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Clinic Blog: 2012 Chicago Clinic Blog

May 8, 2012

The final days

By jsturgill

The Chicago OneSight Clinic for 2012 has come to an end.  It was a great two weeks spent helping the children in the Chicago area.  Here are some words from the team members...

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Today is our last day.

I am going to miss everyone! I will miss the memories and I am excited to share the stories when I get back home.

The weather was up and down. 

Until we meet again,

Love,

Yo-yo-yo-yolanda

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It was a wonderful experience to come to Chicago and give all these wonderful children the gift of sight.

Love,

Bessie

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First of all, I would like to thank my support team:

~TARGET OPTICAL REGION 88- To all the associates who worked my store, thank you so much, especially to Sara.  Thank you for “being me” when I was representing our store.

~Friends and family- I appreciate the support: financially, emotionally, and physically.  I could not have helped the 3,000 kids that we touched without that! 

There are so many stories to share.  Our first day we were encouraged to find “our story.”  I found mine when I went to actually dispense the glasses to the kids at Cuffe elementary. 

I had a little boy who had never worn glasses before and his prescription was plano with a harsh astigmatism and a +3.00 with a worse astigmatism in the other eye. His reaction when I handed him was “Ugh, this is wrong. The world is tilt-y.”  Typically, we recommend wearing the glasses about a week before they can acclimate from nothing to something.  So I made him pinky promise me that he would wear them for one week, except for showering and sleeping.  Grudgingly, he promised me.  All the other kids crowded around, being nosy, and wanted to know what the promise was for.  He mumbled it to them.  They got SO excited.  “Miss Kate, miss Kate, WE want to pinky promise you too!!”  So I have about 15 kids, who pinky promised me to wear their glasses.  That right there is why we do what we do!!

I will miss everyone from this clinic!!

To my troublemakers, it has been an honor and a blast.

~Kate

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The last full day of clinic and hate to leave all the wonderful people that I have met. The overall experience was outstanding. Learned a lot of new lab stuff and optical tests that I have never had a chance to do before. I plan to take everything that I learned over the past 2 weeks and make sure it gets used very soon.

Much love to everyone,

Shannon

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I can’t believe that two weeks has FLOWN by.  It has been an awesome experience here in Chicago, not only seeing the looks on the kids’ faces as they work their way through the clinic, but also in the people I’ve met.  This being my second clinic, I went in thinking how this one couldn’t top my first, but it really has.  I have really enjoyed seeing the kids and getting to interact with them and actually seeing the amount of need here.  I am sad to be leaving but excited to return to normal life, with new stories to pass on to everyone at home.  See y’all soon!!! ~ Jen

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I can sincerely say this has been one of the best experiences I have ever had!  The passion that I have seen in my fellow team mates is truly inspiring, and I hope to bring some of that passion home with me, and inspire more people to become involved.  It was awesome to see these great kids be excited about getting new glasses.  This clinic will be hard to top in the future!

Chris Trudgen

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Chicago as been a blast.  Not just the fun and sightseeing but the kids and people at clinic. It surprises me that the graduation rate is only around 50% but the Chicago public school workers and teachers are striving to raise that bar. With the glasses that we are able to provide during this clinic we’re able to assist with this and those kids will improve in school bettering their chance at reach graduation . Close to 3000 children went through the clinic the past two weeks and we all have found stories that have sparked our passion to bring back to our hometowns and stores. I met many of the kids and had the fortune to be on the first dispense trip Wednesday to one of the school we saw earlier in the week. One of the pairs that I was there to fit was a young boy that I help choose his glasses. His smile lit up his face when he put them on and could see across the room to a poster on the other side of the room he couldn’t before. This clinic experience allows the team members to stretch and learn new things about what we do and teach others some of what we do know. I am sad for clinic to almost completed but excited to return and spread the passion.   Kendra

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I have really enjoyed my experience on the Chicago clinic – the leadership team has really made it a special time for everyone – with our days organized so smoothly and our evenings filled with food and fun Chicago style, it has made this trip a very memorable experience.  The kids however are the highlight to any OneSight Clinic.  I’ve been on a few clinics but have never done dilation on the kids – I heard they dreaded it – Marco was no exception – he was seven years old and when I went up to him he asked me, “Hey is this the death zone or the fun zone?” – after we conversed about it I told him I thought the fun zone with all the cute kiddos, he said I think you really mean “adorable” and got embarrassed and covered his face.  They are adorable and such a treat to work with!  I actually enjoyed dilation and learning more new things on this Clinic.     Trina

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I cannot believe our two weeks are almost over. I’ll remember so many of the sweet, smiling faces. One in particular will stay with me for a long time. I don’t recall his name, but he was obedient and pleasant as he entered the autorefractor room. He was maybe seven years old, and as I helped him climb into the chair, I couldn’t help but notice his shoes. They were probably once very nice, more toward “dressy” than casual. Now, however, they were falling apart. The sole barely held onto the rest of the shoe and scuffs covered the tops. Seeing his shoes, I was reminded at how much of a need exists in Chicago and other urban areas. This happy child may not have even realized his need, but when I completed the autorefractor, his need was crystal clear to me. His right eye showed a -10.00 prescription – meaning he would not be able to see even the big “E” on the eye chart. He may have had glasses at one time, but on the day of the clinic he had none. And based on the condition of those shoes, his family could likely not afford to get him the vision correction he so desperately needed to be successful in school and in the future. I’m so happy he came to our clinic and as a result will soon have a new pair of glasses. Hopefully that smile of his will be even brighter when he gets his new eyewear. ~ Connie

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I have now finished my fourth clinic and each clinic has been special in it’s own way.  Each one has it’s own experiences and people.  I have learned so much during this clinic.  I have worked almost every station and I was able to help in EyeVan.  It was so cool to see how the lenses are cut, polished and coated.  Then they are taken into the lab and cut to fit the specific frame and it was just really neat to see the whole process.   The people make it a special experience as well.  Even though there are some people you know from other clinics, it’s still different.  I want to thank my team and my family and friends in supporting me during these clinics.  Without them, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to do what I feel God calls me to do.  Thank you!   Brenda

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This  has been the best group of Doctors the clinic has ever had.  Not only have they done a fantastic job with the kids, but they have gone  beyond the call of duty to help out in many other areas of the clinic. We hope these Doctors continue their involvement in the Chicago Children’s Clinic.

Anonymous Doctor

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Wow, what an awesome experience this has been.  Thank you Luxottica and OneSight for giving me these opportunities!  Each clinic I experience helps me to grow in so many ways.  I feel so blessed to meet the amazing, passionate people who make OneSight a part of their life and continue give to such a great cause.  I cant wait to share my experience with friends, family and co-workers (and recruit at least 5 new people to OneSight ;) 

To the team members - I hope our paths cross again in the (near) future.  It was a pleasure to work with you all.  Yay for new friends ;)

 

May 3, 2012

Day Eight

By jsturgill

On Wednesday we saw a total of 304 students at clinic. It was another successful day.

Greetings from the Chicago Children’s Clinic!

On behalf of the Chicago team of optometrists, I would like to personally thank all of our individual team members for making this the best domestic clinic I have ever been involved with. As a team of 10 doctors, we have been amazed at how smooth our clinic days have been. On average, we see 300 to 350 students, and each and every child has received a comprehensive eye exam by one of our doctors. Fortunately, there has been a low incidence of pathology. Referrals have been made to the Illinois Eye Institute (one of our great partners) for reasons such as amblyopia (“lazy eye”), glaucoma, strabismus (eye turn), etc.

I’d like to share one story that left a lasting impression on me. Yesterday, we had a dozen students from a school with special needs. One student named Leon had difficulty communicating so we had to rely on objective measures to determine his prescription. His chaperone was one of his teacher’s aides, and she mentioned that he had never worn glasses but was constantly squinting. We determined that he is moderately near-sighted and has a significant amount of astigmatism in both eyes. Because of his non-verbal state, Leon couldn’t express how much the corrective lenses helped, but we could see how his demeanor changed just looking through the phoropter. Leon was able to pick out his glasses and we look forward to delivering his glasses next week. Although we can’t predict how much of an impact this will make on Leon’s ability to learn, we can confidently say that his vision won’t negatively affect him anymore.

Thank you for reading this and supporting our team! And thanks for letting your spouse/significant other, friend, coworker, son/daughter, mother/father, join our humble yet hard-working team from Chicago.

Sincerely,

Andrew Paik, OD

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What a wonderful heart-warming experience in Chicago. The people I have met and worked with from Onesight are awesome!! The leadership team has been helpful and knowledgeable. The experience with the children from Chicago is something I will never forget. Everyday a child would touch our hearts. From the comments of chaperones, teachers and the children, they appreciated our efforts. Although I missed my family and friends, it was an experience I will treasure forever. Our team was the best. Thanks to everyone for their kindness. -Sharon

May 1, 2012

Days Six and Seven

By jsturgill

The total number of students through clinic Monday was 291 and Tuesday was 304. Clinic ran super smooth both days with core team members showing their leadership skills!

Today I helped the children choose the frames for their new glasses. Daquan came through with -13 and -11.5 Rx. He had glasses at one time but was not wearing them because they were broken. He was so cute when trying on the frames. The first pair he picked were square black frames and when putting them on he immediately says “I look just like you.” Then he tries another pair and says “I look like batman” and the entire time he wasn’t even looking in the mirror. Because of his high Rx, he was getting two new pair, and seemed really excited about it.

Later we had a small girl come through and try on orange and pink frames first (see picture attachment). She proceeded to try on a few more pairs and when I asked her if she wanted the orange ones she wasn’t sure. She laid out 4 pair and did ‘eeny meeny miney mo’ and ended up with the orange ones anyway…im pretty sure it was intentional.

Another boy who stood out was Davonte (picture also attached). As soon as he put the glasses on he pulls them off and says “These got medicine in them?’’ I told him that they didn’t yet but we would make lenses with medicine. He says “They can put medicine in both sides” and points to both lenses. –Joanie

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We had a group of special need students in dilation today who were such a good group they allowed us to place the eye drops in their eyes and there was no fuss. The high school kids we had next cried and carried on as if we had shot them. Oh the drama of the dilation room. When we were finished with one group and were chatting we found out that one of the boys, Jacques, was from Africa and moved to Chicago five years ago. This same group sure liked basketball and nearly blasted my eardrums when I asked what team…of course Chicago Bulls was the answer. They didn’t like hockey at all.

With another group I asked about what kind of music they liked and one boy, Travone, answered Eminem . I told him I liked the red ones best… he laughed. A shout out to my store Pearle 794 in Winnipeg. Have lots of clinic pics to share missing you. -Kendra

April 30, 2012

Day Five - Friday

By jsturgill

On Friday, day 5, we saw a total of 331 in the clinic. Fridays are typically a day that there are a lot of students are absent from school, so we had quite a few less than we expected.

Sharon was helping a kid choose frames for his new glasses. They talked about how he was a hockey player but is having trouble hitting the puck. After he was done choosing glasses he went back to Sharon and said that he thought once he received his glasses it would help him out with playing hockey!

Kendra was chatting with a child about whether or not they wear glasses. The child explained to Kendra that they did wear glasses, but they were the mother’s glasses. The kid said that luckily everyone in their family wore the same prescription. Since we know it’s very unlikely that they wear the same Rx, it felt good to be able to give this child their own glasses, with the correct Rx.

Gary was in frame selection helping a small child pick glasses. She was really struggling with the selection and couldn’t find the ‘perfect’ frames. Gary went in the back and went through the inventory until he found a pair of pink Vogue glasses. When the little girl saw the glasses she smiled and immediately said “I want those!” Gary shared how this girl reminded him of his daughter at that age and he knew exactly what she would like.

We had a young boy, Abe, in auto refraction who was about 9 years old. He was afraid of the machine, since he had just finished the puff test. We explained to him multiple times that this was a really easy test, there was no pain or puff of air….but he was still afraid to do the test. After a few minutes of talking to him about the test, his little brother came over to talk to him. The brother seemed to be about 7 years old. He told his brother not to worry that it was easy and then reached over and held his brother’s hand. It was the sweetest thing!

Mianna, 9 years old, came through clinic on Friday and received glasses. At auto refraction she was showing an Rx of -6.25 in one eye and -3.75 in the other. Mianna had never worn glasses. It will be such a huge, but good, change for her when she finally receives her glasses. I have a -2.50 and couldn’t imagine going a day without glasses.

April 26, 2012

Day Four

By jsturgill

Today we saw 310 students in clinic.  This was the highest number of students yet.  It was a busy day and everyone worked super hard...and we are EXHAUSTED!  Here are some entries from the team members...

(in the clinic flow, auto refraction immediately follows tonometry...while both machines look the same, they are very different.  Tono gives the puff of air, and auto is just them looking at a picture to get a starting point for their Rx)

Today's memorable sayings from Auto Refraction:

• You gonna shoot me again
• I just did this
• I don’t need any more air in my eye

One kid came into auto trying to act all tough, saying that the air didn’t bother him and he doesn’t know what everyone was upset about in tonometry.  I told him well this one shoots water in your eyes.  He looked at me, like are you crazy, and I kept telling him it shot water and to stick your head in there.  He was nervous and kept backing back out.  He finally said that he was going to the other line, but I told him that one shot salt water.  After that he stuck his head in and laughed when I told him it was over.  He said “that’s it?  There’s no water.  -Rob Strotman 

Today I was in Acuities where we had the kids cover one eye and tell us which way the “legs” are pointing on the “E’s”.  It is very much like our Cycle of Sights in Cincinnati and yet different.  I had a young man that we were trying to get a near reading for him and couldn’t.  He was so sweet and quiet. 

I want to put a shout out to the EyeMed Membership team, I miss you guys!  I know you are rocking it out!  I’m wearing my Life Beads and think of you all often!  To my family and friends, love and miss you! -Brenda Taylor

Hello, Cincinnati! We’ve already helped nearly 1,000 children this week. Many of the kids have broken glasses. Some kids are even using glasses of other family members in desperation.  For the last two days I’ve been in the frame selection room where those who need glasses get to choose from the many frames generously donated. Some of the kids are so excited to get glasses. Several kids exclaimed, “Wow, you have some really pretty ones!” It’s great that the kids receive glasses that they will actually wear – making it even more likely they will benefit from the vision correction.

I love and miss my family and friends, but it’s worth the time away to be able to help. I’ve been especially impressed with the kindness and welcoming of those in Chicago. The Chicago Clinic is definitely a partnership with the local community that could not run so smoothly without tons of support from Chicago Public Schools and other regional volunteers. -Connie Feick

April 25, 2012

Day Three

By jsturgill

Today we saw a total of 296 children in the clinic. Gary was a huge help in the clinic today since he was the lens popper...meaning as lenses were cut he was the one who would place them in the frames. Anyone who has ever done this knows that it is not easy and is painful for the thumbs. Way to go Gary! Tonight Dr. Sonja Patel is raising money for OneSight by offering eyebrow threading to the team! Yay for fundraising and thank you Dr. Sonja! Here are a few notes from the team....

Good Morning to everyone in the Dallas Lab. Just to let you know I am having a great time here in Chicago. The weather is not as cold. We have gone site-seeing and have met a lot of nice people. Everyone from the OneSight group is extremely nice. Thanks to one of our friends from Dallas, Trina, for donating $100.00 to my Onesight. So now I have reached my $500.00 goal!! Please continue to support me by making a donation to my personal page. See you soon! Love, Yolanda

Good morning to all of my Colorado friends. The Chicago Clinic is going great. Had the chance to make it to Wrigley Field on Monday evening. We have helped over 500 kids so far. Thanks to all for your continued support to all of us here in Chicago. Talk to everyone soon. -Shannon

To my family and co-workers- Miss you all! I am learning the lab and before you know I will be able to whip through the lab like a pro. The new edger’s are AMAZING!! How’s the 25% increase coming. I am sending you all good vibes and can’t wait to be back in the store! Mom, Penny, Chris! I love you and can’t wait to see you. Sorry I haven’t called but we have been so busy. Congrats on winning in Canada Chris. To all my friends, I can’t wait to tell you about my adventures. Chicago is crazy and fun and I can’t wait to experience the night life tonight! See all of you soon! -Kara

I was doing near acuities and I met this little girl, who shared with me the fact that her sister had just gotten a hair cut. I asked if the girl behind us was her sister, which it was. I had asked her if her hair was really long before she cut it, and the younger sister said it was, and that 2 little girls were very happy to get the hair because they had cancer and didn’t have hair. The younger sister also told me she couldn’t wait to grow her hair down to her but so she could make some girls happy with her hair too! -Christine

More tonometry humor… A high school aged girl walked up and asked what the machine was going to do. I explained that it would just give a little puff of air into the eye, it doesn’t hurt but is a bit surprising. So her response was “Okay, you’re gonna kill me, let’s do this.”

April 24, 2012

Days 1 and 2

By jsturgill

Our apologies but due to technical difficulties we've been unable to post for the past couple days.  So, here's what you've missed...

Day One we saw 228 students, which was above our goal!  One of the first girls through auto refracting had a reading of -13.75 and -20.75...which is very high.  She said "for some reason it's hard to see out of my left eye."  I don't think she actually realizes how high poor her vision is.  Its amazing to think that we can help children like that and it could be life changing. 

The team got off to a great start and everyone has really stepped up and showed their leadership!  I especially want to thank Jamie for always taking the time to thoroughly explain things to each person.  It takes awesome leaders like her to make the clinics run smoothly. 

Day Two we saw 237 students.  It's always interesting when working in the Tonometry station.  For those who may not know, this is the glaucoma test, which is done with a little puff of air into the eye.  You will hear many different responses or reactions to the test.  Some of our favorites have been "aww, you shot me" or before we do the 2nd eye they say "man, I wish I didnt know what was coming."  Thankfully, we are able to joke around with the kids and ease their fears a bit.  We try to tell them they live in the windy city, and the puff of air cant be any differnt than walking down the streets at times.  Immediately following Tono is Auto-Refraction where we get to be super heroes.  The auto refractors look similar to the tono machines, so the kids are always fearful when the enter.  But we get to tell them this is the "fun" room and there is NO MORE AIR! 

Today we had a young boy go through the clinic who did not speak english.  When asked about glasses, he explained that he does not have his own glasses, but he wears his friends glasses to see.  He touched the hearts of many volunteers throughout the day.  A couple of our doctors had a new exerience today, after completing examinations, they helped to make the glasses in the lab.  Way to go doctors and thanks for the help!!  We had to giggle when Kendra (from Canada) showed a child her finger nails painted with maple leaves and asked the child to guess where he was from.  The child responded "are you a leprechaun?"  Oh, the things they say.

Day two was full of many awesome volunteers.  There was magic in the air as Jamie Doppelt's father entertained the children with magic tricks throughout the day, as well as volunteering in each station.  His tricks were truly amazing and entertained the adults/volunteers as well as the children.  We also had two nurses who are responsible for doing hearing and vision screenings at the school.  They told us there is one school in the area who is very strict in making their students wear their glasses if needed.  That school actually has highest test scores of any in the area! 

On behalf of all the core team members, I would like to thank our family and co-workers to take care of our daily responsibilities to allow us to take time away to have these experiences. 

 

April 23, 2012

Day One

By jsturgill

April 19, 2012

Preparing for Travel

By jsturgill

On April 22^nd, 34 passionate Luxottica associates will meet in Chicago to begin planning for our two week OneSight Clinic.  Our team members are from all across the United States, and represent all areas of Luxottica (LOM, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sunglass Hut, etc…).  During our two weeks we look forward to partnering with Chicago Public Schools and Community in Schools to provide eye exams to approximately 3,000 children.  Please follow our blog during this journey.  Remember to check in each day as we will be sharing many stories and photos.