Face to Face - December, 2009
Since 1993 Rayjon volunteers have offered Eyeglass Clinics to people in developing
countries. Our teams consist of people with varying talents but especially important
are the Doctors of Optometry who volunteer their skills. Unfortunately, the
number of doctors on the team is the limiting factor in how many people can
be seen over the week of the clinic. We are often forced to turn away those
who would benefit from our services. With only two optometrists on this year’s
trip to Honduras, we were still able to examine 441 patients and provide 84
referrals for a surgical team which will arrive in February.
Dr Gail Tanner of Petrolia volunteers regularly with us and for the past 2-years
one of her staff has been a member of the team. I asked her to tell us about
her experience this year in Honduras. Here is her story.
“ Anna Marie Donais recently underwent cataract surgery on both eyes at
the Pat Mailloux Eye Clinic at CEEH, Petrolia. She had been extremely nearsighted
all her life and when she began to develop cataracts, her vision declined to
the point where riding her small bicycle around Petrolia’s downtown became
even more hazardous than usual. It required a great deal of faith and courage
for her and her family to entrust her very weak eyes to her surgeon, Dr. Patodia.
Now that her vision had been improved to a level she could never have imagined
in her wildest dreams, she brought her collection of spare glasses to our optometry
office and asked that I take them on this year’s Rayjon eyeglass clinic
trip to Honduras. Anna Marie’s hope was that the glasses would improve
someone’s life as much as hers had been changed by the surgery. She no
longer needs glasses to see the sidewalk, the trees and the oncoming traffic.
Her motto is “Life is Good!”
The Lions Club of El Progreso, in conjunction with the organization “Bless
the Children” sponsored a Rayjon eyeglass clinic in 2002, and welcomed
us back the last week of October 2009. As a member of the Petrolia Lions Club,
it was a pleasure to see their familiar yellow vests when the Lions met our
team at the airport. They shuttled us to our hotel, helped set up the clinic
on Sunday afternoon, and worked all week registering patients, translating and
keeping order. Many patients waited all day for their chance to see the doctors.
At noon on Thursday, it was Kevin’s turn. At age 7, he already knew his
alphabet, and presented me with a page of colouring that he had completed while
progressing through the pre-testing stations. His eyes were so nearsighted that
he could see in focus only an inch from his nose, and the auto-refractor measurement
had estimated his Rx as very close to Anna Marie’s. When a pair of half-strength
test glasses were placed in front of his eyes, he turned to his father with
a look of sheer wonder on his face. The floor looked so far away through the
glasses that we had to assist him when he walked up to the eye chart and he
still needed to be within three feet of it to see the big “E”.
Kevin’s final Rx did indeed match one pair of Anna Marie’s donated
glasses. Irene Puzak, a member of my staff who was on her first Rayjon trip,
expertly fitted the heavy glasses to his little face. We also found a second
pair for him with the same power in our inventory. Why two? It would be an unimaginable
tragedy for Kevin to break and then be without the glasses which now allow him
to see his father’s face, the floor, the trees and the oncoming traffic.
And ,when he left the clinic with a grin on his face, Kevin RAN. Life is good,
indeed.
This is only one of the many small miracles that occur when donated eyeglasses
reach their recipients in Central America and Haiti through Rayjon.”
What a wonderful present for Kevin and for all who had a part in this life-changing event! Christmas joy and peace to all!