OGS Selects FluoreSCENE Media as Official Social Media Partner & Becomes Charity of Choice for the ODs on Facebook Community

Optometry Giving Sight (OGS) has selected FluoreSCENE Media as its official social media partner to help expand the organization’s reach with eye care professionals as the charity of choice for the ODs on Facebook Community. As optometry’s charity, OGS has a mission to end preventable blindness and vision impairment due to uncorrected refractive error. FluoreSCENE Media is the home to the eye care industry’s online conversation with its flagship media community, ODs on Facebook, engaging more than 46,000 eye care professionals.

“We are excited to partner with Dr. Alan Glazier and his team at FluoreSCENE Media, knowing that our vision of a world with universal access to vision and eye care services will reach the largest and most engaged online community of eye care professionals,” said Lois Schoenbrun, CAE (Ret.), FAAO, Executive Director of Optometry Giving Sight. “Our goal is to bring greater awareness to our global efforts via social media in an effort to engage more optometrists in our mission.”

For 20 years, OGS funding has provided funding for basic eye care services to more than 8 million people, supported training of more than 14,000 eye care professionals, funded the establishment of more than 130 vision centers, and served people in more than 40 countries. Rather than funding mission projects that only provide eye exams and glasses, OGS funds the establishment of optometry schools, vision centers, and optical labs. Individuals receive education and training to become optometrists who then stay in their communities to provide ongoing eye care services for years to come. In addition to the thousands who become optometrists, OGS funding contributes to creating opportunities for the millions of people who receive vision care and can now see clearly and better achieve their potential.

“Optometry Giving Sight is truly one of our industry’s most impactful charities. Our goal is to educate our members about the organization’s services and impacts worldwide. We know that eye care professionals will step up to contribute to this great cause when they understand how their support will make a difference in someone’s life and positively impact their future,” said Alan Glazier, OD, FAAO, Dipl. ABO, Founder and President of FluoreSCENE Media.

FluoreSCENE Media is home to the eye care industry’s online conversation. For more than ten years, the ODs on Facebook community has hosted the most active social media discussion in the eye care industry, engaging more than 46,000 eye care professionals. FluoreSCENE Media also reaches an audience of tens of thousands via LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter, providing community, career, and educational resources. The company’s social networks combined with its targeted industry email newsletters provide a unique platform to connect Optometry Giving Sight with eye care professionals.

The new partnership kicks off this week at Vision Expo East in New York City where Optometry Giving Sight will be included as one of the sponsors of the annual ODs on Facebook Party on Friday, March 17. Attendees can learn more about OGS and how they can contribute to the organization during the gathering.

 

Partenariat élargi entre Optometry Giving Sight & VuePoint IDS

Optometry Giving Sight est heureuse d’annoncer le récent élargissement de son partenariat avec les publications VuePoint IDS, qui comprennent le CRO (Clinical & Refractive Optometry) Journal et le magazine Optik, pour l’année civile 2023. La société VuePoint IDS, qui appuie Optometry Giving Sight depuis longtemps, a été reconnue à l’événement Beacon of Light dans le cadre du congrès Vision Expo West qui s’est déroulé en septembre dernier, à Las Vegas. À l’occasion de cet événement, on a reconnu les donateurs qui ont généreusement versé plus de 100 000 $ à Optometry Giving Sight depuis la création de l’organisation afin qu’elle puisse réaliser sa mission d’éliminer la cécité et les déficiences visuelles évitables dans les collectivités mal desservies partout dans le monde.

Ce partenariat de longue date sera élargi en 2023. VuePoint IDS fournira plus de 100 000 $ en publicités à Optometry Giving sight pour l’année 2023 seulement, dans l’ensemble de ses publications imprimées et numériques du magazine Optik ainsi que dans sa plateforme d’éducation continue en ligne Clinical & Refractive Optometry. Ces publicités permettront à Optometry Giving Sight d’atteindre un public auquel elle n’avait pas accès auparavant. La saturation du marché et la portée offertes par ce partenariat élargi permettront à Optometry Giving sight de continuer à réduire le nombre de personnes parmi les 1,1 milliard qui souffrent de cécité et de déficiences visuelles évitables.

Des dons peuvent également être versés à Optometry Giving Sight au moment de s’inscrire à des cours d’éducation continue dans la plateforme CRO.

 

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Expanded Partnership between Optometry Giving Sight & VuePoint IDS

Optometry Giving Sight is pleased to announce a newly expanded partnership with VuePoint IDS publications, including CRO (Clinical & Refractive Optometry) Journal and Optik Magazine for the 2023 calendar year. VuePoint IDS, a long-time supporter of OGS, was honored at the Beacon of Light Recognition Event held at Vision Expo West this past September in Las Vegas. The event recognized those individuals and companies that had generously donated more than $100,000 to OGS over the lifetime of the organization so it could meet its mission to end preventable blindness and vision impairment in underserved communities around the world.

This longstanding partnership will be expanded during 2023. VuePoint IDS will provide more than $100,000 of in-kind advertising to OGS in 2023 alone, across all of its Optik print and digital publications, as well as its Clinical & Refractive Optometry online continuing education platform, enabling OGS to reach an audience it may not have had easy access to before. The type and level of market saturation and reach being made available with this expanded partnership will enable OGS to continue to meet its mission to reduce the prevalence of preventable blindness and vision impairment.

Doctors of Optometry will also be able to donate to Optometry Giving Sight when registering for CE courses through CRO.

 

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YOU Make a Difference – Meet Yamilet from Mexico!

At her primary school in Cienega de Zimatlan, Mexico, Yamilet Castellanos struggled to see her books and the whiteboard at the front of the class. She describes what she went through in school as follows:

“I was constantly asking the teacher to give me a seat in the front lines – because when she asked me to sit in the rear lines I couldn’t see the board.”

Her father Remundo was badly injured in an accident and has been unable to work. The family’s meager income comes from the tortillas Yamilet’s mother, Maria, makes and sells in the community.

Both her parents suspected Yami, as her parents call her, had an eye problem but were unable to access vision care services due to their extremely limited resources.

Maria commented, “When she would write the homework, to do, it was incorrect.”

Yami also knew there was a problem.

However, one day her life changed because a proper eye exam was performed, and the right prescription recorded. A new – free pair of glasses, especially made for children in Mexico – was chosen.

Yami can see, learn, and play like other children in this rural community. This result was made possible through a partnership between the Ver Bien Foundation, an organization in Mexico committed to providing optometric care and high quality eyeglasses to all children in public schools in Mexico, and Optometry Giving Sight to provide vision services in Yami’s village. We can’t do what we do without the entire OGS community. Yami’s story is made possible by that community – by YOU!

For her parents, there is relief and gratitude, as noted by Remundo. “I’m very thankful for all the help and all the countries that are helping to provide visual help to the children of Mexico.”

As we conclude the Spring Campaign and move into the warm weather of the summer months, please remember Yami, Kiet whom you met earlier this year, and the graduates of the optometry school in Malawi, all stories authored by people like YOU. We must continue to create magic together and provide the gift of sight and hope, on a long-term, sustainable basis, so no one in need of vision care ever goes without. Please join us today by making a closing gift to our Spring Campaign using the donate button at the top of the page or by clicking here.

Thank you to all of our generous and committed donors for the ongoing impact you make!

YOU Make a Difference – Meet the Graduates!

Malawi Graduates

Donations to Optometry Giving Sight make an impact by giving sight to people in need through the projects we fund. One of our funding priorities is to train local people as optometrists in the communities in which they live, all over the world. One of the most successful optometry schools we fund is in Mzuzu, Malawi. 

Dr. Allan Jones, an optometrist and one of our “boots on the ground” through our funding of Canadian Vision Care, offered the following testimonial about the work at the school and some of its students:


“I was setting up vision screenings with the optometry school in Mzuzu, Malawi. They were interesting as we had two buses of students at these clinics. We have another fifteen children screenings planned. I brought five suitcases of new ophthalmoscopes, retinoscopes, Volk lenses and a portable autorefractor for the school, along with numerous small items like occluders, near point cards and arclights for all the students.

I have spent a fair bit of time getting equipment functional and teaching repairs. The school is doing great, and OGS can be proud of this school. By February, there will be over 100 graduated optometrists! Quite the accomplishment – thanks to OGS!! With the increased class size, this number will increase quickly.

I am now in the southern part to do some clinics with graduates. Hopefully, another 600 children will receive first eye exams. There are three eye hospitals I am visiting with hopes of placing optometrists there.”

 

As Dr. Jones attests, the students in Mzuzu are making a tangible difference in their communities. You can see their pride as they graduate and receive their OGS white coats! Their dreams of becoming optometrists have come true. Their dreams of helping their fellow citizens are coming true. YOU have helped make those dreams come true.

Donations from people like you make possible the training of future optometrists around the world. The school in Mzuzu, Malawi is just one example of the training your dollars help fund. Each graduate will go on to help hundreds of people each year. Together, we can continue to grow optometry wherever it is needed.

Faire le don de la vue au Népal

Photo of Alisha from Nepal

Optometry Giving Sight est fière de s’associer à des organisations mondiales dans le but de financer des projets de prévention de la cécité et des déficiences visuelles. La fondation Seva est l’une de ces organisations. Dans le cadre de son projet intitulé Eyeglasses in Nepal Project, la fondation Seva a comme objectif d’accroître l’offre de services de correction des erreurs de réfraction ainsi que l’accès aux services offerts par des personnes qualifiées qui fournissent des lunettes de bonne qualité.

Alisha fait partie des personnes qui bénéficient de ce projet. Alisha est âgée de 10 ans, elle est en 4e année et elle vit avec sa mère et sa sœur cadette. Sa famille, qui est installée à Jorsalle, connaît des années difficiles : divorce, problèmes de santé et manque de travail.

Nepal: Alisha and FamilyIl y a environ un an, Alisha a commencé à éprouver des problèmes de vision. En raison des difficultés financières de sa famille, Alisha n’en a pas parlé. Sa vision faiblissante a entraîné la chute de ses résultats scolaires. Sa mère et son grand-père se sont aperçus de ses problèmes, mais comme ils n’avaient pas d’argent pour le transport en autobus vers l’hôpital, ils étaient incapables de faire traiter l’hypermétropie d’Alisha.

Lorsqu’une équipe du programme de sensibilisation auprès des jeunes de Seva a procédé à un dépistage en milieu scolaire à l’école d’Alisha, cette dernière a pu passer un examen de la vue. L’équipe a tout de suite vu qu’Alisha avait grandement besoin de recevoir des soins de la vue et des lunettes appropriés et a pris les dispositions nécessaires pour qu’Alisha soit transportée à l’hôpital et obtienne le traitement médical dont elle avait besoin. Alisha peut maintenant lire et elle a de bons résultats scolaires.

You Make a Difference! Giving Sight in Nepal

Photo of Alisha from NepalOptometry Giving Sight is proud to partner with organizations on a global level to provide funding for projects needed to reduce preventable blindness and impaired vision. One such organization is the Seva Foundation. Their Eyeglasses in Nepal Project seeks to address the need for increased refractive error services and to increase access to service points supplied with good quality eyeglasses which are staffed by qualified individuals.

Alisha is one recipient of this project. She is a 10-year old girl in 4th grade who lives with her mother and little sister. Her family has a difficult life in Jorsalle due to divorce, health problems and unemployment.

Nepal: Alisha and FamilyAlisha began to notice eye-related problems over a year ago but said nothing due to the financial constraints of her family. Her performance in school decreased dramatically due to her vision impairment. Her mother and grandfather began to notice but, due to financial hardship, including lack of bus fare to get to the hospital, her hypermetropia remained unaddressed.

When the Seva’s Youth-Led Outreach Program conducted a school screening program at Alisha’s school, she was able to get her eyes checked. Once the team realized her urgent need for proper eye care and glasses, they helped Alisha with transportation to the hospital to receive the medical treatment she needed. Now Alisha can read and perform well in school due to the treatment she received.


Donations from people like YOU make the lives of people like Alisha’s much brighter.

You Make a Difference! Meet Kiet from Vietnam.

Donations to Optometry Giving Sight make an impact by giving sight to people in need through the projects we fund. One of the projects we support established the Pediatric Refractive Error Training Center (PRETC) in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Dr. Minh Anh Tran, an optometrist, educator and supervisor at PRETC, tells the story of how a young boy’s life changed because of this support:

“It has been a few months since I first examined a little boy called Kiet. He was six years old at the time he first visited me. His mother raised concerns about his ability to see in daily life. He had been diagnosed with a rare disease that his mother couldn’t name, but it badly affects his visual acuity.

I still recall his presence enlightening our clinic. He seemed so intelligent and active that I observed a very ordinary boy despite knowing his history.

Photo of a young boy named Kiet from Vietnam with a low vision device

I did a low vision assessment on Kiet to evaluate his visual function. Kiet has nystagmus, macular atrophy, and high myopic astigmatism. Due to the condition, his visual field was intact, but his central vision was impaired badly. He struggled to read, write, watch television, look across the street, and spot anyone from a distance. He needs light to read at near, even larger print. He can walk well in bright conditions. 

After refining his glasses, the Teaching Assistants and I took out a series of low-vision devices for him to trial. His vision improved with a simple device, the telescope. This device magnifies the image to six times bigger and helps Kiet see objects from a distance. Kiet was overtly happy that he could now read what was far away. In fact he was ecstatic about it. I saw tears of joy in his mother’s eyes. That night, his mother texted me that she was so happy to see Kiet using the telescope and reading a letter on the community board. We call it ‘the moment’!

I am looking forward to seeing Kiet again in the next few months when the pandemic reduces; we can try other near devices that may benefit him even better.

The PRETC is where my students learn from all the cases we treat. I hope, like me, they enjoy ‘the moment’ with their patients. My best wishes to Kiet; I hope he studies well in school and will always be happy in life.”

Donations from people like YOU make the lives of people like Kiet’s much brighter. The Pediatric Refractive Error Training Center (PRETC) project in Hanoi, Vietnam is implemented by funding partner Brien Holden Foundation through funding from Optometry Giving Sight donors.

Stay tuned for more stories about the impact you are making every day.

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