Audio version
Humanitarian Service
Ophthalmic Screening
in
Disadvantaged Communities
Having good eyesight does not mean that your eyes are healthy!
Few people know that many eye diseases are "silent" (asymptomatic) during the period when the treatment would be most effective (at the beginning and in the initial period of the disease). Sometimes, the symptoms begin only in the advanced stages of the disease, when there is (most often) an irreversible loss of vision. At that time, the only role of the treatment is usually to maintain the vision and rarely to improve it.
The most common "silent" eye conditions that lead (without treatment) to a significant loss of vision are: glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.
The incipient changes of the disease can be discovered by the ophthalmologist. Early treatment has significantly better long-term results than treatment in advanced stages of the disease.
For this reason, free periodic ophthalmic screenings in disadvantaged communities would be a major step in resolving the future ophthalmological problems of those patients.
Due to their low income, the access these patients have to medical services is limited, and the solution to this problem would be a mobile eye clinic.
To help solve this problem I wish to buy a mobile eye clinic that I can use to travel to disadvantaged communities and offer periodic ophthalmic screenings.
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Pro Bono Cataract Surgery
In my home country, there is inadequate medical education and the primary health care system is insufficient. This causes an abundance of patients with bilateral mature cataract (very advanced cataract - see photo). Sadly, many of them can not afford surgery due to compulsory health insurance only covering a small part of the total costs of investigations and treatments at current standards.
Pro Bono Cataract Surgery for at least one of their eyes would be extremely benefical for them.
Cornea Transplant & New Eye Bank
Unfortunately, in my country, there is no eye bank. Consequently, the corneal graft is most often imported from international eye banks, its price being around 2500 euros. Additionally, the logistics of donating corneal grafts is not sufficiently developed, and the list of corneal transplant patients is very long.
Few ophthalmologists can do this type of surgery because they are not taught during the residency program. The only opportunity to learn this technique is to enroll in very expensive training programs outside of my country. For example, a case of corneal transplant operated under guidance in a training center costs over 2000 euros, paid by the doctor in training.
In this domain I have 2 goals:
• I want to gain the skills necessary to train other doctors how to perform a corneal transplant;
• I wish to build an Eye Bank in my country.
Promoting and developing
Smartphone Apps for visually impaired
Fortunately, there are several very useful digital applications for the visually impaired. Unfortunately, few of the visually impaired are aware of these applications, and
it would be extremely useful to inform and educate them about the available resources.
It is exciting to watch the availability and complexity of Smartphone Apps for the visually impaired constantly improve.
In the future I hope to develop new applications that will complement the current ones.
Guide Dogs Training
With the loss of sight, a blind person also loses some of their independence. One way they can regain some independence is with the help of guide dogs.
To my knowledge, in my country there is only one guide dog training school. Training a guide dog lasts approximately 2 years and costs approximately 3000 euro / year. Purchasing a dog from another country costs at least 15,000 euros. These expenses are not covered by the state budget, and the only source of financing for these initiatives are from donations.
Another one of my goals is to expand and support the guide dog training schools.
In conclusion, I am very passionate about helping the visually impaired especially in disadvantaged communities. My goals include creating a mobile eye clinic, offering Pro Bono cataract surgery, training other ophthalmologists, instituting a National Eye Bank, improving Smartphone Application usage and expending guide dog training programs.
These are some of my dreams. I hope that I will fulfill them all.
Together, with your help, we can make a difference.