Optometrist Ian McClelland examining a patient
with the help of a translator in Siria, Romania.
£10 donation will provide a new frame and prescription lenses for the poorest of Romanian villagers, who may never have seen an optometrist.
Over 700 people benefit from our health screening programme in 2007
It’s a Simple Process!
The old and the young are most at risk and our volunteer screening teams can quickly determine needs and recall them to see specialist health carers and optometrists at a later date. Many of the people are given new glasses immediately. or those with high power prescriptions are returned to UK for manufacture.
Health Screening reduces the load on visiting optometrists by removing the need to test over 25% of people who are no RX. 60% can manage with a pair of Ready Readers.
How does it work?
Community and Church leaders in the poorest Romanian villages know the needs of the people. We have tapped into this element of the community who want to help their own people. They invite the most needy to come to churches or village halls and Light for Life Health Screening teams work with these leaders, to encourage them by demonstration, to eventually do this screening with their own teams.
People are weighed and their height measured. Their blood pressure is taken and if required they can have a diabetic check. With the information recorded on the patient report form, they then see a vision care screener, where the visual acuity is measured. If they need help they are given ready-readers or recalled to the next optometrist visit. Any prescriptions are made up in in UK.
Activity 2007
Screening teams have visited Romania 5 times and undertaken 11 days of activity which includes 4 days involving optometrists. This has resulted in patients receiving more specialist investigation and higher powered prescriptions. Many of these patients have received their glasses and have quality vision for the first time in their lives.
2008
We have been asked to go further into the poor communities next year, and as a result of being gifted a software package by Optisoft UK, have been able to record all our work in detail and use the data to plan more effectively in the future. We now are confident that we buy the materials we need, with the knowledge that the demands of villages we serve are so similar. The average cost of giving a pair of glasses is about £10. We hope to maintain these costs at the same levels in 2008.
NEEDS for 2008
· Ready Readers
· Lab Equipment
Call 07891307149
