The International Eye Foundation News

IEF Journey Reports

IEF INCLUDES INSTITUTO DE LA VISIÓN, MEXICO IN SIGHTREACH® MANAGEMENT NETWORK

The Instituto de la Visión (IV) at the University of Montemorelos is well staffed and equipped with satellite eye clinics around Mexico. IV's Director Dr. Pedro A. Bastar, and Associate Director Dr. César A Puesán invited IEF to help them achieve their full potential.

Exploratory work supported by the Earl and Shirley Herbst Eye Research Fund at the Connecticut Community Foundation led to a one week intervention conducted at "IV Sureste", the southern satellite clinic outside Villahermosa, Tabasco State to improve clinic productivity and financial sustainability. With support from the William M. and Ramona N. Carrigan Endowment, IEF's Raheem Rahmathullah and John Barrows, Drs. Gómez and Puesán, and IV's administrator Joel Guzmán Santiago worked closely with IV Sureste's 24 clinical and administrative staff in an intensive review of patient procedures and practices. Productivity and financial objectives were established over a six-day period in January 2008. The Chief Ophthalmologist of IV's satellite clinic in Baja State also participated.

Simple changes to patient flow have halved the time patients wait at registration and to be seen by the ophthalmologist, and have increased optical sales significantly. Staff saw first hand that they can double the daily number of patients seen while meeting their patient treatment, surgery, and financial objectives. Procedural changes in the operating room were outlined along with adjustments in management and staff support. Follow up to improve the IV's outreach services will take place later in 2008.

30 MINISTERS OF HEALTH SIGN "YAOUNDE DECLARATION" [SEPTEMBER 2006]
Yaounde, Cameroon was the site of an historic special Meeting of Partners for Onchocerciasis Control in Africa, 26-27 September 2006. Organizations fighting “river blindness” along with Ministers of Health and their National Onchocerciasis Coordinators from 30 African countries, WHO, the World Bank, Merck & Company, and donors supported the recommendation to extend the successful African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) from 2010 to 2015. APOC’s goal is to free 150 million people at risk people in 30 countries. In 2005, 40 million people in 117,000 communities were treated with Mectizan® donated free by Merck. IEF is responsible for 2 million of these treatments in collaboration with the National Programs of Cameroon and Malawi. The extension will focus on conflict countries where Mectizan distribution has been delayed and in areas where people have other infections complicated treatment. “This program is one of the most successful public health initiatives in history and we are all proud of what has been achieved to stop this disease from threatening the sight of millions in Africa” noted IEF’s Victoria Sheffield who participated along with Board member Dr. Bernhard Liese of Georgetown University and the World Bank, and Patrice Nkwelle, IEF’s Project Advisor in Cameroon along with Cameroon staff. Ms. Sheffield and IEF staff then visited South Province, one of two project areas where IEF is responsible with the National Onchocerciasis Control Program for Mectizan distribution.

Notes on IEF Executive Director Victoria M. Sheffield's trip to South-East European Congress of Ophthalmology (SEECO), Sofia, Bulgaria [June 2005]
IEF Executive Director Victoria M. Sheffield gave a presentation on IEF's SightReach® Management program at the second South-East European Congress of Ophthalmology (SEECO) in Bulgaria. Read about Ms. Sheffield's honor here journey. [ Full Story ]

Emily's Story-Return of Sight
Mrs. Emily Mbazuwaze, an 80-year-old woman from Malawi, was losing her eyesight, impairing her ability to perform simple daily functions such as farming, sorting maize, walking without assistance, and caring for her grandchildren. She felt helpless until she found the Lions SightFirst Eye Hospital. The full story is available as an MS Word Doc download:
EmilyMalawi.doc [2.1Mb MS Word Doc]