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Bringing hope to the eyes of Dominica Part 3

Posted on January 20th, 2011 by Niki M.

Niki M. is a VSP Mobile Clinic Operations Manager.

The latest from Niki:

Today was even busier than yesterday! Kim and I are really getting the hang of working the dispensary. I have learned more about prescriptions than I ever thought I would! Our group split again, so collectively we saw nearly 500 patients in 5 hours. We have 4-5 optometrists and 5-6 optometry students in each group, so as you can imagine, they are keeping us moving.

I dispensed glasses to an older lady today that hadn’t been able to afford glasses in years. When I put her in new glasses and asked how the reading card looked, she said very humbly and sweetly, “Wow, I can clearly see all the pretty words again.” Some of the towns in Dominica we are visiting are very, very poor, with some living in one bedroom shacks without bathrooms and only enough electricity to power a few small items in the kitchen (if at all). In conditions like this, survival becomes more important than some of the “luxuries” (like clear vision) that most people in the US take for granted.

With our Mobile Eyes program, we offer patients great Marchon and Altair frames for free. With this program, patients must pay the local Rotary, which VOSH partners with on these missions, $25 for whatever random reused glasses they have in stock. The patients in Dominica are so grateful, and accept without complaint some of the second-hand older frames we have to distribute.

Tomorrow is expected to be our busiest day. We will be in Roseau, the capital and one of the more populated areas, and also where our hotel is located. Our whole team will be together with the goal of seeing over 800 patients!

Our time is flying by so fast!

Kim’s notes from day two:
We split the group in two today and collectively we saw over 400 patients. Niki and I are really comfortable with the flow and dispensing. We have adapted to VOSH’s seventeen years of experience and they are a well oiled machine. We coined a new term today: we are “vosh-ticians.”

This group is amazing and have made us feel so welcome and a part of the team.

Notes from the first day of the clinic:
We arrived safely in Dominica and have been enjoying getting to know our team of 35 and the locals. We spent Sunday at a local church with the crew and had the honor of meeting the country’s president! They fed us delicious local food.

Today was our first clinic day. After an hour and a half crazy bus ride in the monsoon rains, we saw nearly 200 patients, who were already lined up and waiting well before we arrived. There are tons of boxes and supplies to lug in and out each day, so in addition to our duties in the dispensary, they’re keeping us very busy.

The Ferris State optometry students VSP sponsored are very grateful for VSP’s assistance. Stay tuned for our next update and follow our tweets @VSPVisionCare

Bringing hope to the eyes of Dominica Part 1 and Part 2

File under: VSP in the Community | Tagged: charitable eyecare, eye exams, eyecare, VSP Mobile Eyes
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A Tear Worthy Gift…

Posted on March 8th, 2010 by Niki M.

Niki M. is a VSP Mobile Clinic Operations Manager.

Participating in the Sacramento Black Expo at the Sacramento Convention Center in February has been a blessing in many ways. Our first day started off just like any other convention, we drove SeeLia into the convention center safely and perfectly angled her in our booth for the festivities to begin. We had the prize wheel a-spinnin’, multiple job opportunities displayed, a gorgeous frame display with both Altair and Marchon sunglasses, an interactive and fun kids table, a table with some of our plan information, and of course, SeeLia set up as a back drop open for exams and tours.

We were able to secure a VSP doctor for the first afternoon. The rest of the time, we handed out VSP Mobile Eyes® gift certificates that VSP pays for to provide qualified people to receive no-cost eye exams and glasses from a local VSP doctor’s office. Usually when we participate in these types of events, we don’t find many people who qualify, but due to the recent changes in Medi-Cal, coupled with the bad economy, many people qualified and were in need of exams and new glasses.

We did eye exams onboard the first day for about three hours and then handed out over 80 gift certificates during the rest of the time. While all patients were remarkably grateful, I personally experienced three patients come to tears in thanks. Coming to tears actually doesn’t even describe it, I should say crying in thanks and praise. Two of the ladies were from a church group and were so amazed that VSP would offer this type of service to people in need. They said they have been contacting people from all over the area to find help and they couldn’t find anyone offering services that didn’t involve some sort of weird catch. Neither one of them had an eye exam for a long time (one was about 5 years and one was over 10 years ago!). So, I think they were both impressed and amazed at VSP’s generosity. So blown away in fact, that both started crying and grabbed me to give me a giant hug and really let me know how important this gift was to them.

All experiences touched me, but the last woman’s story really touched me. Now, my mom always told me that you can’t judge a book by its cover, but it was a little hard with this young woman. She walked in looking like someone I wouldn’t normally think would meet our guidelines. She looked well put together, dressed in khaki’s and a blazer jacket nicely matching. She appeared to be in her late 20’s or early 30’s and was very modest, having a hard time asking for help. When I shared with her the gift certificate program, she dropped her jaw and asked how she could qualify for one. She explained to me that she had lost her job over two years ago and has been having a very hard time finding a new job; she also mentioned that because she is a single woman, without children, she is having a hard time finding anyone who will help her with any type of assistance in the meantime. When I told her that there were no hidden fees and this gift certificate would get her a completely free eye exam and glasses, she couldn’t believe it and started crying right there in the exam room in front of me. I could tell she was embarrassed to cry and she even stepped to the side to hide her face from me and ask for a second to gain her composure.

This last story really hit me hard for numerous reasons. First of all, she wasn’t expecting a free hand out and she was so sweet and kind about the whole thing and in total shock that we would do something like that. Finally, it had also occurred to me how easily the two of us could have been in each other’s situations…

I think we all went home that night feeling very blessed and incredibly grateful for VSP’s generosity….

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From the Road – Galveston Visit – Part 1

Posted on August 28th, 2009 by Niki M.

Niki M. is a VSP Mobile Clinic Operations Manager.

With just a few weeks short of the one year anniversary to our nation’s 3rd most destructive hurricane, I had the honor to return to Galveston, TX this week. Hurricane Ike is estimated to have caused $24 billion in damage and devastated a majority of the city and all of our Galveston VSP doctor’s offices.

Last year, SeeZar, our first mobile clinic, responded within one week when Ike touched down on September 13 as a category 2 hurricane. We sent a great group of VSP mobile response team members to staff the mobile clinic for a little over 6 weeks of disaster relief. I was one of those staff members and spent over 4 weeks there. There were many amazing, heartbreaking, emotional stories we heard from people in the community of how they lost their homes, pets, and even sometimes family members. I had never been a part of a natural disaster, so not only was it an experience that I will never forget, but it also gave me a whole new appreciation for life and those I love.

A VSP doctor's office devastated from Hurricane Ike.

We made many good friends during that period of time, including our VSP doctors in the area, all of whom our hearts still go out to. There were 4 VSP doctor’s offices that were either flooded (some with 6 feet of water!) or had trees fall into their buildings, caved-in roofs, or other major damage that left them unable to work until repaired. Most offices had to be completely gutted and rebuilt from scratch. One of the great things that VSP does with our community outreach program is pay the doctors to work on the mobile clinics during disasters, so they are able to make money while the work to get back to business as usual.

During natural disasters, it is important to VSP, not only give out free exams and glasses, but also help our doctors in need.

Niki with Drs. Matocha and Ullman and staff.

We had the honor of working side by side with many of these great doctors in Galveston. Dr. Ngala, Dr. Juarez, Dr. Matocha, Dr. Ullman, and Dr. Zein-Eldin were a few of the doctors that we were able to work with. Naturally, working with these doctors 6 days a week, for 8 – 12 hours a day, seeing up to 65 patients per day, we created a bond.