March 19, 2012

Stories to share

By aweaver

Our first day here in San Diego was great.  We saw 202 children today for eye exams while 189 of them needed glasses.  Three of the students were referred out for furthur evaluation.  We all worked very hard today and we wanted to share some of our stories.

Madeline, age 4, came to the clinic today.  She had not worn any glasses before today.  She was very scared of the experience as it was very overwhelming and did not want to get the dialation drops or the auto autorefractor.  Her mother brought her to the clinic and told the volunteers that she planned to take Madeline to the eye doctor near Christmas when she would be getting insurance. Madeline's mom wanted to wait to get the dialation drops for her until her next eye exam.  After Dr.'s David and Anita Brew explained the importance of a dialated eye exam, Madeline's mom decided to go along with the doctor's advice and let Madeline get her eyes dialated.  Because of the exam the doctors were able to do a complete exam and found that Madeline had a very strong prescription of +7.00 diopters.  Madeline's mom had no idea how badly her child needed the glasses and she was very grateful to all for the chance for her daughter to see clearly. We are all eagarly anticipating the delivery of Madeline's glasses so we can see the joy on her face when she sees clearly for the first time.

Torey, a core team member, is a regional trainer for Sunglass Hut.  This is his first clinic and he was very excited to begin today but not so excited when he was told that he would be administering all the dialation drops on the kids.  Torey stood up to the task and created quite a game out of it for the kids.  He had all the kids sit in a row of chairs and choose a "magic tissue" from the tissue box.  He proceeded to explain how he was going to place a drop into each of their eyes to dialate their eyes.  The kids looked scared but only for a moment.  Torey quickly dropped the eye drop into the children's eyes and let them dab their eyes with the tissue. He even did cartwheels for the kids at times to make the experience a little easier for them.  Torey took what is sometimes a frightening experience for youg kids and turned it into the hightlight spot to be!  Great way to think outside the box!

James, a darling little 5 year old boy, was a timid, yet well-behaved student that several of us had the privledge of working with today.    When he came through the autorefractor station, I had the privledge of talking to him and was taken back when I saw the prescription that the machine read for him.  I asked him if he had ever worn glasses before and he said no. Today was going to be that day.  Dr. Mita Rahman had the privledge of doing his eye exam and when she place the trial frame with his prescription on his face, he was a little bit afraid.  She talked to him about getting glasses and being excited about wearing them all the time.  After his eye exam he picked out a pair of bright orange glasses that he must wear all the time due to his prescription of +8.50. This is another pair of glasses we are all looking forward to dispensing.  -Ann-Marie Weaver

Stephanie is an 11 year old girl who bonded with Annette Ratliff one of our core team members. Stephanie was a very timid girl who was very upset about going through the whole process of getting an eye exam.  When she started to cry, Annette was right there with open arms to support her.  She walked her through the getting her eyes dialated, the auto refration, the eye exam and choosing her frames.  Stephanie did not want to leave Annette's side.  Annette also got to see Stephanie get her new glasses and Stephanie was so excited with her new glasses that she gave Annette a hug and told her thank you.  Stephanie's prescription changed by almost double.  That type of connection and dedication to making a difference in someone's life is what makes what we do on these clinics so wonderful.

There is definatly more tomorrow!

6 Comments

  1. adunn says:

    Love these stories—keep up the great work.

    Posted on Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:55 am EST

  2. Lee Silfies says:

    Amazing the lives that are being touched by your amazing group of hearts!! Thank you for doing what you do BEST!!!

    Posted on Tue Mar 20, 2012 8:17 am EST

  3. Sunglass Hut @ Pier Park Mall Panama City Beach, F says:

    Go Team San Diego!!!!  Sending a big hug and hello To Torey Bennett our Regional Trainer from SGH Region #121.  I hope you have an awesome time, your with an amazing group of people!!!!  A big shout out to Lisa Stoddard and Dr. Mita!!!  Miss you both and hope your having a super clinic.  Rock on OneSight!!!!!!  Hugs, Max

    Posted on Tue Mar 20, 2012 3:18 pm EST

  4. Renee says:

    Great Posts Ann-Marie. We love hearing about the kids.  Sounds like sooo much fun.

    Posted on Tue Mar 20, 2012 6:22 pm EST

  5. David says:

    God Bless your entire team for the wonderful gift of sight you give to all these kids, not only in SanDiego, but all over the world!

    Posted on Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:37 pm EST

  6. Dyeralem says:

    you must read http://uk.samsenroad.com/ - lv uk for less

    Posted on Thu Nov 1, 2012 4:31 pm EST

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