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Clinic Blog: Detroit Clinic Blog

May 8, 2010

Final Thoughts

By jsilljer

This section is for anyone who worked at the Detroit Clinic this week to give all of our readers their final thoughts, and favorite moments of our week in Detroit. Please read our stories so you can hear why this is a truly amazing foundation to be a part of. Also just a reminder that our clinic fundraising page is still open and you can still make donations to help us meet our goal of $10,000. 

http://onesight.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&eventID=502&teamID=5020

*Thoughts and stories will be added over the next few weeks, so check back often.

May 8, 2010

5.7.10 Day 5

By jsilljer

Well the Detroit clinic has come to an end, and the only thing I can say is WOW!!! We met so many great people this week, Coordinators, Core Team Members, Day volunteers such as other brand friends and their family, Ford volunteers, Social Workers, Doctors, and you can’t forget about the children. There were so many kids to come through the clinic this week and I think each one of the Core Team Members each has a great story to go home with, but you don’t know how much you are appreciated until you get your first hug. On day 1 when we were going through orientation Scott told us not to be shocked if one of the kids just come up and hug you. This was my first clinic, and I didn't know what to expect, and I got my hug on the fourth day from this 6 year old boy and he just melted my heart, and just like Scott told us, he walked out of pre-test room over to the dilation area where I was stationed and walked straight over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist and turned around and sat is his spot ready for drops. I just stood there for a moment shocked at what had just happened and it took everything I had not to shed a tear. He was the last child of the day so I ended up following him through the rest of the stations and when he was waiting in line we just talked and played on the floor. I could tell by looking at his current glasses he was a high prescription and he was showing me how broken his glasses were, they needed some serious help, then we finished up with the Doctor and I helped him pick out his new pair of glasses. When he was finished he just looked up at me and he simply smiled and said thank you and followed his class out the door. I don’t think I will ever forget my first hug.

I just want to say one last Thank You to everyone who helped out this week, we all had a hand in changing a child’s life, and this is priceless, and thank you for giving me the chance to be involved in this amazing opportunity, I will defiantly apply again. Take Care -JS

Please visit the Final Thoughts Entry, I have asked the Core Team to post their final thought or stories about their experience this week.

May 7, 2010

5.6.10 Day 4

By jsilljer

Today is Clinic day 4, another successful day for team Detroit, again we had 300+ children come through the clinic today. For most of us, we feel that we had more children come though today then yesterday.  We didn’t finish in the doctor lane until about 3:30 p.m today and that has been the latest we have finished there so yay! Our doctors and core team members totally kicked butt along with ford crew and the day volunteers who came today. This whole experience is completely amazing. It’s so hard to talk about anything having to do with this incredible clinic and team we have assembled without shedding a tear. It is times like these in life that make life everything it is meant to be. For us when you see a child try on his or her first pair of glasses for the first time and he or she has the biggest smile on his or her face, it is just the most amazing, warm feeling you could ever have. I suppose that’s why most of us here have been on more than one clinic or vision van and I am sure for all the rookies here this week, I know they will be applying for many more in the future. I love that this group gets along so well together and no matter what we’re doing, whether we are just hanging out, playing games, or going out we are always laughing. It doesn’t matter how hectic the day is there is almost always a smile on everybody’s faces. I’m going to be so sad to leave my Detroit family, but so happy to go home and share all the amazing stories I have experienced here in this rockin city!! I recommend to everybody and anybody who is keeping up with us on this blog to go out and experience something like this at least once in their lives, it is totally worth it. It’s like you can have a so-so day than one smile, one hug, one “thank you” will change your half glass empty kind of day to a half glass full kind of day.  It’s the experiences you create for yourself and for those less fortunate then yourself can and will change your whole life in a micro-second. I do believe I speak for everybody on my team and anybody who has ever been on an OneSight mission when I say these clinics are the best part of life. Overall today was great, extremely busy and we got a good couple of rushes but a fantastic day in the end no matter how pooped everybody is. -SC

May 7, 2010

5.5.10 Day 3

By jsilljer

Another truly wonderful day in Detroit, we had 300+ children through the clinic today. We had some great stories to tell at the end of the day. We had a 5 year old boy come through, never had his eyes checked before, and he had a huge prescription any higher and we wouldn’t have been able to make his glasses for him on the same day. He basically has never seen his the faces of his family before, or able to see his plate when he was eating, and when we has walking from station to station he always seemed a little unsure of where he was stepping.  When he first put on his glasses the look on his face was amazing. His eyes were HUGE and his smile was even bigger. This is why this group of people apply for clinics year after year. The reactions of these children just melt our hearts. - JS

“To see the amount of kids that came through the line and giving them the help and love that came directly from our hearts was really rewarding. Each child will definitely be a memory on my trip to Detroit.” -Charlie Chan

May 4, 2010

5.4.10 Day 2

By jsilljer

Well day 2 has come and gone, we had an amazing day today, we had another 258 kids come through the clinic. The team is running like a well oiled machine, if someone’s station is slow, or is done for the day, they just move on to help somewhere else. We heard stories of children waiting to see the doctors and to pass the time they were telling hilarious jokes to each other and to our volunteers. Once they finished their testing they had some lunch and waited for their new glasses to come back from the lab. It was amazing to see the children’s reaction when picking up their new glasses, they had huge smiles on their faces, they would slowly look around the room and outside at the trees, some of them were shocked at what they could see. One of the little girls who was only 4 years old just stared at herself in the mirror for about 15 minutes and admired her new glasses. And kudos to the volunteers in the lab today, we had some wild prescriptions come through that we would normally have to send out and wait a few weeks to get to the kids, but EyeVan (IVAN) and the team handled them like any basic script and got them out same day. WOW! After clinic was complete we held a silent auction and raised a ton of cash for OneSight, then headed over to a local pizza joint called Buddy's for supper where we got delicious nonstop salad and pizzas. 

May 3, 2010

5.3.10 Day 1

By jsilljer

Today was the first day in Detroit, and it was awesome!! Our Team was up bright and early, ate breakfast at the hotel and headed over to the clinic. We all got our assignments and went to our designated stations and learned how run that station, then our daily volunteers from the area showed up and trained them on their stations. We had volunteers from local brands and a group of volunteers from Ford, who were so excited to share in our adventure. In Pre-testing we took turns practicing on each other so we were ready when the kids arrived. The first bus showed up around 9:30 and away we went, we had a constant flow of children all day. Day 1 we saw 258 kids, ranging from 5 to 21 years old, some of them did not need glasses and some of them had really high prescriptions. It was really great to see how excited kids were when they picked out their new frames and recieved their new glasses. Lets hope the rest of the week runs this great! -JS

May 2, 2010

5.2.10 CLINIC SETUP AND TEAM ORIENTATION

By jsilljer

DETROIT WE'RE HERE!!  Like all clinics, we have assembled an amazing team from all stretches of the continent.  Canadians, Chicagoans, Californians and Floridians, and everyone in between, are representing their homes and brands.  The local coordinators and volunteers have really opened their hearts to welcome us in true Detroit fashion.  As many of us made our way to the hotel we instantly were greeted by one of the coordinators, Cathy, and we were whisked away to the clinic site.  Once there, we met all the other coordinators and were treated to a huge never-ending smorgasbord of some of the best home cooked eats in the whole state of Michigan.  It made us feel like we were home again, although some of us had spent most of our day traveling.  The "locals" really went above and beyond in making us feel cared for.  We then proceeded to tour the grand facility that Ford has provided to us.  We got an idea of how we want the clinic to run and even learned a little clinic history for this location.  All team members and all brands are in full alignment and we are ready to help the children of Detroit.  And they're ready for us!  Go team go!!  Detroit 2010 rocks!!  Smileyface - DF&JS

April 23, 2010

Detroit 2010 Clinic

By jsilljer

WELCOME!

If your looking for the Detroit 2010 Clinic Blog then you have found the right place. Our team is made up of Volunteers and Doctors from across North America and we will be spending 1 week in Detroit, MI providing complete eye exams and dispensing recycled glasses to approximately 1,800 children who otherwise could not afford to see the world clearly. 

 

Each day we will be posting highlights from our vision care Clinic including stories of our recipients and the teams experience in Detroit. We arrive in Detroit on Sun May 2 and leave Fri May 7, during this time we will be posting messages and photographs. Be sure to log on every day so you don't miss a thing, we are very excited and passionate about the children we will be helping in the Detroit area. And, if you are interested, our team is raising money to help fund our clinic. Make your donation to Team Detroit today! Visit http://onesight.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&eventID=502&teamID=5020.

 

Here's a little background about OneSight and our Global Clinics. OneSight is a family of charitable programs dedicated to improving vision through outreach, research, and education. Sponsored by the Luxottica Group, OneSight programs have helped more than 7 million people over its 20 year history. 

 

Each year, OneSight conducts 2 week clinics in developing countries where our doctors and trained volunteers provide free eye exams and recycled eyewear to thousands of people in need. To date, they have run 175 clinics in 35 different developing countries. This year, we have planned 15 Global Clinics in counties such as Thailand, South Africa, China, Mexico, Paraguay, Ghana, and India, just to name a few! And 13 Regional Clinics, right here in North America. 

Mark May 2-7 on your calender and check in daily!