy.
05 03 2010
Today we helped 1,468 patients (Clinic to-date total of 6,411). Three interesting stories of note. First, we helped a cute girl suffering from Downs syndrome. It took 4 team members working together in order to accommodate her needs throughout the Clinic. She ultimately received a pair of new eyeglasses. How do we know that they worked? The little girl became angry whenever the glasses were taken off and happy whenever they were put on. It was a joy to help her.
The second story involved a mother and her two small children. One of her children had a very high prescription. We involved a number of our Lions volunteers so they could experience firsthand the joy of giving the gift of sight. The mother told us that we were a gift from God because she had no means to provide optical care for her family. The experience touched our hearts.
Finally, we provided free eye care for our bus driver. Mario has been with us since our first day in El Salvador. He takes us wherever we need to go and Mario has such a warm smile. Anyway, we were able to provide him with a pair of new Ray Ban sunglasses. Mario needs a pair of eyeglasses, but because of the size of his head, we arranged to have a new pair made in the United States that will be shipped to him. One of our team members stepped forward and made it work. Another great example of teamwork.
That is it for today, May 3rd. Bye for now.
The second story involved a mother and her two small children. One of her children had a very high prescription. We involved a number of our Lions volunteers so they could experience firsthand the joy of giving the gift of sight. The mother told us that we were a gift from God because she had no means to provide optical care for her family. The experience touched our hearts.
Finally, we provided free eye care for our bus driver. Mario has been with us since our first day in El Salvador. He takes us wherever we need to go and Mario has such a warm smile. Anyway, we were able to provide him with a pair of new Ray Ban sunglasses. Mario needs a pair of eyeglasses, but because of the size of his head, we arranged to have a new pair made in the United States that will be shipped to him. One of our team members stepped forward and made it work. Another great example of teamwork.
That is it for today, May 3rd. Bye for now.
05 02 2010
Today was our second day off from Clinic. We traveled 2 hours to the Village of Alegria. Upon arrival, we went up a steep hill to a dormant volcano that is at least 250 years old. In the middle of the volcano is a lake called "Laguna of Alegria", which stands for Lake of Happiness. What a sight - we were able to take our tour bus and 35 team members to the crater of a volcano. It was an awesome experience!
After about an hour we went back into the Village and had lunch and did a little shopping. at the center of Alegria was a beautiful old church. The Lions arranged to have the church opened so we could enter the church and even take pictures. It was a great afternoon for everyone. Besides having a second day of rest (Clinic starts again tomorrow), it was an opportunity for us to experience firsthand the culture of El Salvador.
Bye for now...your "roving reporters" signing off.
After about an hour we went back into the Village and had lunch and did a little shopping. at the center of Alegria was a beautiful old church. The Lions arranged to have the church opened so we could enter the church and even take pictures. It was a great afternoon for everyone. Besides having a second day of rest (Clinic starts again tomorrow), it was an opportunity for us to experience firsthand the culture of El Salvador.
Bye for now...your "roving reporters" signing off.
05 01 2010
Today was the first day off from Clinic. Ironically, El Salvador celebrated Labor Day today. The Lions sponsored a luncheon for us, and also hired a local Salsa Band to play for us. The food was outstanding and the dancing was a lot of fun. It proved again that two separate cultures can come together.
After lunch, the team went to the Beach. El Salvador is bordered by the Pacific Ocean and our Hotel is only two blocks from the water. As we walked to the Beach, we actually found the Rooster who has been waking us up at 4:00 am every morning. It's amazing to experience mother-nature first-hand.
The Beach was a surprise to most of us. The sand was actually a grayish black color, probably due to the fact El Salvador has many volcano's. After the trip to the Beach, we came back to the Hotel and had dinner. After dinner we socialized together. Tomorrow we travel to a small town located near a volcano.
That's it for Saturday, May 1st. Your "roving reports" reporting.
After lunch, the team went to the Beach. El Salvador is bordered by the Pacific Ocean and our Hotel is only two blocks from the water. As we walked to the Beach, we actually found the Rooster who has been waking us up at 4:00 am every morning. It's amazing to experience mother-nature first-hand.
The Beach was a surprise to most of us. The sand was actually a grayish black color, probably due to the fact El Salvador has many volcano's. After the trip to the Beach, we came back to the Hotel and had dinner. After dinner we socialized together. Tomorrow we travel to a small town located near a volcano.
That's it for Saturday, May 1st. Your "roving reports" reporting.
03 30 2010
We saw 1635 patients today, almost 5,000 for the first week of Clinic! Our first patient today was 100 years old. She was a delight to serve. We also was a patient from our Clinic last fall. He was so happy that we came back again to El Salvador. Although it rained part of the day, Clinic went very smoothly. Our of our patients even thanked us for bringing the rain. It apparently hadn't rained in Usulutan in almost 6 weeks.
Some interesting tidbits from our first week of Clinic -
* The Clinic site is about 1 hours from our Hotel. Breakfast is at 6:00 am and the bus leaves every morning before 7:00 am.
* We are staying and working the the "Valley of Volcano's". El Salvador has tremendous number of volcano's, with the last eruption happening about 3 years ago.
* We wake up every morning to the sound of various Roosters. They like waking us up.
* Internet connection has been a struggle, so that's why our Blog posting have been limited.
* We are taking the weekend off for rest and relaxation.
* El Salvador celebrates Labor today tomorrow. However, the people of El Salvador celebrate it differently than the people in North America. All the workers take the day off here in El Salvador. Some protest are expected.
* The local Lions Club are hosting a luncheon for us on Saturday. The people of El Salvador like to dance, sot they have hired a band to entertain us. After the luncheon we plan on visiting the beach. The beach is about 2 blocks from out hotel. We are technically staying in a town called Cost de Sol, El Salvador.
* On Sunday our team is going to visit a small village situated by a volcano.
That's it for today. Your "roving reporters" signing off.
Some interesting tidbits from our first week of Clinic -
* The Clinic site is about 1 hours from our Hotel. Breakfast is at 6:00 am and the bus leaves every morning before 7:00 am.
* We are staying and working the the "Valley of Volcano's". El Salvador has tremendous number of volcano's, with the last eruption happening about 3 years ago.
* We wake up every morning to the sound of various Roosters. They like waking us up.
* Internet connection has been a struggle, so that's why our Blog posting have been limited.
* We are taking the weekend off for rest and relaxation.
* El Salvador celebrates Labor today tomorrow. However, the people of El Salvador celebrate it differently than the people in North America. All the workers take the day off here in El Salvador. Some protest are expected.
* The local Lions Club are hosting a luncheon for us on Saturday. The people of El Salvador like to dance, sot they have hired a band to entertain us. After the luncheon we plan on visiting the beach. The beach is about 2 blocks from out hotel. We are technically staying in a town called Cost de Sol, El Salvador.
* On Sunday our team is going to visit a small village situated by a volcano.
That's it for today. Your "roving reporters" signing off.
04 29 2010 (2nd posting)
Rafael was our Chabella story of the day. Rafael is a 14 year old boy from Usulutan, El Salvador. His mother took him out of school today from the express purpose of getting his eyes checked from the Doctor's at our Clinic. Rafael was already wearing a pair of eyeglasses when we first met him, although they were outdated and he clearly need a new prescription. We first met Rafael and his mother as they waited in line for the auto refractor. Rafael was a shy boy, but what boy at 14 isn't. We teased him and got to know Rafael and his mother as they waited patiently in line. Later on, just before Clinic closed, Rafael and his mother got hold of me. He had a new pair of eyeglasses, but they clearly were not appropriate for a 14 year old boy, nor was the prescription as precise as we would like. Long story short, I got hold of one of our Doctor's who then worked with one of our team mates and our Chabella colleagues to make a brand new pair of eyeglasses for Rafael. I asked Rafael and his mother to wait, and in less than 10 minutes Rafael had a brand new pair of eyeglasses that were a perfect match for his prescription. His eyes lit up as they were dispensed and both he and his mother left the Clinic as happy as anything. He was wearing a new pair of eyeglasses as they left the gate. Kudos to everyone who took the time to assist the 14 year old get a new pair of eyeglasses, a pair that he was proud to wear. It taught me a lesson - the need to push for the collection and recycling of children's glasses. Thankfully, in some instances, we have Chabella's as a back up.
That's the news for Thursday, April 29th. The "roving reporters" reporting. Good day.
That's the news for Thursday, April 29th. The "roving reporters" reporting. Good day.
04 29 2010
One of our team members from Italy had a pick of used eyeglasses for a 20 year old boy and the first choice was an older man's style so he asked the IMS team for another selection and we ended up finding a beautiful rimless pair of eye wear. He rally went that extra mile to create an exceptional experience for this young man to see what look his best...way to go!
04 28 2010
We delivered high quality eye exams and eyeglasses to 955 patients today. Later this week we plan on seeing up to 1,500 people per day. Our volunteer group has been outstanding, including the Lions International Club, the local military base, the local high school and university English classes and various international missionaries from the Church of Later Day Saints.
We saw two particularly interesting patients today. The first case involved a partially blind older gentleman, and the second case involved a deaf and mute lady. Both cases brought tears to our eyes and smiles to our hears. We turned two particularly tough situations into success stories.
An older gentleman with glasses came into our Clinic today. Although he had corneal scars in his left eye, which effectively left his blind in the left eye, he still had a great smile and a good spirit. Unfortunately, his old glasses were broken and tragically, the right lens was broken. Imagine trying to use the left lens of your glasses when you can only see out of your right eye. The good news was that we found him a pair of glasses (unlike his old pair that was broker), both of these lenses worked. The gentleman left our clinic very happy. His "never say die" attitude made a difference to our volunteers and certainly encouraged us to continue to work hard. The rain showers last night certainly didn't dampen his spirits.
The second case involved a deaf and mute lady. Communication was hard given her personal limitations. In fact, we needed two volunteers to even get her into the Clinic. She was wearing a purple polka dotted dress. Similar to the partially blind man, she was definitely a sweet lady. Our deaf and mute lady needs cataract surgery. But in the meantime, our able team of doctors and opticians determined that she could benefit from a strong pair of reading glasses and with some new sunglasses. We dispensed a pair of +3.00 reading glasses, along with some new sunglasses. The fun part is that we had to play a game of sureades in order to determine what worked and what would improve her quality of life. The most important thing to her was to be able to sew. It worked. She got her readers and sunglasses and was happy as a lark.
That's it for today. Signing off from El Salvador, your "roving reporter". Bye.
We saw two particularly interesting patients today. The first case involved a partially blind older gentleman, and the second case involved a deaf and mute lady. Both cases brought tears to our eyes and smiles to our hears. We turned two particularly tough situations into success stories.
An older gentleman with glasses came into our Clinic today. Although he had corneal scars in his left eye, which effectively left his blind in the left eye, he still had a great smile and a good spirit. Unfortunately, his old glasses were broken and tragically, the right lens was broken. Imagine trying to use the left lens of your glasses when you can only see out of your right eye. The good news was that we found him a pair of glasses (unlike his old pair that was broker), both of these lenses worked. The gentleman left our clinic very happy. His "never say die" attitude made a difference to our volunteers and certainly encouraged us to continue to work hard. The rain showers last night certainly didn't dampen his spirits.
The second case involved a deaf and mute lady. Communication was hard given her personal limitations. In fact, we needed two volunteers to even get her into the Clinic. She was wearing a purple polka dotted dress. Similar to the partially blind man, she was definitely a sweet lady. Our deaf and mute lady needs cataract surgery. But in the meantime, our able team of doctors and opticians determined that she could benefit from a strong pair of reading glasses and with some new sunglasses. We dispensed a pair of +3.00 reading glasses, along with some new sunglasses. The fun part is that we had to play a game of sureades in order to determine what worked and what would improve her quality of life. The most important thing to her was to be able to sew. It worked. She got her readers and sunglasses and was happy as a lark.
That's it for today. Signing off from El Salvador, your "roving reporter". Bye.
04 27 2010
Today was the first day of clinic. We saw 890 patients, 72 of whom required referrals. We have many memorable stories, but we decided to highlight just a few. The top story had to be the saving of a person's life. We have a wonderful time helping people to see better. It's fantastic to bring free eye exams and free eye wear to the people of El Salvador, but in this instance one of our Doctor's was performing an Eye Health Exam when she noticed that the patient had extremely swollen bilateral nerves, which can be a sign of high intracranial pressure from a brain tumor. Without immediate treatment the patient can die. In this case, by working with the local Lions Club, the patient was taken immediately by ambulance to the local hospital. Yes, we wanted to help the patient to see, but our first priority was to save his life. We hope to learn more about the patients condition later this week.
Our second story involved an 80 year old woman. She couldn't walk anywhere and in fact was carried to the auto refract station. Every effort was made to accommodate this woman's physical condition, including stacking chairs and creating a special hood in order to scope her eyes. People should take heart; we were able to help this woman. Her life was changed forever because the people on our team were willing to take the extra effort to serve an elderly woman. She had an extremely bad prescription, and we couldn't have given her the recycled glasses without the ingenuity of a number of people. Way to go!
Finally, for the first time in 10 years I saw firsthand the benefit of distributing sunglasses to our patients. Generally, when you think of helping people to see better, you don't think of sunglasses - but in the case of little "Tommy", a seven year old boy from Usulutan, El Salvador, they mad a big difference. WE first noticed "Tommy" when he arrive at the International Clinic. He was a "pudgy" little boy with a crew cut haircut. You could immediately see that he was shy and introverted. He hid behind his school teacher and refused to even play with his other classmates. He was clearly embarrassed to be at our Clinic. Well, little "Tommy" was prescribed a pair of sunglasses. Guess what - his brand new pair of Ray Ban Aviators made all the difference in the world. His personality changed immediately. Tommy was so proud of his new sunglasses that he ran around the Clinic and showed them off to everyone. I have never see such a change in a person. He started playing with his friends, and that smile of his made us all proud. Although he technically won't see any better, his self-esteem changed forever. Little "Tommy" went from being a shy young boy to a kid with pride, especially with his new Ray Ban sunglasses. Big thanks to the people and companies donating the sunglasses. You changed a seven year old boy's whole perspective on life.
Well, that's it from your "roving reporter" from El Salvador. More "blogging" tomorrow.
Our second story involved an 80 year old woman. She couldn't walk anywhere and in fact was carried to the auto refract station. Every effort was made to accommodate this woman's physical condition, including stacking chairs and creating a special hood in order to scope her eyes. People should take heart; we were able to help this woman. Her life was changed forever because the people on our team were willing to take the extra effort to serve an elderly woman. She had an extremely bad prescription, and we couldn't have given her the recycled glasses without the ingenuity of a number of people. Way to go!
Finally, for the first time in 10 years I saw firsthand the benefit of distributing sunglasses to our patients. Generally, when you think of helping people to see better, you don't think of sunglasses - but in the case of little "Tommy", a seven year old boy from Usulutan, El Salvador, they mad a big difference. WE first noticed "Tommy" when he arrive at the International Clinic. He was a "pudgy" little boy with a crew cut haircut. You could immediately see that he was shy and introverted. He hid behind his school teacher and refused to even play with his other classmates. He was clearly embarrassed to be at our Clinic. Well, little "Tommy" was prescribed a pair of sunglasses. Guess what - his brand new pair of Ray Ban Aviators made all the difference in the world. His personality changed immediately. Tommy was so proud of his new sunglasses that he ran around the Clinic and showed them off to everyone. I have never see such a change in a person. He started playing with his friends, and that smile of his made us all proud. Although he technically won't see any better, his self-esteem changed forever. Little "Tommy" went from being a shy young boy to a kid with pride, especially with his new Ray Ban sunglasses. Big thanks to the people and companies donating the sunglasses. You changed a seven year old boy's whole perspective on life.
Well, that's it from your "roving reporter" from El Salvador. More "blogging" tomorrow.
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