As part of its Blindness Prevention program in the Dominican Republic, the Batey Relief Alliance (BRA) has partnered with the Student Volunteer Optometrists for Service of Humanity (SVOSH) of the New England College of Optometry (NECO). They plan to bring 22 students and faculty on a seven-day mission to deliver critical eye care and free eye glasses to approximately 1500 children and adults with eye problems and/or in need of a pair of glasses, and who are living in extreme poverty. The mission will be delivering services from will take place from April 10 through 18, 2010.
This visit is co-sponsored by the Lions Club Arroyo Hondo Santo Domingo. It will target impoverished sugarcane plantation communities of Yamasá, in the province of Monte Plata, which is north of Santo Domingo. SVOSH-NECO President Nicole Ross says that “Hundreds are expected to travel far away and beyond the bateyes take advantage of this once-in-a-life-time opportunity to check and treat their vision.” The SVOSH-NECO team, a long-time partner to BRA, is fully-equipped and self-sufficient, and will travel with sophisticated equipment, medicines, eye drops, eyeglasses and supplies.
The Volunteer Optometrists for Service of Humanity (VOSH) works to strengthen optometric systems around the world. It has 25 chapters in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Ghana, Nigeria, Peru, Puerto Rico, and the United States. At the New England College of Optometry Chapter, Nicole Ross is the president of the Student VOSH and Dr. Bina Patel is the Faculty Coordinator for the program.
Dr. Patel is a fellow of the American Academy of Optometry, a member of the American Optometric Association, and appointed member of the International and New England Regional Chapters of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity International (since 1997), the Latin American Association of Schools and Faculties of Optometry, and the International Optometric Education Task Force of the Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. Dr. Patel has taught in international schools and colleges of optometry in Colombia, Germany, and, most recently, Brazil. She has participated in many VOSH missions overseas, especially in Mexico, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.
See full article at http://www.bateyrelief.org/
Also see http://www.vosh-one.org/aboutus/voshone/index.asp and http://www.vosh-one.org/vosh_newsletter/2009/january/index.asp#2
