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SAVING SIGHT
WORLDWIDE SINCE 1961
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April
2012 | |
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IEF
Bulgaria Tour
IEF's 4th Annual
Educational Tour will visit Bulgaria from July 1 to 12,
2012. A highlight of the Tour will be a visit to IEF's
partner, the Pashev Center for Sight, and the
International Eye Bank in Sofia seeing first hand
blindness prevention, sight restoration and training
activities. Learn about the significant changes in
ophthalmology since the "velvet revolution" in 1989,
when Bulgaria moved from Communism to capitalism and
democracy.
Experience
Bulgaria's unique culture and its strategic place in the
history of the Balkans through visits to such iconic and
historical sites as Tsarevets Fortress, Perpericon, and
the UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Nessebar on the Black
Sea and Rila Monastery.
The tour is limited
to 20 people. Reservations and deposits
must be made by April 30, 2012. If you
would like to join the tour, see the full schedule and
costs on the tour brochure, click
here. For more information and to register,
email vsheffield@iefusa.org or
call at 240-290-0263 x
114. | |
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Change
Agents in Peru - Clinica Divino Nino
Jesus
"Divino
Nino Jesus (DNJ) exemplifies how one eye care
institution can impact it's country's national
strategies for eye care" notes IEF's Director
of Sustainability Initiatives Raheem
Rahmathullah.Clinica Divino Nino Jesus
incorporated sustainability planning in
2009 based on IEF recommendations. With IEF
technical assistance, the CBM/Latin America
sponsored clinic has expanded its services and its
outreach. In just two years, the number of
cataract surgeries has doubled from under 1000 in
2009 to over 2,100 in 2011. DNJ's outreach
and education efforts resulted in an increase in
the surgical acceptance rate from 30% in 2009 to
97% in 2011. DNJ now serves as a technical
resource for other eye care institutions,
collaborating at the national, regional and
international levels.
 Mr.
Rahmathullah recently returned to Lima for the
VISION2020/Latin America Strategic Planning
Meeting at which a proposed Training Consortium
was discussed. IEF presented a broad outline
for a managers' training course. Mr.
Rahmathullah also visited eye clinics at Trujilo
and Piura to assess progress on their
sustainability work plans devised last year under
his direction. This work is supported by
CBM/Latin America in conjunction with IEF's
partner DNJ in Lima. At the World
Ophthalmology Congress in Abu Dhabi in February,
Ms. Sheffield presented a paper titled"From
pilot to partnership: a bottom up approach to
influence national strategies for eye care
development in Peru"describing the tremendous
achievements of DNJ over the past two
years.
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Achievements
in Haiti
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| Surgery in Cap
Haitien |
As
a member of the NGO consortium for Haiti (Orbis,
CBM, IEF, Lions, AAO and others), IEF's role is to
develop management capacity at Orly Hospital in
Port-au-Prince and establish a new eye clinic in
Cap Haitien. In collaboration with Vision
for the Poor, the new Clinique Vision Plus in Cap
Haitien is Haitian owned and Haitian run by
Dr. Guerline Roney and Dr. Marie Carmelle
Lucien. The build out is complete
and awaits the shipment of equipment and supplies
due to arrive in April. IEF's VP for
Programs John Barrows notes that "this new
clinic will provide high quality eye care services
in an area of great need, still recovering from
the earthquakes of two years
ago." |
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Building
Capacity in India
The number of people
receiving cataract surgery in three remote and
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| Reception area in Akhand
Jyothi Eye Hospital, Bihar State,
India | very rural states
in north India has increased dramatically thanks
to IEF's technical assistance. With a generous
grant from Alcon Labs, IEF is
working with the Akhand Jyothi Eye
Hospital in Bihar State where there is no
electricity and fuel is trucked in to run
generators 24/7, the Sitapur Eye
Hospital in Uttar Pradesh State, and the
Rotary Eye Hospital in Himachal
Pradesh State in the Himalayas. Key to
retaining qualified staff in such remote areas is
building capacity, offering modern technology and
services, and enhancing professional satisfaction.
IEF's Raheem Rahmathullah first visited
the hospitals in July 2011 and made
recommendations to increase services. Just
six months later, significant strides have been
made reflecting increases in patients examined,
cataracts operated, quality of surgical outcomes,
and revenue earned. The interventions
introduced at the three hospitals were highlighted
in a paper titled "Creative solutions to
developing capacity for growth in remote
areas: 3 case studies from northern
India" presented at the World Ophthalmology
Congress in Abu Dhabi in February.
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Egypt
- Action Plan for Community
Ophthalmology
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| Eye examination at Qena Eye
Hospital, Egypt | A
workshop hosted by IEF partner the Al Noor
Foundation in Cairo in February brought
together colleagues from the Kilimanjaro
Centre for Community Ophthalmology / Tanzania,
Lions Aravind Institute for Community
Ophthalmology / India, Seva Foundation / US, and
CBM / Germany to outline an action plan
for community ophthalmology in Egypt in line with
the newly established Al Noor Institute for
Community Ophthalmology based at the Magrabi Eye
Hospital. After the workshop, IEF Vice
President for Programs, John Barrows visited the
eye hospitals at Qena, Fayoum and Luxor where IEF
has provided technical assistance and funding
thanks to grant support from the Lavelle Fund for
the Blind. Immediate and long-term next
steps were identified as part of the longer term
mentoring process.
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Up and Running in
Nicaragua
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| L to R: Dr. Abraham
Delgado, Julia Hopping, Mario
Sacasa |
The
new social enterprise eye clinic in Managua
serving 1.5 million people is open. While
some renovations are still to be completed,
patients are being seen and the clinic will be
fully operational in June. Approximately
$50,000 worth of ophthalmic equipment has been
procured and shipped with more on the way.
The clinic was established in collaboration with
Pennsylvania based Vision for the
Poor, a partnership with IEF that has
also worked well in Guatemala and Haiti. In
December 2011, IEF Board member Julia
Hopping and her son Mario Sacasa
of Future for Nicaragua visited the new
eye clinic and are assisting with promotion and
publicity in Managua. IEF is grateful to the
Lavelle Fund for the Blind whose
grant has helped make the new eye clinic
possible. |
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Larry
Pate named Director of IEF's SightReach Surgical®
Program
Larry
Pate joined IEF in February as the new
Director of SightReach Surgical®. He has 20
years of extensive experience in the ophthalmic
and optometric healthcare sectors including over
10 years in the retail healthcare sector.
While earning his degree in biological science
from Hampton University and a certificate in
Computer and Information Science from ECPI
University's College of Technology, both in
Virginia, Larry worked as an optician for six
years. He then joined the Virginia
Commonwealth University Health Care Systems in
Richmond, Virginia where, as a Certified
Ophthalmic Technician, he served as the lead
technical and surgical coordinator at the Medical
College of Virginia. Larry enjoyed lecturing
to medical students and incoming ophthalmology
residents on the use of ophthalmic
equipment. IEF's President & CEO
said "we are excited to have Larry with us as
he brings to the position tremendous knowledge of
ophthalmic technology, opticianry, computer
science, and teaching. He also speaks
Spanish and, as the son of a US Marine officer,
brings a value set of dedication, integrity, and
the pursuit of excellence to his
work." |
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IEF
Partners Highlighted at World Ophthalmology
Congress
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| L-R: RD Thulasiraj (Thulsi)
from Lions Aravind Institute for Community
Ophthalmology/India, Baha'a Sabry from the Al
Noor Foundation/Egypt, and IEF's Victoria
Sheffield in Abu Dhabi |
Two papers were
presented by IEF in Abu Dhabi at the World
Ophthalmology Congress in February. "From
pilot to partnership: a bottom up approach to
influence national strategies for eye care
development in Peru"described the evolution
of the Clinica Divino Nino Jesus to a highly
functioning mentor institution in Peru.
"Creative solutions to developing capacity for
growth in remote areas: 3 case studies from
Northern India" described how three extremely
rural eye hospitals are addressing severe resource
limitations to dramatically increase services to
the millions of patients they serve. With
support from Alcon Labs, IEF interventions focus
on reorienting pricing, improving patient
counseling, changing management practices, and
increasing efficiency at the Akhand Jyothi Eye
Hospital in Bahar State, the Sitapur Eye Hospital
in Uttar Pradesh State, and the Rotary Eye
Hospital in Himachal Pradesh State. The
dramatic improvements in eye care delivery
exemplify the benefits of IEF's innovative eye
care management and sustainability
programming. See detailed stories on Peru
and India
above.
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"Eye
Health - Everyone's Business"
IAPB 9th
General Assembly, Hyderabad,
India
 The Ninth General
Assembly of the International Agency for the
Prevention of Blindness will convene 17-20
September 2012 in Hyderabad, India. Over a
thousand delegates will come together representing
the spectrum of eye care and health care
professions. The International Eye
Foundation is a member of IAPB and IEF's President
and CEO Victoria Sheffield serves on the
Organizing Committee. Ms. Sheffield was also
invited to organize a course titled "Financing Eye
Hospitals in Poor Countries" with presenters and
panelists representing China, Egypt, Guatemala,
India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, and the United
States. For more details, visit the Ninth General Assembly
website. |
"Evolution's
Witness - How Eyes Evolved"
by Dr.
Ivan Schwab
 Ivan Schwab,
MD, a member of IEF's Society of Eye
Surgeons, has researched and authored a
comprehensive treatise on the evolution of the
eye. Beautifully illustrated and
meticulously researched, "Evolution's
Witness" documents the development of vision
and its adaption and evolution over the
eons.
Dr. Bruce E. Spivey,
President of the International Council of
Ophthalmology describes the book as "An
astounding erudite and exciting visual description
of eye evolution ...... truly one of a kind."
For further information about the book
visit Dr. Schwab's website at http://www.evolutionswitness.com.
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| May
is Healthy Vision Month
The National Eye
Institute/National Institutes of Health has
declared May to be Healthy Vision Month.
Everyone is encouraged to get an eye exam and to
make eye care a priority. Check out their
website at http://www.nei.nih.gov/hvm for
more information.
Eyes are your most precious sense...
Care for them
properly...
Have regular eye exams!
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