Associates Across Brands Help Bring The Gift of Sight in Jamaica
In the fall of 2017, three of our associates traveled to Jamaica with the Great Shape! Inc. iCARE Program to provide free eye care, surgical and nursing services to those in need.
Heather Klatt, Director of Retail Operations at the Retail Support Center, was joined by Aldijana Sison, an Area Manager with Eyeglass World stores in North Florida, and Gabriela Aguilar, a Licensed Optician with the America’s Best Contacts & Eyeglasses store in Tampa, Florida.
They spent two weeks in Jamaica. The first in Trelawny at the Duncans Methodist Church and at the Falmouth Hospital. Fifty-two volunteers, 13 doctors (four ophthalmologists, seven optometrists, two physicians), three registered nurses (RNs) and 12 opticians examined 1,590 people, performed 38 cataract surgeries and made multiple referrals for sight saving surgery.
Week two clinics were at the Cambridge United Church and at four local schools in Brompton, St. Elizabeth. There, 46 volunteers, 11 optometrists, four RNs and 10 opticians saw 1,574 people, performed 738 vision exams and once again, made multiple referrals for sight saving surgery.
Testimonial
We had a chance to sit down and chat with Heather about her experiences in Jamaica. She says:
“I always feel like going on a mission trip to help under-served people is like a reset…or a cleanse.
This year was extraordinary because we had used laboratory equipment, lenses and frames and we were able to make custom glasses for a lot of younger kids that wouldn’t have had the opportunity to get glasses otherwise. I worked with an optician to make over 200 pairs of new glasses.”
Heather adds:
“People in places like Jamaica don’t get the opportunity to have vision care on every street corner. They can save for a year and not be able to afford an eye exam, or have access to one. Something we take for granted here in the states.
Most of the people we helped on this trip received the only pair of glasses they will ever own.
People waited for hours and hours in the sun, sometimes for more than one day, just for a health check, an eye exam, sunglasses and glasses if they needed them. When we closed up clinic, no one was missed, no one wasn’t seen.
Participating in a mission trip is always an amazing experience and if anyone is ever given the opportunity to go on one…they should seize it.”
More About the iCARE Program
Great Shape! Inc.’s iCARE Program provides eye exams, prescription glasses, surgeries and education in Jamaica.
Since its inception nine years ago, iCARE has conducted 17 weeks of clinics and 4 weeks of cataract surgery, providing the following critical services and goods free of cost to the people of Jamaica:
- 28,975 eye exams (includes 141 cataract surgeries)
- 67,395 pairs of glasses (includes prescription, reading, custom, and sunglasses)
Through a partnership with Sandals Foundation and Sandals Resorts International, volunteers are provided all accommodations, meals, transportation, logistical support and entertainment at no charge.
The program also works in partnership with the Jamaican Ministry of Health, Dr. Claudine Green and staff, SEE International, Alcon, Allergan, VOSH International, Northwest LERC, and Hillsboro Community College School of Opticianry.
Jessica Altamirano
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