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Clinic Blog: 2012 Toronto OneSight Clinic Blog

May 18, 2012

So long everyone!

By leannew

Hello everyone! Well, it's the end of another great week here in Toronto! We had a nice, sunny week here, but I think everyone is looking forward to the long weekend! Today we saw 29 kids, 7 of whom didn't need glasses. So, here come the totals for the week:

174 eye exams given

142/174 kids needed glasses, for an 82% need

22 shuttle jobs 

So! We had a great week at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School. The kids, the teachers, and the school were great hosts. We had many teachers come back to thank us for helping out the kids in their classes. We had kids donate their old glasses and come back to show us how great they all looked! 

We have some BIG thanks to send out to Lenscrafters 1906 at Scarborough Town Centre. The wonderful lab team there manufactured all of the shuttle jobs we had this week during clinic. Thank you guys so much! 

Thanks to all of the volunteers as well - most came from hours away to volunteer their time and skills. Thanks to Dino Riccardi who organized everything and worked with the school to keep everything running smoothly! Thanks to all of the doctors who volunteered their time as well! We couldn't do any of this without you.

Thanks again to the Subway at the Toronto Eaton Centre for donating lunch on Thursday! Yummy! 

If you'd like to donate your old glasses to OneSight, please drop them off at any Lenscrafters, Pearle Vision or Sears Optical. If you'd like to donate money, please stop by any Sunglass Hut, Sears Optical, Pearle Vision or Lenscrafters. You can also donate online at www.onesight.org. OneSight uses your donations to help people all over the world get the gift of sight, just like we did here this week in Toronto! 

Have a fantastic 2012 folks, and we'll see you next year! 

May 17, 2012

A Letter from Dr. Adam

By leannew

Hello everyone. I'd like to share a wonderful letter with you. Dr. Adam Hill volunteered Wednesday on our clinic here in Toronto, and sent this to me today. Please take a moment to read his heartfelt thoughts!

 

Dear friends and colleagues,

Let me extend a sincere thank you for helping us hold a successful Vision Van clinic again this year in Scarborough! Not just to those of you who came out in person to volunteer, but also to those who considered coming but couldn't make it, and especially to those who take the time routinely to discuss OneSight with clients, helping to raise funds and awareness for the work we do. I don't know what the final numbers were for children seen or glasses dispensed -- surely someone more official than me will pass those details along -- but I do know that we definitely made a difference in many lives this week.

I was able to spend a full day at the Van this year, and we certainly kept ourselves busy! That day, we had volunteers from LensCrafters, Sears, and Pearle. (Many of whom remembered me from last year, which surprised me greatly!) We saw 30-some-odd kids, all but two or three of whom needed glasses, with the highest scripts off the top of my head being somewhere in the ballpark of +3.50 and -5.00.

For those of you who have never participated in a OneSight clinic - you should! It's a tremendous amount of fun, you're interacting with kids and basically hanging out all day. There's no optical knowledge needed for some of the stations, but someone will show you how things work if you're interested in learning (like the autorefractor, a machine that gives the docs a starting point for the prescription). And most of all, it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling at the end of the day.

Docs! You, more than anyone else, needs to be persuaded to join us! Why? Because the more optometrists sign up, the more fun we can all have! I agree, one optometrist seeing a couple dozen kids back to back to back, stuck in a dark cubicle on a bus, doesn't sound like fun. But when there's two and three of us, we can take turns seeing patients, taking breaks from the heat, and seeing the kids actually getting glasses. (Heck, if you get tired or frustrated, you can line up a few kids and blast them with the air-puff tonometer!) Seriously though - you know that feeling you get when a kid comes into your office for their first eye exam and they end up being a two- or three-diopter myope, and you can see their face light up when you stick a couple trial lenses in front of them? I had that happen to me today no fewer than twelve times. Why not take some time to put some smiles on a bunch of kids' faces (and your own!) and donate some of your time, even half a day, the next time the Vision Van comes to town?
Thanks, and I hope to see you again next year!

Dr. Adam Hill,
Lenscrafters 1637, Oshawa

Thanks Dr. Adam! You are amazing! 

May 17, 2012

Giving Back…

By leannew

Hello everyone! Day four is all done and it went pretty well! We screened the three kids we didn't finish from yesterday, as well as 45 kids today! Two kids will return tomorrow as well to finish their eye exams. 17 out of 45 kids we saw today didn't need prescriptions, which makes sense because some of them were in the lower grades. It's great that the doctors were able to check their eye health and saw no problems! 

Over the course of the week we've been telling kids about how OneSight recycles old pairs of glasses and gives them to people overseas who need them. The kids were really interested in the idea that they could help other people. We had at least five kids bring us their old pairs of glasses today. It was really sweet that they wanted to give back! The glasses they donated will be put to good use! 

Thank you to the Subway located at the Toronto Eaton Centre for donating today's delicious lunch of subs! Your generous donation is greatly appreciated. 

Toronto Trivia of the Day:

Did you know that Toronto and the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) often act as a stand in for larger cities like Chicago and New York in movies? Movies such as X-Men, Chicago, Hairspray (2007), Good Will Hunting and many more were filmed here, entirely or in part!

Tomorrow is the last day of clinic so it's going to be a whirlwind of screening kids, cleaning up, and getting the van on its way! Have a great night! 

May 16, 2012

Recreational Vehicles and Rain!

By leannew

Hello everyone! Day three is all done! Today went really well. We saw a total of 32 kids, 5 of whom did not need glasses. We had a couple of kids who we registered but had to catch their buses at the end of the day, so we'll finish their exams off tomorrow. Dr. Adam did an AWESOME job rocking the van as our only doctor! It rained for most of the morning so we had to put the registration and dispense tables inside. We got to hear some of the kids audition for the upcoming talent show - they were very good! 

Ben, one of the students we screened today, has been anxiously waiting for three days to get on the mysterious vision van! He befriended Emily on Monday, and during every chance he got, he asked to see her and when he would get on the van. Today he finally got his chance, and was so stoked to get on the "recreational vehicle." He wanted to get one just like Eyeleen for himself! 

At one point in the afternoon, some of the fourth graders we were screening were quite concerned that they wouldn't get their new glasses today and would have to wait until tomorrow. I told them there was a couple of guys working in the lab they could ask to hurry up. I told Ben and Shak that a couple of students outside had a message for them, and they came outside. The kids shouted "Go, go, glasses guys go!" over and over. I think it motivated Shak and Ben to get a move on! I also learned how to play the game "chopsticks" which is a very confusing game involving math and tapping on the fingers of your opponent! 

 

Toronto Trivia of the Day:

Did you know that Toronto has 560 bridges? There are also 7100km of sidewalks! Cool!!! :) 

 

Have a great day everyone! See you tomorrow! Remember to donate your old, gently used eyeglasses at any Lenscrafters, Pearle Vision, or Sears! 

 

Source: www.toronto.ca

May 15, 2012

Nice Glasses!

By leannew

Hello everyone! Day two of the Toronto vision van clinic was certainly an interesting one! One thing we all know is that change is constant, and to expect the unexpected! We were able to give eye exams to 22 children today, with 21 kids needing glasses. We had a bit of an unexpected situation arise today, and we were only able to screen kids this morning. So, despite having a slow day today, we're going to make up for it over the next three days!  

We spent the afternoon dispensing glasses to children from today and yesterday. While the kids were on recess in the morning, they kept coming over to the van and asking if they could have their glasses yet. I've never seen kids so excited to get their glasses! Some of the volunteers were talking about when they had to get glasses as a child, and how horrible it was. The frames were ugly, no one else had them, and other kids made fun of them. So it's refreshing to see kids like Geoffrey, a sixth grader, begging to get his glasses! All of the kids looked very stylish, and they could see better to boot! 

 

 Toronto Trivia of the Day:

Toronto is Canada's largest city and the fifth-largest in North America after Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. There are 100 + languages spoken throughout the city as well!

 Have a great day everyone!

 

Source: www.searchingtoronto.com

May 14, 2012

Simon Says!

By leannew

Hey everyone! Well, day one of the Toronto clinic is done and it was fantastic! We saw 41 children today, with 100% needing glasses. We were able to produce all but seven pairs of glasses on Eyeleen - the others will be manufactured at a local Lenscrafters. Despite having "broken" both edgers and the tracer, lab manager Andrew managed to keep the lab running smoothly with the help of Eva, Lesley, Rei and Vik! :) Jamie and Emily rocked pre-testing and all of today's doctors did a great job with the kids. Laura rocked registration and Mark had a great time dispensing glasses to the kids!

 

All of the volunteers had a great time with the kids today - they were all super interested in what was going on. One student, Eliza, asked how we got the outside of the van clean - it was obviously too big to go through a regular carwash! She didn't seem too impressed by the fact that there are car washes for big vehicles too! 

 

When asked what class he was missing, one grade six student named David was upset to be missing a math test. None of the other kids seemed to mind too much! He got his pair of glasses and looked great, so hopefully he'll get the chance to take his test again. We played "I Spy" and "Simon Says" with the kids who were waiting to get on the van - it must be very mysterious to see their classmates disappear inside while they have to wait.

 

 

Toronto Trivia of the Day:

Did you know that Toronto has the longest street in the world? Yonge street starts at Lake Ontario, runs north through Toronto, and continues on through central and northern Ontario to the Ontario - Minnesota border, a total of 1178 miles or 1896 kms! Some of it is now highway, and overgrown, but it's still pretty cool! 

 

Have a great day everyone! As always, if you'd like to support or learn more about OneSight, please visit www.onesight.org! 

 

 

Source: www.tripadvisor.com

May 13, 2012

Welcome to Toronto!

By leannew

Hello everyone! Welcome to the 2012 Toronto Vision Van! We're very pleased to have you all back for a second year in a row. This year, our clinic is at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School, in Scarborough. Scarborough amalgamated with Toronto in 1998.

 

All 1100 kids that attend St. Maria were pre-screened by volunteers April 23rd - 27th. The children that attend the elementary school are in Kindergarten to Grade 8. Over the next five days, we intend to see approximately 200 of the children who pre-screened with the most need. We will be providing full eye-exams to these kids, as well as manufacturing their glasses onsite! Eyeleen, OneSight's newest vision van, will be at the clinic. Eyeleen has two full doctors lanes, as well as all of the pre-testing and manufacturing equipment needed to make a pair of glasses for each patient! 

 

Our weather forecast is fairly decent so far for the week - although it's not as hot as it was last year! 

 

Toronto Fact of the Day:

Did you know that the Rogers Centre (formerly the SkyDome) has a fully retractable roof? A 31-storey building could fit inside when the roof is closed! Cool!!! Go Blue Jays!

 

See you all tomorrow!

 

 

Source - www.toronto.ca