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Clinic Blog: 2012 Chile Clinic Blog

November 16, 2012

OneSight Passion!

By ndunn

We closed the OneSight Chile 2012 productions side down today. The last of the glasses are ready for our last day of dispensing in Santiago tomorrow morning. As we wind down and start to say goodbye to our friends and team members here in Chile, one theme seemed to prevail. Keep the Passion! OneSight is a passion for a lot of us here. And I hope we lit the fire for the first time clinic members who received their OneSight pins today. Treasure them! Go home and show them off! Answer questions about how you got them and what we did here in Chile for the past two weeks. Spread the word and keep the passion in your heart! Congratulations on a job well done. Great team! Great work! Great Passion!

November 16, 2012

Team Chile is on Fire!

By ndunn

Team Chile is on fire with 4,000 glasses made for patients here in Santiago and also for Talcahuano as well. The combination of the production team and the dispensing team has been incredibly smooth for a new clinic model. Thanks to the whole team for a job well done and for setting the standard for future clinics that are run this way! To our wonderful leadership team, David, Scott, Paul, Debbie, Paul R, Karen, Ross and Lee, we are honored to have come with you. Thanks for all the hard work and classy leadership! To Our Chilean hosts, Eric, Carolina and Carolina 2, we thank you as well for all the hard work and logistics for this very large team of folks you had to care for while were here in Santiago. You were gracious hosts with a passion for OneSight to be admired! Our fundraising team reports $16,000 raised by Team Chile so far, with Rupert (UK) in the lead, Paul, and Erin as our top three! Way to go guys! Dont stop raising money team! We have until the end of a year to add more to the totals! 

November 16, 2012

November 15, 2012

By ndunn

I had a chance to speak with one of the doctors that was responsible for a lot of the prescriptions used to make the glasses here in Chile. Dr. Rolf Rainmann was pleased to be a part of the process that led to a sucessfull clinic here in Chile. After receiving their glasses, some of his patients even returned to his office to personally thank him for the exam. "They were excited to not only recieve the glasses they needed, but were very overwhelmed to have recieved reading glasses, and even sunglasses to protect their eyes from the strong sun here in Chile."  He is looking forward to more OneSight clinics here in Chile and hopes to get to work in some of the outlying towns and smalls cites outside of Santiago next time.

November 15, 2012

November 14, 2012

By ndunn

Lab team Santiago is rocking the production side of the clinic with three straight days of 400 plus pairs of glasses completed. Team Chile is setting the mark high! Picking lenses and frames is the first step. Followed by a first inspection and tranposing and verification of rx. Marking and layout, blocking, and edging, final insepection and packaging follow in a smooth flow of efficiency! Its an incredible process to see. Way to go production team! Keep up the good work!

November 15, 2012

The Gift of Sight for Maria’s Birthday

By ndunn

Once a year for her birthday, Maria, goes up a steep mountain side to visit the Santo Cristobal park here in Santiago. It is a 1 1/2 hour climb straight to the top. She says she likes to give thanks on her birthday for another year of life. This year she says she is going twice. Once for her annual birthday trip in December and again this Sunday because for the first time in a long time she can see so well what she has been missing all around her without her glasses.

November 13, 2012

November 13, 2012

By ndunn

At the church today, we had an older man named Jose come in to pick up his glasses. He needed help coming down the stairs as he was 88 years old. When he sat down for his glasses, he seemed so excited. Once we put the glasses on him he jumped out of his chair and started dancing in the middle of clinic! Jose told us it was the first time in his life he was able to see the world clearly! These are the experiences here in Chile that i can speak of to my friends and family to make them understand OneSight has my heart for life.

November 12, 2012

November 7, 20

By ndunn

Leda´s husband passed away six years ago.  She now makes a living with difficulty, knitting at home.  Some time ago, she was able to get an eye exam, but was unable to afford eye glasses.  Her eye doctor heard about our program and remembered Leda.  He then contacted GMO, and was able to get her connected with our Chile OneSight Clinic.  When she put on her reading glasses, she began to tear up with emotion. She said, ´´This has changed my life.¨  She also received her distance glasses and sun glasses and was overwhelmed with gratitude at these regalos, or gifts.  It exceeded her expectations, and she thanked and blessed us all repeatedly through her tears. 

November 9, 2012

Talcahuano A Fond Fairwell

By ndunn

November 9, 2102

We bid a fond farewell to our Talcahuano Clinic on Thursday.  We were there for three days, and in that time, we were able to help dispense 1700 pair of prescription eyeglasses, readers and sun glasses.  As each recipient came through we were able to really talk to the recipients and listen to their stories.  Each recipient shared with us their unique stories of loss, and the process of rebuilding their lives.  By providing these recipients with glasses, we hope we have provided them a chance at brighter opportunities in the future. 

On our final day we received a wonderful surprise, when forty elementary school children came to the clinic to receive non RX sun glasses.  After a few shy smiles, and a few handshakes, we had dispensed sun glasses to them  all and received a boisterous yell of THANK YOU and GOODBYE from them all as they left the clinic. 

Today was also a very special day for Irma. She came to the dispensing site at Our Lady of Pompey church in Santiago, Chile.  She was so appreciative of her badly needed distance and reading glasses.  When we gave her a new pair of sun glasses, which looked great, but more importantly protect her eyes from the intense sun here in Chile, she was overwhelmed and began to cry with joy and appreciation.  Through her tears she told us that today was her birthday, and that receiving these glasses was the best present that she had ever had.

Today a fifty year old woman, Benita, came to the dispensing site in Santiago. Wearing her security uniform, she came to the clinic as she was on a quick break from work.  She received reading, distance and sunglasses.  As she put on her distance vision glasses, she could easily read the poster on the wall which made her extremely happy.  She took her glasses and started to leave the clinic, but broke down in tears.  When she was able to speak, she told us her story.  Since being separated from her husband, she has struggled to raise five children alone on the meager income from her job as a hospital security guard.  Everything she earns goes towards the care of raising her children.  She has been unable to afford an eye exam or glasses.  For some time she has been unable to clearly see the screens of the security monitors that she is obligated to manage closely.  In fact, she has been suffering with eye strain and bad headaches as a result of keeping such a close watch on the monitors she could not see.  Although, she struggled with seeing the monitors, she dare not say anything for fear of being fired.  It was moving to witness the joy and relief she experienced as a result of now being able to do her job well.

Some team members followed up with a visit on Saturday, November 10th at her home.  She greeted us at the door with a smile and some of her children gathered around her.  She led us to the back of her house where she hung up her family´s clothes and did other chores around the house.  Her sons were so happy that their Mom could see.  Benita said, ´´So many bad things have happened to me in the past, now it seems only good things are happening and for that I am forever grateful.´´ 

November 7, 2012

An Incredible Connection

By ndunn

Today at OneSight Clinic Chile we were honored to be a part of such a groundbreaking clinic. Each of our recipients recieved a pair glasses made to order to each of their prescriptions, and it was a joy to see! One of our first recipients was Paula. She arrived at the clinic wearing an older pair of glasses with much less power than her prescription required. Her actual prescription was a -16.00 diopters of power. Today, her glasses were dispensed to her and to her ultimate joy they fit to a T, were in a beautiful frame and allowed her to see better than she ever has. She was overwhemled with the fact that she not only had one pair for distance, but also a second pair which she could use to read with. She hugged me tightly while smiling and crying and laughing all at once. And even though I couldn't quite understand all the words she was speaking to me in Spanish, I understood the words in her heart she was trying to  express.

Jo Dunn, OneSight  clinic team member

Another Team member, Erin Powell, was also in dispensing and had a recipient that lost her glasses in the Earthquake that occured here in Chile in 2010. Since losing her glasses 2 years ago, she has been dependent on her mother to take her everywhere because she could not see without the glasses she lost. Today she was extremely thankful to be able to now go out independently, and not rely on anyone to do simple everyday task she has been denied all this time. 

Our team member ,Judy, also had a recipient, whose delight, was to be able to read her bible for the first time in ages, After realizing that her near vision was fading fast, she was able to be seen by one of the Chilean doctors that were examining and refering patients to our clinc here in Talcahuano. The result of that exam was a prescription for reading glasses that she was able to pick up today.

And in the midst of the work of dispensing, more and more, the team is bonding and learning more about each other everyday. We have an incredibly diverse team from all over the globe including Sweden and Chile. The US and Peru, Ecuador, the UK, Columbia, Italy and Canada and Brazil. Working, learning and growing our hearts, all for a common goal of helping to restore and maintain sight for the recipients here in Chile. What an incredible connection!

November 6, 2012

Hope After the Storm

By ndunn

In 2010, the city of Talcahauno was hit with an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, followed by a devastating tsunami. The town is still recovering. A woman came into my dispense area, and I asked her if she’d ever worn glasses (because if it’s the first time, it can take some time to adjust). She told me she had worn glasses before, but hasn’t since the tsunami took them. Pause and reflect on that… I had to.

Once I put the glasses on her face and told her that they were to help her see distance, she smiled and gave me a thumbs up. I put those glasses in a case and put another pair of glasses on her – for reading/close-up. She smiled even bigger, gave me another thumbs up, and started laughing! Everyone around me started cheering. It was a magic moment on the first day of clinic – one of I’m sure many more to come!

Erin Powell, Cincinnati

November 4, 2012

Sunday November 4, 2012 We have arrived!

By ndunn

Sunday November 4 2012:

 

We have arrived!! From all over the world, we have come for this groundbreaking clinic.  Even after the 9 hour flight from Atlanta, and 14 to 23 hours on a plane for some of the europeans, the team is anxious, and a wonderfully smooth fit for this task. After a brief rest we are off to the Santiago clinic site for orientation, a briefing on our clinic plan for the week, and a meet and greet. Seeing and hearing all the languages, accents and stories from each person, as they introduced themselves, gave us all a small cultural peek at countries from all over the world. After the meet and greet, it was right to work, loading boxes for the second clinic site we will travel to tomorrow. Quickly we are loaded up and back  at our lodgings, ready for a good night's sleep and wide-eyed expectation of tomorrow!

November 3, 2012

And Away We go!

By ndunn

Our North American portion of the OneSight Chile November 2012 team is gathered here in Altlanta and ready for the big flight! Chile here we come! There is a current of excitement as we meet and greet . Some of us for the first time. Old friends from other clinics we have attended meet with hugs and great big smiles. We are all poised and anxious to make this one incredible clinic!