Eye clinics

In Bayonnais, Haiti, we had 3 optical professionals come with us for the beginning of the week. Dr. Paula, from Friendship Baptist church in charlotte, had been down last year. When she visited the school, she noticed that none of the 2000+ students had glasses. She knew that it couldn’t be possible that none of them needed them so she went home gathered her resources and 2 colleagues and came down with us. The first 2 days of our week there we spent checking the eye sight of the students from 3rd grade and up. That is over 1500 students! And then we managed to see adults in between the morning and afternoon school sessions!

In our whirl wind arrival, we were given instructions on conducting the eye test with an eye chart (that big E chart we all know). In the church we set up 4 stations with the charts and taped out the distance on where to stand. There were 2 of us and a translator for each station. I was designated the “gate keeper.” Each student filled out a card with their name, age, and class. Then the classes would come to me at a table outside the church. I would write a number (1-4) to designate which station to go to—in the hopes of separating friends and cut down on copying and some peer pressure. I think it worked.

Talk about some organized chaos! Someone worked out that it was about 2 minutes per student for the test. Each station saw roughly a fourth of the overall number—but I saw them all—and often more than once! If the kids could read the chart they were sent back to me (or my table where I got my translator to help as I didn’t really need a translator) to get a hygiene pack that had been prepared and sent by our home churches. The packs had a wash cloth, tooth brush, tooth paste, soap and comb (or some variation). If they couldn’t read the chart they went to the doctors where they were tested to get a prescription. They had brought (or sent) down many glasses of different prescriptions based on some research that Dr. Paula had done with her many mission trips and so the student would then go to Dr. Burke to get glasses. Everyone got a hygiene pack at the end of the eye exam.

So 2000+ were tested. About 573 were sent to see the doctors for further testing. 135 people got glasses and more prescriptions were brought back to Charlotte to be filled and sent down with the next OFCB group! That is some good work!

It was a very busy 2 days—hectic, crowded, chaotic, but so good to know that some people were getting to see clearly for the first time!

Many of the adults we tested couldn't read so we found this poster of animals to help with our assessments!