Don't Blink-7/13

Twas a day for new sight for many in Quimistan as we started our two-day eye clinic at Gracias a Dios hospital. Jenn, Kristen, Karen, Shirlita, and Roxanne worked the clinic with the assistance of about six AP kids and Andrea Pena's translation services. One hundred and one patients were registered between the hours of 9 am and 4:30 pm. By the end of the day, we had given out 73 pairs of glasses and seen 70 of the 110 patients. The ones not yet seen today were asked to come back first thing tomorrow am to receive their screenings and eyeglass fittings. Because the autorefractor chose to "sleep in" for about an hour this am, we decided to screen those needing reading glasses while we waited for Jenn and Roxanne to search Quimistan for the missing eye chart. After a visit to the Agape clinic and Sra. Umanzor's kindergarten, the elusive chart was finally located in a box of room decorations at the kinder and relocated to our room at the hospital. Shortly after we had the eye chart in place, the autorefractor decided to "wake up" again, so we were able to work the rest of the day without any problems. We saw children as young as 10 and adults all the way up to 80 years old. 18 patients received prescription glasses and 39 received reading glasses All in all, it was an awesome experience and a very smooth operation. Shirlita, Karen, Kristen, and Andrea worked in the autorefractor room doing initial database collection and screenings; Roxanne, Jennifer, and two former AP students assisted the patients with glasses fittings; while the remaining students helped with registration and traffic control. Hopefully, tomorrow will provide us more opportunities to share God's love to the people of this area through hugs, smiles, and the hope of new vision, both spiritual and physical.



Karen