A View from VAs

Helen is a  cute 7 year old little girl who came into our clinic at 8am on our second last day with very red eyes. 

She could barely open them because the light hurt her eyes so badly.  Her father came into the clinic with her and told us she has had sore eyes for 3 days. When we assessed her vision she struggled to see the big E on the eye chart.  Dr. Annu Kaul took her into her "special testing" tent and immediately began treatment for a serious sight threatening eye infection that could potentially scar Helen's corneas for life.  Helen was monitored by Dr. Kaul  every half hour all day during the clinic.  She had 2 types of drops put in her eyes throughout the day to treat her infection and painful eyes.  We advised her Dad to come back to the clinic the next day to assess her vision and progress as she needed treatment for another 2 days.

MRM

Kneeling on concrete, one hand on Helen's small frame, the other occluding her healing eyes, listening hard as she was able to see more letters than the previous day, I was again reminded of the incredible impact we were making on so many people's lives.

Without our help, Helen's sight may have worsened to the point of not being able to see to learn, to see her family, or to observe the gorgeous bay and surrounding lush mountains of her home town, Olongapo.

Not only were we impacting and changing lives, but they were perhaps more subtley, changing ours.  Although I try not to take things for granted and worry about trivial things, after observing our patients living conditions and lack of essential services such as eye exams and glasses, it has affirmed how lucky we are and how important it is to be involved in improving the lives of those less fortunate.

I am so grateful to have been a team member of the Olongapo mission, to have met so many wonderful and inspiring people, and to have been able to help improve the sight of so many!

Sincerely,
Ashley Epp
TWECS team member