>newground
If you travel about 150 miles northwest of Mexico City, you will be in the middle of the Mexican state of Guanajuato. Of its two to three million people, the vast majority has never had access to professional eye care. People of all ages who could benefit from corrective lenses must do without them. The lack of diagnosis and treatment leaves many suffering from the severe effects of advanced eye disease, as well as the less serious symptoms of such conditions as conjunctivitis and “dry-eye.”
The IU School of Optometry is working to improve that situation. It has established the IU School of Optometry Eye Care Center, a clinic where many people are receiving the vital eye care they need. Under the supervision of Cynthia Foster, a graduate of the IU School of Optometry and now clinical assistant professor of optometry at the school, the clinic has been treating patients year-round since the spring of 2000. Foster, who directs the clinic, has the assistance of at least three students at any one time. All fourth-year optometry students must complete four 12-week rotations of clinical experience, and many choose the Guanajuato clinic for one of these four.
In addition to the year-round care offered by the clinic, there is an intensive one-week effort made to help many more of the people who need eye care. Each spring, the IU chapter of Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity (VOSH) sends down between 30 and 40 students along with a handful of faculty and staff. Armed with thousands of pairs of used eyeglasses collected by the Lions Club, these students and faculty conduct examinations, offer treatment, and fit as many people as possible with the eyeglasses they need.
Two-Way Benefits
Gerald Lowther, dean of the School of Optometry, notes that the patients are not the only ones who benefit from this exchange. “It’s a great cultural experience for our students,” he says. “Not only do they have the opportunity to see a large number of patients, they also learn how to conduct an examination in Spanish. This can be an advantage when they enter private practice, given the rapidly increasing Hispanic population in the United States.” Lowther adds, “They also have the great satisfaction of providing care to many who otherwise would not receive it.”
Students can confirm this. “These people wait in lines for hours, often standing the whole time, and I never heard one person complain,” says Ed Schneider, the student president of the IU VOSH chapter who has made the spring trip twice. “They are so grateful for our help. I gave a 60-year-old woman a pair of glasses and for the first time in her life she could see things clearly. It was an incredible experience, just amazing!”
The man who spearheaded the School of Optometry’s efforts to establish the clinic has similar stories to tell. Doug Horner, assistant professor of optometry, has gone on several VOSH trips and has witnessed its impact on students. “I’ll see one of our students in tears,” he says, “and at first I worry that something is wrong, but then the student will do something to indicate that it’s just the emotion of the moment.”
The Need for Further Support
Horner hopes that the thousands of people who now receive care at the clinic are only the beginning. Presently there is little the clinic can do to treat serious eye conditions that require surgery. Cataracts and eye disease resulting from diabetes are just two examples of maladies that are alarmingly prevalent in the population. Both require surgical treatment, and the clinic does not have this capability yet. Horner’s goal is to raise enough financial support so that the clinic can be expanded to address more of the essential eye care needs of the people in Guanajuato.
Private support is critical to the clinic’s success. Used and new equipment has been donated. The Lions Club’s success in collecting used eyeglasses has been great, Schneider says. Also, a portion of the travel expenses for fourth-year students are paid from an endowment left by the estate of an Indiana optometrist, and alumni and friends have made donations for the VOSH trips. All of this support has allowed the clinic to help many people get the eye care they need. But ask any of the people who have made to the trip to Guanajuato, and you’ll hear them talk about how much more there is to do.
>Bruce Lilly
Read more about the clinic and see photos of Guanajuato.
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